“I feel pretty during a pageant,” said Nashay Matthews, 20, a Bakersfield resident who competes in beauty pageants across the nation.
The full-time Bakersfield College student has been competing in pageants for most of her life. “I’ve been competing ever since I was seven months old,” said Matthews. “It happened on a whim. My mother was in a mall and saw a poster. She picked out a dress and I won.”
“Because I won my first one she decided to keep putting me in them. And I decided to continue when I went into adulthood,” said Matthews.
“It’s a lot harder work [now] than it was when I was a teenager and a little girl,” said Matthews. “Now it’s like work; you have to study different disasters, different political stuff that’s going on. You have to know all that stuff it’s, like, crazy. But it’s awesome.”
“[I’m] competitive but I don’t take a loss harsh, I just accept it, and I work to improve so that way the next one maybe I can win,” said Matthews. “It’s more a competition with myself, doing better in the next pageant.”
Preparing for pageants is a constant in Matthews’ life. Working out, spray-tanning, exercising, weight loss and volunteering are all steps she takes in preparation for upcoming pageants.
The constant preparation has paid off for Matthews and competitive mindset has lead to Matthews placing high in several pageants including winning “Miss Central California 2009”. Matthews said she is currently preparing for “Miss Bakersfield 2010” and “Miss Motor Speedway 2010,” a pageant held in Kentucky.
Preparation however, doesn’t solve all the problems of pageantry. “The only thing I ever get nervous for is the interview part,” said Matthews. “It’s a little more nerve-wracking. Because with pageants, you have to say the right thing. When they ask you a question, like a really one-sided question such as ‘Do you believe in gay marriage or abortion?’ or anything like that. It’s so stressful to say something to where you won’t offend anybody.”
“I try to tell myself that I’m confident, that I’m beautiful, that I can totally do this. You pretty much have to psych yourself out and tell yourself you’re awesome,” said Matthews. “It sounds kind of weird but you have to tell yourself you’re awesome so that when you go on stage you portray a lot of confidence. Even if you are confident you want to be beaming with confidence.”
While pageantry does have a focus on physical looks, Matthews believes pageants have positive influences. “Pageants have taught me to care about things other than myself, to care about Earth, to volunteer for a certain service or choosing a platform that you truly feel connected to,” said Matthews
Matthews does not believe that pageants have a negative impact on her social life and said she has always had a busy schedule, competing in pageants and playing multiple sports since childhood.
“I don’t know my dad, it was just my mom and my grandma who raised me,” said Matthews. The lack of a father in her life didn’t seem to have an adverse effect. “Growing up it was totally awesome because I was doing what I liked to do,” said Matthews.
Matthews does plan on ending her pageant career eventually. “My goal is to be in either Miss USA or Miss America, as soon as I compete in one of those and make at least top five, then I’ll retire or maybe compete in Mrs. USA or something when I get married,” said Matthews.
According to Matthews, women usually stop entering pageants because of pageants such as Miss USA revolving around independent single women.
Matthews is majoring in communications and media arts and is considering a career in several fields when her time as a pageant contestant is up. “I want to be a sports broadcaster. Eventually I want to be a pageant coach or run my own pageant system. I want to write a book, maybe travel the country as an inspirational speaker or maybe model or act. Whatever I succeed in,” said Matthews, “but right now the most important thing for me is finishing school.”