Pageantry: Enthusiasts Call For United Front, Well Regulated Industry

Pageant enthusiasts, on Sunday,urged stakeholders  to unite and regulate the industry well respected pageant organisation.

They made the call at the Pageant Conference themed “The Future of the Pageant Industry: Grooming the Next Generation of Beauty Queens.”

The convener, Mrs Winfrey Agbelese in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) said the idea behind The Pageant Conference is to bring the Nigerian pageant industry under one roof.

The former beauty queen said coming under one roof will eliminate stakeholders fighting themselves.

“But instead to encourage fighting together to achieve the collective aim of growing the industry.

“Pageantry literally has a whole lot of potentials but because of unnecessary competition, the bad blood in the space.

“Negativism to be precise, is slowly killing  the industry, it definitely made it not to go far as we need it to.

“This conference is literally to have the conversations of the pageant industry, talk about the issues, the challenges, the plagues of the industry and the possible solutions moving forward,” she said.

He noted that we have had a lot of scandals in the industry but the truth is that everything great has a good side and the bad side.

“Now what we are doing is to amplify the great side about the pageant industry.

“There has been misconceptions. People are talking about how girls literally sell their bodies or do certain things.

“But then again, a woman being proud of how she looks, how she speaks, how she thinks, trying to amplify and make life a better place and also help other people literally is not a bad thing.

“The industry teaches you to poise yourself properly, mentally, it literally prepares you for the world, allows you to speak well to stand up to talk.

“To be able to stand in any room or in any country and deliver a compelling statement,” she said.

Agbelese, a broadcast journalist and founder of The Pageant Academy, added that, beauty queens also go into community services after dropping their crown and that they are pretty doesn’t mean they are not intelligent.

“Pageant girls after dropping their crown on stage are literally in the slums doing community services, pushing the industry pushing their communities.

“I have been involved in several and past projects. We have visited hospitals, orphanage homes and all. These are the things that people need to see and these are things we need to amplify.

“Yes, we look good but that doesn’t mean we don’t have things in our head, doesn’t mean we don’t have projects. We also have things that are close to our heart. So yes, that is the good part and it definitely outweighs the misconceptions,” she said.

Media personality, Morayo Afolabi-Brown who was a speaker at the event said that pageantry is not a platform to showcase beauty alone but a platform to impact lives.

“This is a platform to impact lives, develop tourism in the country, share knowledge, experience and help each other grow. Use this platform to find the problem within the industry and create a solution.

“Yes, people judge ladies in pageantry but this is an opportunity for you to redirect and redefine the narrative. Don’t give up on pageantry, there are so many opportunities in this industry,” she said.

Mrs Omolayo Oyawoye, a child behaviour therapist further advised other enthusiasts and aspirants to be their biggest cheer leader and never let anything pull them away from their passion.

“Let go, do not be defined by what has happened to you or your childhood. There is more to you than you already know and there is more to you beyond your beauty,” she said.

NAN reports that the convener, during the conference, unveiled The pageants Academy Online Masterclass, a general overview of the pageant industry open to people who want to go into the industry as pageants, coaches or investors