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Showing posts from 2013

Want To Win The Pageant? BE the Titleholder!

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I just wrote a blog post about this over at TrueBeautyProgram.com and wanted to tailor this important information on how it can be applicable to winning a pageant. Once you believe in yourself enough to know you have every ability to win a pageant, you need to get yourself into the mindset of not only believing you can win, but to start acting as though you already are the titleholder! What, if anything, would you be doing differently? Would you carry yourself in a different way? Would you walk into a room a different way? You know that scene in Miss Congeniality when Victor, the pageant coach says "Yes, yes, yes. You wear the crown, be the crown, you are the crown!"  It’s funny, but it’s true! You attract what you ARE, not what you want, so from this day forth, do, say, think as you would if you already have the title! 

True Beauty Interview – Miss Minnesota Latina

I just love this girl’s presence! I had the pleasure to sit down and get to know Vanessa Berrueta. She moved from Venezuela to Minnesota just 9 months ago and it is incredible what this woman has accomplished! She recently won the title of Miss Minnesota Latina 2013 and will be traveling to Mexico in a few short days to compete for the title of  Miss Latina US . I wanted pick her brain to see what exactly how and why she has gotten to be the successful, charismatic, positive person that she is. Check out the interview as we talk about her philosophy on life, pageantry and what inspires her. You will be convinced she is not only a wonderful person, but a great representative for the US, Minnesota, women and Latinos everywhere! And be sure to follow Miss Minnesota Latina on  Facebook  and  Twitter !

Why There’s Power In Your Story

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I know I’ve stated before that it is oh-so important to establish your “why” when competing for a title. The reason for that “why” is the foundation for how to convince and communicate to the judges your unique reasoning for why they should choose you as the winner. How you go about explaining your “why,” is what will make or break you. We all know that to have any chance at winning, we need to be memorable, we need to have the judges fall in love with us and the best way to do that is with storytelling. Science behind storytelling There is scientific reasoning for why telling a story in your interview is your best bet to get the judges to remember you: The brains of the person telling a story and listening to it can synchronize, says Uri Hasson from Princeton: "When the woman spoke English, the volunteers understood her story, and their brains synchronized. When she had activity in her insula, an emotional brain region, the listeners did too. When her fronta

Stress Free is the Way to Be!

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How you feel internally is what will set the tone for your entire pageant experience and weekend. Because of this, you want to do everything you can to ensure you are relaxed and stress free when heading into check-in. Think about the activities you do when you are stressed. What helps you relax? Remind yourself that you are as prepared as can be, there is nothing to stress over. Below are some ideas you could incorporate into your daily routine for the week(s) leading up to the pageant and during the pageant weekend to help you relax: - Take a bath - Drink tea - Practice yoga/Breathing exercises - Run/Strength train/Exercise - Visualize - Meditate Ensuring you are stress free beforehand will enable you to better handle the stress that will come up during the pageant. It is so important to have yourself trained and conditioned to handle the pressures of competing. If you need help with working through stress and to learn how to use the high pressure environment to your a

Your Title is Not Your Identity

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All of us know that when preparing for a pageant, the pageantry world consumes everything we do, think or even say. We watch videos, train, go shopping, train some more, check out the gossip online, watch previous pageants, attend appearances and so much more. And then if you win, it becomes even more a part of your world as you have appearances once or more a week, and are preparing yourself to compete for the national or International title on top of that. What happens after the pageant or after you pass on your title? Some women run into trouble after all the excitement of the pageant because they have started to attach and identify themselves with the pageant and/or title. You are NOT your title. WHO you are is not Miss Whoever. Life after pageants It is so important that from the start of training and there on, you do not mix your personal identity with your title because something bad will happen once that title is taken away or you're done competing and don’t w

The Spiritual Side of Pageantry

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There are two things every pageant winner has in common – I will reveal the first to you as it pertains to this post: There are two major points I want to make within that statement. Destiny The first is that every winner is destined to win. Like I’ve stated before , winning a pageant can only ever be a desire, not a goal. This is because the outcome is completely out of your hands. There is nothing you can do to alter the destiny of someone. This is where the importance of your spirituality is so vital with pageant preparation and in life. Your faith will provide you with the peace in knowing there is a higher power working and guiding you toward the purpose you were made to lead here on Earth. I believe everyone has a divine purpose. There is a reason why you are competing in pageants. Maybe that reason has revealed itself to you or, like myself, it will reveal itself in the future, after you are done competing or have won a title. Part of your ultimate pu

Emotional Strength & Intelligence for Pageantry

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Last week I discussed the importance of having a mental strategy when competing for a pageant. Today I want to talk about building emotional strength, why it's important and how it will help you succeed in your upcoming pageant, but also in your life. Some of you may have experienced those certain girls who just lose it backstage when things don't go the way they planned. Maybe they are upset about their interview or that they didn't place in the Top 15... I am going to tell you right now, do NOT be a hot mess backstage. It not only makes you look bad and a sore loser, but how is it really helping you, your performance and your overall experience? The truth is, it isn't. In fact, it's just going to hurt you. An emotionally fit person will stop at nothing to find solutions for whatever difficulties arise while maintaining a forward struggle. The not so emotionally strong person will become fragmented when faced with the pressures and challenges of life but th

