Thursday, November 21, 2013

Reflection on 2014 (On to the Next One)



            Last month’s pageant left me feeling empowered and excited for life. The Miss New Jersey USA 2014 pageant made me realize a new love and passion: pageantry. A week after the Miss New Jersey USA 2014 on October 18th – 20th, I started planning for the 2015 Miss New Jersey USA pageant.
            I know what I need to do to stand out this year. So far, I’ve lined up two pageant coaches and one speech coach. I have my heart set on designing my evening gown and know exactly what I want for my interview dress. If I can find what I want for my interview in stores, I will purchase it, if not I would like to design that as well. However, I have yet to find someone with exceptional sewing skills and knowledge of pageant wear that will be able to help me finish these projects. Please contact me if you have any suggestions!
            Because I am taking on additional coaching this coming year, my budget for this year’s pageant is a few thousand dollars higher. I’m trying to keep the same budget for my wardrobe. But I know the cost of what I will need is still going to add up.
            My goals for the next few weeks are to set up appointments for the rest of the year with my three coaches, find an evening gown designer – who is also a highly skilled seamstress, get new headshots done with a photographer experienced with modeling, and lastly I must draft my fundraising letters! I plan to raise close to $5000 for this year to cover at least 75% of the pageant. I will be hitting up all of my favorite spots in the Princeton and New York areas and business owners that I know, so hopefully that will drum up some success for me!
I have a PayPal account link on this website and am accepting donations! If you know of a business that could use some cheap advertising, please let them know. Any of my sponsors will have their name or business name listed under my name in the pageant booklet.
            Wish me luck! Any support that you can offer me in this process will help greatly!

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