Choosing the best pageant guru, or pageant coach, means choosing the one who has the kind of experience you need, inspires confidence, and is driven to see you succeed. A valuable guru will have connections with other pageant industry professionals and will use the connections to help you perfect your presentation. Although friendship isn’t necessary, a trusting working relationship is essential for your pageant guru to effectively help you succeed in your pageant.
Begin looking for a pageant guru by asking past or current pageant contestants for referrals. These people can offer a wealth of knowledge about pageant coaches, especially if they’ve been in the pageant circuit for a significant amount of time. Depending on where you live and the kind of pageant you’re entering, you might have luck browsing the Internet and even searching local listings for pageant coaches. Regardless of how you find them, be sure to interview applicants before making a decision. Never hire a pageant coach based solely on her reputation or what others have told you about her.
For some, a successful pageant guru is one who can use her own showcase of trophies and crowns as a resume. For others, it’s someone who has a long list of beauty contest winners as clients. Regardless of the coach’s exact history, it must be one of experience.
Keep in mind that for the best results, your guru’s experience must be in the same field as the pageant in which you’re competing. For example, if you’re interesting in working your way up to a big pageant such as the Miss America Pageant, look for a coach who has worked with other Miss America Pageant contestants. On the other hand, if you’re competing in a local beauty contest, you can look for coaches with knowledge of the kind of contestants local judges expect. The same concept is true if you’re entering your child in a baby or children’s beauty pageant.
Gender should only play a role in terms of with whom you feel the most comfortable. For example, if you’re a female with both a male and a female guru applicant, choose the male if he is more experienced. Choose the female if you’re not comfortable wearing a bathing suit or talking about bikini waxes with a man.
Usually, a successful pageant guru has connections with various professionals in the beauty pageant industry. Your coach should have some sort of favorable working relationship with, or be able to make a connection with, people who can further help you prepare for your beauty pageant. These people can include hair and cosmetics experts, fitness instructors, and dress shop owners and tailors. If there is a talent portion to your beauty contest, your guru should be able to help you determine a talent. She should also help you connect with someone who can help you improve and practice that talent as well as develop a routine.
You and your pageant guru might not become best friends. The two of you might not even get along that well. Still, the coaching she provides won’t be as effective unless you at least feel comfortable with and trust your guru. Once you narrow your choices to two or three coaches, spend some time with each of them. Choose the one with whom you feel the most comfortable and the one who inspires the most confidence in you.
All other credentials aside, the best pageant guru will have a passion to see you win and a drive to make it happen. She will have energy when you are tired, and she will have confidence when you feel uncertain. Her main goal as your pageant guru is to help you succeed as much as possible during the beauty pageant. Every decision she makes and action she takes should reflect her desire to meet that goal.