Young American Miss International & Young Miss International !
I committed to the Young American Miss international pageant last year in July of 2018. My first time competing with this system was just before in June. I quickly learned about the devotion most competitors have coming into this pageant, all very equipped and familiar.. I felt a little lost, #1 because I had not competed in YEARS and #2 because I felt to old, I was surrounded by young children and teens whom I normally judge. It wasn't until the first day rehearsals when I finally was able to meet some of the other girls in the Miss division. As the weekend came to an end and I had the opportunity to meet women from around the world I had become apart of the YAMI family. I did not bring home a title but placed 2nd runner up in my Division. I did however find it as a HUGE win for me since I hadn't competed in honestly I can't remember how long it had been. Once the weekend was over and everyone said their goodbye's I decided I would compete one last time during the 2019 YAMI and YMI competition's.
The 2019 Young American Miss International AND a new pageant that our director took on, Young Miss International BOTH took place June 27-30th of this year.. 2 pageants in 4 days. WOW! I know right, I was very apprehensive about competing in the Young Miss International and wanted to focus all my attention on YAMI. After traveling to Sri Lanka & volunteering my time for 2 &1/2 months, coming home I immediately started my VERY OWN charity, Warming the Women of Houston AND the HLHS non-profit charity, I also continued to raise awareness for living a healthy lifestyle, and became an American Ambassador for SLV Global. This being said come pageant weekend the only award I cared for and truly felt I deserved was to be awarded with the trailblazer of the year award. YAMI had judges keeping an eye out on contestants to see what type of work they do throughout their communities and watch the differences they begin to create over the year.
This year my youngest sister Cordie Nicole Kimmel decided to compete in not only her very FIRST EVER pageant but her very first TWO PAGEANTS ever! This year ran a little differently as I was in charge of worrying about myself and Cordie. Now don't get it wrong I am a pageant coach and was honored to be hers.. but let me be honest I'm glad that next year I am not competing and can fully focus on her because this girl was just a tad stressed to say the least.
The weekend started out with registration, all contestants checked into their hotel rooms and make their way down to the YAMI/YMI desk to fully register into the pageant, completing their judges forms and recieving sashes. The next morning started bright and early for me as I had to make sure to do my hair, make-up, have my coffee of course and then wake Cordie up, do her hair, make-up, & make sure she had breakfast. We both got dressed and were off to the hotel (I live super close so I didn't stay at the hotel this year). Once we arrived at the hotel we went straight into the competition room where we had rehearsals. I always enjoy rehearsals because it allows each contestant to get a good feel of the stage and timing between divisions & it I think it 100% percent helps the younger girls who get a bit nervous for competition. After rehearsals we had a nice long break to get ready to compete at the new Young Miss International pageant at 7pm sharp! YMI went over pretty smoothly except for the fact my spandex thought they needed to make an appearance on stage, SO EMBARRASSING! Thankfully I'm not sure the judges were aware or noticed it was a wardrobe malfunction. It was a learning experience and for YAMI (the next day) I did pinn my dress to my spanx to make sure everything stayed covered. Now to be honest I absolutely did not like my performance for YMI I felt VERY off, not competition ready, (which I knew I was because I practiced everyday for hours preparing) not professional and when I watched myself over the live video I had a list of about 100 things I thought shouldn't have done. I'm not to sure why I wasn't on my A game but my younger sister, Cordie was! She did STUNNINGLY for her first ever pageant and am still so dang proud.
The next night at YAMI I was in my zone, felt 10,000x better, and hit every point of course there were things I would change but I felt very confident with my overall performance. YAMI was the first day of interviews for YAMI & YMI... Now last year I bombed my on stage interview.. I had a good answer but stopped mid answer and started over which made me sound very very rehearsed, whoops ahaha. This year I went in without over practicing because I always feel I do better and can't second guess myself (my specialty). I focused more on helping keep Cordie calm and to simply know & understand the types of questions that would be asked. Now I've already said I love this pageant system but I will be honest, I am not a big fan of on stage question type interviews... I don't know why but I ALWAYS let my nerves show while I'm talking, my voice trembles, or I over correct, or stutter. But if I get on stage and am knowingly not being judged I can talk for hours to millions of people. Anyways, It's just not my strong suit. It's so odd though because when I'm in a interview room with a full panel of judges asking me questions I'm very easy going and answer my questions comfortably. If I were to give any advice to my pageant girls out there, find ways to keep your nerves away and just be prepared to answer with your heart & answer honestly. 9/10 your answer will sound better doing this, you'll feel more comrtable and you won't sound over rehearsed. All that being said I feel that I crushed my interview. I did stutter once or twice because I lost my words for a second but I felt so comfortable & confident answering. As for my YMI interview my question was one I totally wasn't prepared for. I quickly thought of an easy answer, felt I rambled a bit... BUUT don't think it sounded bad, of course it could've been better, I could've ready for it. haha. As YMI interview ended that was the last of the competitions.
