Wow! It’s been such an incredible first half of my reign! Once I returned home from Miss Gay America, I got right to work on building the future of Miss Gay Ohio America. I was excited to reach out to the promoters and contestants from this past season to let them know I am looking forward to working with them leading into the 2020 preliminary season. On top of the returners, I am ecstatic to have new promoters as well as new preliminaries! There are a lot of girls coming out this year who are newer to the pageant as well as the drag scene and I cannot wait to help them gain a love of pageantry like I have. In such a time where pageant numbers are dropping, I love seeing so many newer girls interested, which is showing the bright future MGOA has in coming years.
A lot of girls are too nervous, scared or just don’t know where to begin. They never take the chance of trying out a pageant system. One thing that has been taught to me as Cody and as Courtney is kindness goes a long way. Reach out to girls to see if they have any interest and if they do, take that spark and run with it. The next Miss Gay America could be performing at the open stage down the block, but she may not have the knowledge or resources to get started on that journey. A big part of my reign has been trying to show girls they are fully capable of becoming Miss Gay Ohio America and Miss Gay America. There are a lot of new girls this coming season who have this new drive in them and they are open and willing to take ideas and suggestions.
Prelim season is well underway here in the buckeye state, and we have so many contestants interested in getting their ticket! Miss Gay Heart of Ohio was our first prelim of the season, which gave us Miss Gay Heart of Ohio America 2020 Scarlett Kelly and 1st alt National Holiday as the first two to qualify. Our second prelim of the season was Miss Gay Columbus America, which gave us Miss Gay Columbus America 2020 Yasmine Kelly and 1stalt Mystical Devine. All four of these ladies were a joy to watch compete and they all have a fire under them to be the next Miss Gay Ohio America. It’s an honor to get to be here for them throughout this journey! The third prelim of the season gave us Miss Gay Capital City America 2020 Tasha Salad and 1stalt Tina Hightower. The next prelim is Saturday, March 28 at 10 p.m. at MJs.
Sisterhood within the MGOA legacy is something like no other! I wanted to add a touch of myself to the legacy during my reign, which led me to my little project! With the help of Laura Dark Photography, I have been taking promos with former Miss Gay Ohio Americas where they get to choose the theme of the promo. It has been so much fun and has really allowed me to get to know my big sisters even more and create some incredible memories.
The first big sister to get a promo with me was forever Miss Gay America 2018/Miss Gay Ohio America 2011 Deva Station. Deva and I are both big fans of houndstooth fabric, so our shoot was based around that.
The second big sister to get a promo with me was Miss Gay Ohio America 2017 Valerie Taylor. Valerie and I are both huge Pittsburgh Penguins fans and we actually discussed years ago about getting promos together in Penguins jerseys.
Well this was the perfect opportunity to fulfill that! Next was a promo with both Miss Gay Ohio America 2004, Tiffanie Taylor and Miss Gay Ohio America 2005, Erika Evans. We all bounced around different ideas, which ended us in a goth, rocker, witch hybrid promo! These shoots have been beyond fun and I am looking forward to the next few shoots with some more of the legacy that is Miss Gay Ohio America.
With Love,
Miss Gay Ohio America 2019
Courtney Kelly
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