Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
I'm slowly.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome everyone today's segments of the Quintessential Spiens Podcast. This
is your host, Bria ray Hair Sharborough, and I am
so excited to be with you all today. So for
those of you who do not know, four weeks from today,
(00:26):
the Beyond Beautiful World Pageant will have new reigning queens,
and I cannot express how hyped up I am about that. Now,
for my guest today, I have three of the twenty
twenty five delegates. To my immediate right, I have Beyond
(00:50):
Beautiful World Sapphire Chicago doctor Sonya Kennedy. Next to her
is Beyond beautif for World Sapphire Mount Prospect Jacqueline Ransom,
who has my mom's maiden names, so I'm sure we
are cousins from somewhere back down the line. And to
(01:13):
her immediate right, we have Beyond Beautiful World Emerald Illinois
Teleika known as t Willis. How are all three of
you today?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Awesome?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
All right? So for those of you that need a
little more information about the Beyond Beautiful World Pageant, this
is our fifth anniversary year and we are really, really
really extra amped up about it because sometimes what God
has for you to do others have doubt for it,
(01:52):
but we have made it five years and we will
make it many more years after this. We have women
that are diamond which is the age division of twenty
one to twenty nine. Rubies are thirty to thirty nine,
Emeralds are forty to forty nine, and Sapphires are fifty
and beyond. Each age division has a reigning queen. Plus
(02:17):
the overall winner is missed Beyond Beautiful World, which means
she can come from any age division. She is the
overall top scorer. Now, these three ladies, as you heard,
two are Sapphires, which you could not look at them
and tell neither could you tell our Emerald, because our
ladies are looking fresh and young.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So I want to talk with you all a little
bit about being a delegate in the Beyond Beautiful World pageant.
Miss Telika, why did you decide to become a delegate
this year?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Because last year I was broken and so I wanted
to rebuild myself and so becoming a delegate made me
self reflect.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So that's my why to become hole again.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yes, ma'am, missus Jacqueline, So.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I was at the last pageant last year and I'm
always looking to.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Do I know your name, I know you need to
move closer to your mind.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
I'm sorry, I'm always looking to do great things. And
I supported my sister friend last year, April, and I
enjoyed the pageant and I decided to just step out.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Now her friend, Miss April is Miss Sapphire Beyond Beautiful
World twenty twenty five, so she is currently a reigning queen.
Yes now, doctor Sonya, Yes, why are you a delegate
this year? Well?
Speaker 5 (03:59):
I I liked what Beyond Beautiful World stands for. It
wasn't the traditional pageant in a sense, and it gave
a space for women of all different walks, to shape, sizes,
to have a platform, and to have a voice. So
(04:21):
for me, that was something that drew me, that drew
me to Beyond Beautiful World. I had done the pageant
previously and it was nothing like that, and I just
saw that this was a place of resilience where a
woman could come with whatever she had and still show
up in her most authentic self.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
So for me, it was a no brainer.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
And plus I had seen a pageant several years and
so I've seen it evolve, and so I wanted to be.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
A part of that amazing thank you. Now, for those
of you that know, the pageant has six foundational pillars,
let me inform those of you who don't. One is entrepreneurship.
One is what self evolution part of what Talika was
(05:11):
talking about, the rebuild, the rebrand. One is philanthropy. One
is you all should know this. I'm going to I'm
gonna run them all down. One is sisterhood, which that
is not between myself and Pam Braxton, who is the
(05:32):
national director of the Southern Region. That is between the
delegates themselves. And for example, this group of delegates has
a private messaging system. I don't even know what format
is on. I don't know if it's text or WhatsApp
or what. But they talk with each other without us,
and they encourage and support each other without Pam and
(05:56):
I even knowing what the conversations are. As a matter
of fact, I didn't even know that the group existed
until to Leika asked me something. And then I look
up later on the date and I'm getting text messages
from one of the other delegates like so, God, we
doing such and such. I said, how do they know this?
(06:18):
To Leka, Okay, so they have a mode of communication
world is now. We also have testimonials, Yes, we also
have our testimonials as a foundational pillar. And one that
is super important to me, which is advocacy. Now, in
(06:41):
some pageant systems that's called a platform. This is a
cause that each of the delegates represent and they do
it as delegates and if they become raining queens, they
do it as raining queens. Every September for the Beyond
(07:02):
Beautiful World pageants system is Advocacy Spotlight Month, So each
delegate does an event whatever it is that they choose
to spotlight their advocacies. So, Jacqueline, what is your advocacy
and how did you spotlight it this year?
Speaker 4 (07:24):
So my advocacy is corectal cancer and I am an
advocate of the Corectal Cancer Alliance. This year I did
the Englewood Music Festival. I had a table and I gave.
