I know you've seen this happen. A beautiful contestant walks up to the microphone and prepares to deliver what she hopes will be a winning answer. She does her best, flashes her brightest beauty queen smile, and returns to her spot in the lineup. But everyone else gets a strange look on their face as they realize that she didn't actually answer the question. And if audience members and the emcee noticed, you can bet the judges did too. So why do contestants who have practiced for hours and hours end up in this situation? For the answer to that, check out my 3 Reasons Why You Didn't Answer Your Pageant Interview

Last week I received an email from a Mom looking for some advice on how to handle some feedback she had received. Her daughter had competed in a pageant but did not win the title. After the pageant, a well-meaning audience member approached her with some advice. Mom politely listened to the advice and gave it some thought. Although the feedback was supportive of her daughter, mom didn’t think it made sense. It didn’t seem to fit with what she’d observed or what seemed like common sense to her. She didn’t want to discount the advice, but she was concerned that it didn’t add up. So she reached out to me and

One of the most common stereotypes about pageant contestants is that they are mindless Barbie dolls who repeat scripted, memorized answers. After all, Miss Congeniality premiered almost 20 years ago, and people still joke about the “World Peace” answer. These types of answers are often scored down by judges because the contestant sounds over-rehearsed. Judges feel that contestants who sound over-rehearsed aren’t being authentic or genuine. They’re concerned that you’re just repeating a canned answer that someone else told you to say. But it can be frustrating when you invest time to develop your pageant interview skills,