The Cover of MeNaiset November 2006	Inside Table of Contents (L to R) Kiara Rodriguez and Myah Menfee
Page 20	Page 21 Myah Menfee
Top L: Myah & Ashley Menfee, Top R: ECUSA Crowns, Bottom L: Ashley doing Myah's make up. Bottom R: Alexa Donlon & Ryann Williams outside the ballroom.	Front L to R: Geneya Vasquez, Jade Langston and Skyler Federer
Top Photo: Maria Ringer and Mr. Tim, Bottom Right: An ECUSA NJ contestant, Bottom Left Kiera Class Martinez.	Top Photo: Cyndi Skeie and Madison Skeie Bottom Photo: Geneya Vasquez and Lamant Langston

A Day as a Princess

Most children love to perform and be the center of attention. In the U.S., they get to experience that and much more. Welcome to the world of children’s beauty pageants!

Myah Menfee, 6, and her mother Ashley, 30, are in the lobby of the Hilton hotel in East Brunswick, New Jersey. It’s Saturday night, and the hotel is swarming with young girls and their parents, who all look excited.

It is the evening before the big event for which many have driven for hours. Tomorrow, in the big ballroom on the second floor, the little girls compete over who is the most beautiful, photogenic, and poised child of them all. The youngest participant in the pageant is a six-month-old baby. Myah is here as a guest of honor. Since she won last year’s contest, tomorrow she gets to hand in her tiara and crown to her successor. “Ok, honey. Let’s go up to the room, so you can show the lady your outfits,” Ashley beckons Myah to cheer up.

That does the trick. The brown eyes under the wild, curly hair start to sparkle, and the white, flawless teeth start to show, as the girl breaks into a smile. “Yeah, let’s go!” she cheers and starts to lead her mom toward the elevator.

An expensive hobby

Myah’s tall and gracious mom, Ashley, is a former model, who has worked for Elite and Ford agencies in New York. These days the Maryland resident runs her own marketing company, but in the weekends, she and her daughter travel to various children’s beauty pageants, sometimes across the country.

“Admittedly, this can get kind of crazy sometimes. For starters, competing in pageants is expensive. The dresses start from 1,500 dollars, the pageant coach charges 100 bucks per hour, a competition costs easily over 500 dollars… Annually this costs us about 30,000-40,000 dollars (24,000-32,000 euros),” she muses in the family’s hotel room, clearing her way through the hair extensions, make-up bags, and clothes that clog the space. Myah’s pageant dresses- anything from a Minnie Mouse-like skirt to a white satin puffy dress- wait tomorrow in a big, plastic case. The excited girl starts to choose an outfit that she can show to the guest.

Myah is already a veteran of the pageant circles; a six-year-old beauty princess, whose home is full of prize tiaras, plaques, and trophies. She has already donned several magazine covers and will most likely star in a full-length children’s movie in 2008. Like many girls here at the Hilton, Myah is a second-generation pageant kid. Her affable mom, Ashley, started her modeling career in the beauty pageants in her home state Kentucky. After her sister died of a lightning struck, Ashley felt that her grieving parents could not give her the attention she needed. One day when she was watching a TV show about pageants, the idea came to her: This might be just what she needs.

“I was in my most awkward age; this gawky thing who didn’t know what to do with herself. But when I stood on that stage for the first time, the shyness just disappeared. Standing in front of all those judges, I felt more comfortable with myself than ever,” Ashley explains.

“Myah was shy before as well. When she met new people, she would hide behind my back and not say a word. But in her first pageant two years ago she suddenly burst out singing “Why do fools fall in love”. It was like watching a different person. She started to glow.”

Ashley is interrupted by Myah’s voice that booms from the bathroom. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I introduce: Myah Menfee!” the girl announces herself and sashays in front of us like a pint-sized supermodel.

“Come on, show the lady your choreography,” Ashley asks.

And what a choreography it is. The girl does catwalk steps and cartwheels, slaps her thighs and dances to an inaudible song she seems to know well. The performance ends with her standing in a perfect pose winking her eye over her shoulder.

All about caution

Sunday morning in East Brunswick dawns as a crisp, chilly fall day, but at the Hilton nobody has time to pay attention to the weather. The halls of the hotel filled with girls and women of all ages dressed in shimmery velvet and satin, coiffed and made up to the max.

A mother fixes the hair extension of her four-year-old daughter, who clings on to a Bratz doll. Another girl looks ready to step on the red carpet at the Oscars.

The pageant is organized by East Coast USA, which is a well-known beauty pageant company in the area. The company arranges beauty pageants for girls and women of all ages, from babies to middle-aged women.