Importance of Mental Conditioning

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Every great athlete and competitor will attest to the importance of training mentally, in addition to physically, in order to achieve success. I’m sure you have even experienced a situation where you’ve had to tap into your mental toughness in order to gain the concentration and motivation to complete a workout, a competition or race. Winning and doing well in a pageant requires the same set of skills.   The mental strength needed to successfully compete for a pageant isn’t just needed for that particular weekend either, you also need it while training before the pageant and even afterward . The stress of practicing, getting sponsors, finishing your paperwork, finding the perfect wardrobe and every other detail you need to organize will require mental toughness. If the pageant preparation itself overwhelms you, then you can guess pageant weekend experience will be no different. Create A Mental Strategy This is why you need a mental strategy. Every pageant winner goes

See Beyond Winning: Reason & Vision

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There are two types of motivation: intrinsic and extrinsic. When you decide to sign-up for a pageant, you are first often motivated by an external factor: Winning the title and crown. There’s nothing wrong with this as motivation, it’s a common one among all contestants. But to have the mental, emotional and spiritual strength to overcome the many obstacles, stresses and disappointments when preparing for a pageant, you need to find your internal, or intrinsic, motivation. This is what will keep you motivated and help you maintain a positive mindset. What’s your reason? What is the real reason for why you want to win this title? Maybe you feel like you need to prove something – to yourself, to others, but in order to be seen as a titleholder, you must move beyond just wanting to win the crown to prove something. Your reason is something internally that fires you up. Something you are passionate about and it usually stems from a personal experience. This t

Goal-Setting For Pageants

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Previously I wrote about how to use affirmation and visualization techniques to help you envision yourself as the next titleholder. Last week I wrote about the difference between goals and desires . While winning a pageant cannot be a goal because of the fact that you have no control over the outcome, that doesn’t mean that there aren’t goals you need to set in order for you to become closer to winning. Today we will cover goal-setting for pageants.   Based on your level of experience, what you want to get out of the pageant and the certain areas of competition you have, your goals will differ. It is important to first establish the personal goals you want to achieve for the pageant. Do you want to build your interview skills, increase your overall self-confidence or improve your public speaking ability? Write them all down. You will also have specific goals for each phase of competition. Some of your goals may have more measurable aspects to them and others may not

Goals vs. Desires

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" You have complete control over the outcome of your goals. The same is not true about your desires." Carolina Reyes While competing for Miss International, I had the privilege to hear Eddie Peterson   give a great keynote speech during our dinner. One of the important things that I carried with me was the difference between goals and desires. Knowing this key differentiator should highly impact the way you view and prepare for pageants. A goal is something we have complete control over. We have the power to initiate, work toward and ultimately determine whether we will reach the goal or not. When it comes to goals, if you put your mind to it and persevere, you can and will achieve the goal you set. No question.     This is the very reason why winning a pageant cannot be a goal. Winning a pageant is not a goal, it’s a desire. The difference is the outcome of any pageant is completely out of your hands and onto the judges. You can believe in yourself, prepa

Visualization - See Yourself As The Titleholder

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"The secret of achievement is to hold a picture of a successful outcome in the mind." Henry David Thoreau   The first and biggest obstacle to overcome to win the crown, and achieve any goal you set for yourself in life, is to have the full faith and belief that this is something that you can and WILL achieve. The best way to help with this is through using visualization, along with the affirmation technique that I talked about in the previous post.   Everything that we see in the world around us started as an idea or a thought. Possibilities are only limited to our thinking. Through visualization and imagination, the impossible becomes possible. The power is in our minds and the possibilities are endless. The first step to the process of visualization is to find a quiet place. Clear and quiet your mind and then let your imagination go to work. Try to take 5-10 minutes a day to envision yourself winning the crown and being the titleholder. Think about how

Affirm Yourself As The Next Pageant Winner

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“Any idea, plan, or purpose may be placed in the mind through repetition of thought.” – Napoleon Hill An affirmation is: Something declared to be true; a positive statement or judgment. Affirmation, along with visualization (I will talk about that at another time), are strong and powerful techniques to help build belief in yourself and your ability to achieve a goal, or in your case, a pageant.  Post your affirmation ! When you repeat a word, phrase or sentence to yourself over and over again, you are affirming yourself. But here is the trick. Anyone can repeat words over and over to themselves, but how you say it - the tone and style with which you speak it - is the most important. Your brain will not believe you to be the next "Miss Minnesota " if you say it with no confidence, with your eyes down at the ground and a monotone, boring voice. Bring life to those words! Say them with conviction, happiness and excitement and even better, say them w

Love Yourself and Be Unstoppable!

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I have personally found that working on falling in love with myself as the single most transformational experience of my life. I went about most of my young adult years thinking that learning from my experiences, along with strength, confidence and a positive attitude were enough to find success and true happiness. I mean, I graduated from college, won Miss Minnesota International and fulfilled my dream of living in Australia, I have my act together, right? Nope. I mean, I was successful and happy to a point, but there were always areas in my life where I fell short and didn’t seem to know why. I want to talk about how loving yourself could be the key to you capturing the crown, but more importantly, how learning to love, respect and accept yourself will make you unstoppable in life. Truly loving yourself is the most often the missing piece most of us lack in order to experiencing true happiness in every aspect of our lives. When we place the source of our happiness in winning t

Welcome!

So, I am moving along slowly here, but I promise the blog will look better with an actual helpful post soon! These kinds of things don't happen overnight I realize, but I am going to try and make it happen! Ha! In the meantime, you can learn more about me and my business,  True Beauty Program  if you'd like.  Everything I do is filled with the mission of empowering women to love themselves, be authentic and help uncover their passion and purpose in order to reach their highest potential in life! I hope to have you back here soon!