Ms Latina International Pageant

Pageant World
By Paula Davis

PAGEANT MANIA

The beauty pageant industry has exploded in recent years, with 700,000 contests a year in the United States and 3 million to 4 million entrants competing annually, according to The Pageant Center. But young women aren't just vying for the title's anymore.

"Twenty years ago we were very limited with pageantry," said one pageant promoter. "The start of the 1990s was the revolution of the pageant world. Hundreds of pageant systems have sprouted across the United States."

"Once we did one, we were hooked," said Tracy Olsen, a mother who's been on the pageant scene for nearly five years. Her 13-year-old daughter, Melissa, entered her first pageant at the age of 7. Since, Melissa has been in more pageants than her mother can count.

Olsen likens pageants to soccer or Girl Scouts; it's a hobby. Because of pageants, her daughter, at age 13, is poised and has no fear of being in front of people or talking to adults, Olsen said.

But beyond the confidence-building, parents often view pageants as a foot into the entertainment industry. 

It can happen, but most of these girls won't make it, said Gerdeen Dyer, 52, editor of Pageant News Bureau, a Web site he started in 1995 because of the thirst for pageant information.

Ms Latina International Pageant

"It's more of a middle class thing," he said. "(Families hope) their little girl will become Shirley Temple and they'll all move to Hollywood."

Absolutely, they are looking for exposure, said Lebel-Figueroa about her daughter who recently participated in a pageant. She wants to be a model. She already has a portfolio, which cost her mother $200 in photography fees last year. On each photo are her vital stats -- DOB: height: size: shoe size and hair and eye color. 

"Since I have her in modeling school, I just figured it would be a good thing," said Lebel-Figueroa. "How do these girls on the TV get to where they are today? Britney Spears -- where did she come from?"

It's no secret that actress Halle Berry and broadcast journalist Diane Sawyer used to be beauty pageant queens.

"Pageantry is a wonderful way to be self-expressive on stage. I cannot begin to tell you how it is when you put your foot on the stage and compete. It's like magic," said Wozniak, a former beauty queen. "I love working with girls with low self-esteem and then watching them turn around and blossom like a flower."