“Women of all ages, sizes, backgrounds, professions, and races can participate. Nobody is discriminated against,” Deborah Biryla, the director of the company emphasizes. Debbie, whose daughter is a former competitor, is very protective of the competitors. She makes sure that the photos taken and people interviewed will end up in a Finnish women’s magazine, not somewhere else.

Her cautiousness is not surprising, given the media coverage of children’s beauty pageants in the U.S. after the murder of 6-year-old JonBenet Ramsey. The perpetrator of the 1996 slaying is still on the loose, but the case has by no means left the American popular psyche. Also, the newspaper coverage in media like The New York Times and Washington Post has been mainly negative, and just this fall a movie, Little Miss Sunshine, that portrays pageants in less then desirable light, has gained fairly big movie audiences.

In the gold-and-velvet laden ballroom, the first round has just begun. The well-known master of ceremonies, Tim Whitmer—Mr. Tim, as he is known here—introduces the competitors on stage.

A pretty African American girl walks in front of the three judges and announces that she is on her way to becoming the next Beyonce.

The rest of the girls are equally assertive. One after another, the evening-gown clad girls strike a perfect pose, walk up to the microphone, and declare their future ambitions. If their words are anything to go by, there will be very poised pediatricians, brain surgeons, and scientists coming out of New Jersey in the future.

The audience is an eclectic mix of parents, friends, and grandparents of all backgrounds; from tattooed muscle men and Little League dads, to elegantly suited career women and sweatshirt wearing soccer mom.

The spectators clap politely to other parents’ children but when their girl steps on stage, the moms and dads get excited and start cheering.

“Who’s that beautiful girl?” one father hollers, as his child strikes a perfect pose in a yellow satin gown.

Nerve-wrecking hurry

When the competitors leave the room to prepare for the next round, Ashley hurries upstairs to the room with Myah.

“This can be nerve-wrecking. I’m running around all day,” she exclaims, smiling. On their pageantry trips around the country, Ashley runs a small business in which she does the makeup and hairdos for the competitors for a hundred dollars per person. Today she has five customers, and she is also responsible for getting Myah ready for her big moment.

“Don’t move your eyes, honey,” Ashley asks as she begins to brush mascara onto Myah’s eyelashes.

The six-year-old starlet sits still like a pro, munches on honey puffs, and listens to children’s songs on her cell phone. The mother and daughter have the space for themselves, as the family’s father, Jerry, and Myah’s nine-year-old brother Jordan, are off somewhere.

The men of the family tend to stay as far away from the pageantry hassle as possible, Ashley says.

“Once I signed Jordan up for a boys’ beauty pageant, and he had a great time. But personally I’m not a big fan of boys competing. For me it just seems so feminine.” Puffing powder on Myah’s face, Ashley restates what she said last night, that beauty pageants are merely a fun hobby for the two of them- nothing that is allowed to interfere with Myah’s school. If the movie role goes to Myah, and she goes off to Puerto Rico for a three-month film shoot, Ashley will make sure that Myah is provided an on-site teacher. Myah’s education is the most important thing, over everything else- the modeling, competing, acting, Ashley says.

“You should have seen Myah before she started competing. She was so shy and insecure! Now her self esteem has improved and she has learned skills that will come in handy at college and at work.”

According to Ashley, many people wonder why pageant parents want to do all this; put make-up on their children, dress them up in adult-like clothing, and choose to do all this behind closed doors.

“But that’s the whole point- that we keep the pageants as a safe, family-oriented event! See, I would never dress Myah in a short skirt and let her go outside looking like that. Lord knows what would happen to her.”

Pageants are a way for little girls to try out their performing skills and learn confidence in a safe environment, Ashley explains. Competing is like a very elaborate princess fantasy for the girls.

“People have such weird opinions about pageant. They claim that this is child abuse, that the parents force their kids to do this, or that the girls have no time for anything else. That is totally wrong. We do this only because the kids love to perform. Nobody is forced to do anything against her will.”

Then it’s time for Ashley to pull Myah’s hair gently into a ponytail and check the time on her watch. The swimsuit round is about to begin, and Ashley’s customers may be in need of a touchup.

Babies dress in swimsuit as well

I’m a Barbie girl, in a Barbie world… A pop song blasts from the loud speakers in the ballroom, where little girls are standing around in colorful swimsuits and big hats. The older girls and women wait their turn in bikinis, with arms clasped around them to keep their limbs warm.

Babies take part in the swimsuit round as well. A father in his thirties climbs on stage holding a 16-month old baby girl, who is dressed in a pink swimsuit. He jams to the tune of the Beach Boys’ Surfin’ USA, as the competitor herself watches the audience with a curious look on her face.