The weekend was coming to an end a sad feeling yet mixed with excitment knowing that good sleep was coming with no need to wake up to fully beautify myself or anyone else. Crowning was on Sunday, and was an ALL DAY event, WHY? Because there was crowning for both pageants. Though this called for a long day it was well worth it in the end.
The morning started off with all contestants preforming opening number, introducing ourselves, and annoucing all side awards including top 5's for YMI, I think to help speed the process up for later in the day. Once all side awards had been annouced it was time for the trailblazer award. I remember my heart beating soo fast and literally at this point of this extra long weekend I was just hoping to be nominated. Five girls were nominated for both YMI & YAMI, YMI went on and I hadn't been annouced.. trying to keep calm I gave myself I silent pep talk, "It's alright, all these girls have done a marvelous job. I know what I've done & that's what matters."
"SARAH BROTZMAN", my thoughts were interuppted.. wait, what? Oh my gosh my name was called for YAMI nominee's, I was nomiated. In that exact second I was overwhelmed with happiness, just to have my hardwork noticed & be nominated was one of the greatest feelings. I walked to the front of the stage and joined the other nominee's. Once all 10 women were annouced there would only be one winner for YMI & one for YAMI.
"Our YAMI, Trailblazer of the 2019 year award goes to, Sarah Brotzman." Absolute shock, a feeling of grace fell over my entire body. I was so thankful for the opportunity to represent this award. Recieving this award meant I was also pulled for the Spokesmodel award, annouced at the end of the pageant (the last award given). My heart was content & still is just having been honored with Trailblazer for the 2019 year. As crowning continued I placed Top 5 for Young Miss International pageant, surprisingly(to me). Moving forward to YAMI, I placed 1st runner up, one place better than last year and I was happy knowing I had improved. Next up in crowing was YMI, top 5 were called up and again I was standing stage center running for either queen or 1st runner up..
"And now to annouce the Young Miss International Queen for our Miss division, Sarah Brotzman." I mentioned joy earlier... but this was amazing.. I placed.. not only placed but recieved Miss Queen for YMI, the pageant I felt I had one of my worst performances. This truly goes to show that YOU are YOUR OWN worst critic. Still to this day I watch the live video and think, why did I do that, oooh that looked terrible... but all in all the judges know what they're doing and I'm blessed that they were able to look past my mistakes and give me the opportunity to show who I truly am, a determined, loyal, and strong individual ready to represent the crown.
Cordie's crowning was very different from mine. Yes this was her first pageant and we did work on her mindset going in and not expecting the world, she palnned on focusing on having fun and learning LOTS. All which she achieved, her experience was JUST AS POSITIVE as mine but in her own way. Cordie did not receive a title or side awards but she did find a love for something new and had a blast doing it. She learned what pageantry is actually all about, learning to be a confident young woman, community service, family, friends, and having FUN! She had the time of her life during her weekend at YMI/YAMI and gained many new friends. Cordie plans to continue to compete, work within her community creating positive changes and come back better and more experienced for next year. She plans to compete at both, YMI & YAMI 2020. Again Cordie has chosen me to be her pageant coach and I am stoked to take on this experience with her and to give her my full attention and meet all her pageant needs.
YAMI/YMI are not your normal pageant systems, one they are international pageants therefore you compete with Women from around the world, & 2 once you compete you truly become apart of the family. These two things make this system stand out from any other, it's honest, fun, and focuses on community service, gaining confidence and making memories that will last a lifetime. I am truly honored to represent this system for an entire year as your Young Miss International and work closely with all these lovely ladies again to create a lifetime worth of memories.
The photo gallery shared above are photos from registration, rehersals, opening number, competition, 80's Prom night, crowning and sharing lots and lots of fun!
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