Model Matt Hackney

This past weekend, Jasmine - my assistant -  & I had the pleasure of sitting on the judge’s panel for the Miss Teen Santa Barbara Beauty Pageant with Nationals Incorporated.  Unlike most beauty pageants, this pageant honestly was an “inner beauty” contest.  The contestants were 7-19 years old in different age categories and Jasmine & I worked with the 12-15 year old group on Friday with around 40 interviews.

During these three minute interviews, we tried to get a glimpse of the girls’ personalities. Some were quite mature in their responses with goals of opening charities in third world countries, already writing books, or setting up rescue horse ranches here in the county. Others were, well… little girls - excited about being in a pageant and wanting to look glamourous in front of their family and friends. These were the majority & when asked what they’d do with $1 million dollars our typical response was “shopping.”

You’d think they’d know better than to give that answer, right? Nonetheless, we continued the interviews for a few hours and took our notes & thoughts home with us for the night. Saturday afternoon, the pageant began at the Lobero Theatre in downtown Santa Barbara.

I was quite pleased to see a lack of silicone in our sights as the pageant began. These girls came from all walks of life - home schooled with rich parents to the general population. I honestly felt the pageant had a strong mix of the community and was pleased at how genuine each girl presented themselves. The audience was filled with parents and siblings, mostly who were cheering on their little girl.

We ended the pageant around 7pm with after going through semi-finals to pick the winners. The final contestants were great role models & I’m pleased what our other 10 judges helped conclude. Below is a picture of our judges & the winners.

Our company donated dance lessons to all contestants & a contract to publish the book of the Jr. Teen winner - a cancer survivor in the Santa Barbara Area.