On the way to the ballroom, many parents cover their kids in robes that they only take off before going onstage. Taking photos is totally out of question.

When the little girls rise onstage, their parents show them the right steps, turns, and poses from the crowd. The mothers’ faces are serious, but nobody seems to be as nervous as the pageant coach Lamant Langston. The six-foot-seven tall man is chaperoning his niece and three other girls and can’t seem to control his excitement.

“Oh my Lord, I have worked so hard for this! We have practiced waling, talking, posing… Seven days a week, sister, you better believe it!”

Lamant is one of the entrepreneurs who make their living from beauty pageants. He charges the girls’ to teach the girls how to dance, pose, and to perform to their best in front of an audience.

The pageant business also includes professional photographers, who often make digitally sure the competitors’ eyes look wide and their teeth white. These glamour shots are sold to the parents, who send them to modeling agencies and relatives.

Dreams of becoming a model, pop star, or a television performer echo in the words of both the kids and their parents. Some of the judges here work at modeling agencies, so there is a chance that, for some of the girls, this pageant may be the stepping stone to a career in show business- or at least as models for catalogs, magazines, and television series. In the midst of all this glamour, satin, and sequins, also other type of stores are told; accounts of parents willing to do anything for their child’s success. Every competition includes mothers and fathers who intimidate the organizers, threaten the judges, and bully the other parents, if their girl’s placement does not meet their expectations. One of the receivers of critique is Ken Biryla, who is here to help out the organizers his wife Debbie and daughter Lauren.

“Everybody wants only the best for their children, and make no mistake about it, we see our fair share of the drama that it causes. But the important thing is that for the kids this is fun, not competition,” the man ponders as he watches the little girls dancing around onstage. These days the young competitors are protected are protected in every possible way, he says; one way being internet security on the company’s photographer’s web site, as to keep unwanted visitors from seeing the girls’ photos.

At the end of the day, pageants are no different from American Idol or Popstars shows. They all appeal to people’s desire to be- or have their children be- in the limelight, if only for a short moment, he says.

“Times are hard for the average American family. Everybody feels the pressure to succeed, to stand out, to be a bit better than everyone else. Parents are forced to word two jobs, so the family members don’t have time for one another. Here you can forget about all that, relax, and have a great time with your family. Everybody here believes in healthy, clean family values.”

Tears and joy

As the clock ticks closer to 5 p.m., the tension in the ballroom grows. Behind the stage it is even more tangible; there awaits Myah with the other last-year’s winners for her turn to rise up on the stage.

Dressed in a black and blue dress, Myah looks years older in her make-up and hairdo. Seemingly eager to get on stage, the little girl hops from one foot to the other to the tune of a rap song. Her mother Ashley watches her from the audience, musing that this is the girl’s favorite part of the day; the few minutes before being in front of everyone. “She is such a veteran in all this. When we participated in the mother-daughter pageant at East Coast USA, she actually had to calm me down, as I was crying with emotion the whole time.” Suddenly the rap song changes into the American national anthem. The people in the audience stand to attention and cheer at Mr. Tim’s interpretation of God Bless America.

After the brief moment we get to the main event; hearing who in this big ballroom is the winner of the beauty pageant. The little girls fix their hair nervously, while one of the moms makes up a competitor who has fallen asleep in her carriage.

“May I introduce: the winner of the baby miss swimwear competition!” Mr. Tim announces, as the 16-month-old baby girl and her father accept the trophy onstage.

After numerous award categories—all the girls are awarded something; the best smile, most photogenic, best fitness performance, and nicest personality – it’s time for Myah to present her award.

“Here it is; the moment we have been waiting for,” Ashley whispers in the audience. Mr. Tim announces Myah onstage to the tune of horn fanfares.

“Here she is, last year’s Grand Supreme. Ladies and gentlemen; may I introduce: Myah Menfee!” the MC’s voice booms over the dramatic music.

People gasp in adoration, as Myah steps onstage. Once again, it’s amazing to see her transformation from a regular six-year-old to a glowing, professional performer. She looks into the lens of the camera and announces her name and age. Mr. Tim reveals the name of her successor, and Myah gracefully hands over the prize to a longhaired, blushing girl.

For a grand finale, all the competitors stand onstage, and the cameras flash. The whole ballroom is filled with excitement and the parents’ teary-eyed pride over their offspring. There they are: their beloved children, as the princesses in the center of everyone’s attention.

“Today, we all are winners!” Mr. Tim concludes.

(Translated from Finnish to English to the best of the ability of the translator.)