Speaker 6 (07:40):
Away a little squeeze poops, little pete pecs and bracelets
and pamphlets so that people can be educated a little
more on correctal cancer.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
And she said squeeze poops, She means they were swirly
brown shape stress balls, which I had never do you
have a squeeze food. Oh my goodness, SQUEEZYO. I was like,
oh lord, yes, but it is like a stress.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
And the message on it is squeezed. Now I've squeezed
it all off, and so it's telling you because it's important.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Now, why did you choose correctal cancer as your advocacy?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
So my reason is during the pandemic, well right before
the pandemic, my sister friend of thirty five plus years
ended up with correctal cancer and the journey that her
that she went through and a few of us that
went to high school together we went through the journey
(08:50):
with her and.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
She died before we made fifteen.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
The thing that hurt me so bad because I lost
people before, like my grandmother's, my grandfather's, but it hurt
worse when it was my sister friend because we were
the same age, Like that's not supposed to happen. You know,
We're about to celebrate our fiftieth birthday and she's not there,
and so it was the same time that we were
(09:17):
are supposed to get our colon checked and she didn't
make it, but she had already. So the thing is
for me right now is that I want to tell
people that if you have if it runs in your
immediate family. You should be tested at the age of
thirty instead of I think now they have it at
(09:38):
forty five. So that's very important because if you get
ahead of it, then you won't be behind it.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Absolutely powerful.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Speaking from a personal perspective, my father died from colon
cancer and my doctor told me because of my family history,
I had to get tested sooner than the average person
and with a little more frequency. Yes, I'm actually having
a colonoscopy a couple of weeks after the pageant because
(10:10):
I'm on a schedule, because yeah, it will sneak up
on you and you will look up and it's too
late to be treated effectively. So I applaud you for
that advocacy. It's not one that most people would have chosen. Now,
(10:31):
doctor Sonya, Yes, I'm going to let you state your
advocacy and explain it.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
So my advocacy is emotional wellness for African American women
and for September, and I should say this a little
bit more.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Deeply, emotional wellness.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
And also I'm advocating for women with hidden disabilities. I
myself have a few hidden disabilities, they're not visible. But
at the same time, I identify as a disabled person,
and so for me, it was around mental health and
emotional wellness because a lot of people who have hidden disabilities,
(11:15):
especially African American women, we tend to do a lot
of masking, which leads to a lot of anxiety depressive
related symptoms or even trauma related symptoms. And so for me,
because I'm a military veteran as well diagnosed UH with PTSD,
(11:35):
it was it was like a given for me to advocate.
Also because I'm a clinical therapist, so there were all
these overlapping things that essentially I wanted to talk about.
Because I'm functional, it doesn't show up, and so there
are a ton of us out here operating very functional
in a way that we don't get the recognition, let
(11:58):
alone the services. And so I wanted to do advocacy
around emotional wellness and I chose yoga. I should say
somatic body body healing because I'm also a certified yoga instructor.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
See, this is why Rea wanted me to do this.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
So yoga was something that was a saving grace for
me in a lot of ways. It helped me to
deal with a lot of the emotional trauma that was
happening or had been happening since my time in the military,
and I wanted to be able to give that back
to the community. I became a certified yoga instructor, and
really my health began to change. And I knew that
(12:37):
if I, as a African American girl growing up in Englewood,
could come and do a whole three sixty and make
some changes that were for the betterment, then I could
give this to other African American women. And it wasn't
something that it was costly. It wasn't something that they
had to go through a lot of hoops and hurdles
to get to. All they needed to do was get
a towel or yoga matt and lay on it. And
(12:59):
so that's why I wanted to do. Great thing is
we also have fun because we hula hooped this past Saturday.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Okay, confession number one. I can no longer hulu And
I was so sad when I learned that I can
no longer hula hoop. But Song and Doctor Song's gonna
give me back on track because I tried it a
few years ago and I was like, I used to
(13:28):
do that a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
It was like, this isn't working.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Something that is not working. So I was not the
best hula hooper. So that's okay, we're gonna get We're
gonna fix that. For me to add me to that program, yes,
because I was like, this should be easier than it is.
But yeah, for sure it was not. And for those
of you who do not know me personally, if I
(13:55):
know you by a particular name, that is the name
that stays in my head and it is very difficult
for me to switch over. So Telika is Teleika, even
though I know she is not known as Telika to
most of the universe, but that is the name I
know her as. So she is Talika Telika. What is
your advocacy and why did you choose it?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
My advocacy is around grief, and I chose it because
we fail to talk about it in our community. And
my advocacy for September Spotlight was life after Loss. And
so what I did I did around table talk, and
I had a therapist, a.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Doctor, a pastor, and lived.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Experienced panelists and we talked about how grief shows up,
how we don't talk about it, how we push it away,
how we think it's embarrassing, and we judge others for
going through it. So for me spotlighting grief because I
(14:58):
went through it and it was heavy and it was dark,
and so now I want to put.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
A spotlight on it.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And it's okay to say, hey, I'm just not feeling
good today. You can lose someone myself lost someone lost
my mother, and then this last recent loss, it just.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Was like wow, wow, wow, wow.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
All of them just impacted and compounded on one time
at one time, and so you don't even realize that
you're not grieving per se at those moments. And so
to think that my mom died in two thousand and eight,
it's twenty twenty five, and now it's like what the So, yeah,
(15:47):
grief is something that our community needs to talk about.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Well, not just even per se death necessarily as far
as the physical death. Grief can be over the death
of a relationship, can be over the death of a friendship,
a non intimate connection. There's so many different ways that
grief can show up, and we live in a society
(16:12):
that minimizes it, that discounts it, that pushes it to
the background, without understanding that what you push down is
going to eventually come back up. That's what a boil is,
you know, it's that constant toxin in your body that
you know you ignore, but it's going to swell up
at a point and you're going to have to deal
(16:33):
with It's going to either rupture on its own or
you're going to have to take care of it. So definitely,
grief is a big deal, and especially in the post
COVID era, oh yeah, where there were so many people
that grieve the loss of a loved one due to
COVID and to add insult to the injury, did not
(16:57):
have the methods by which they can could express their
grief because we were under technically lockdown. So a lot
of those people are still dealing with that feeling of
not having the ability to have properly celebrated the lives
of those that they loved and lost. So thank you
(17:20):
all for all of your advocacies. As different as they are,
they are definitely all about putting the spotlight not just
for that one day, but on a topic that is
important in different ways. Now four weeks, four weeks, four weeks,
(17:44):
four weeks, we will be in a different place, in
a different space. So we have four mandatory areas of
competition and the Beyond Beautiful World Pageant and we have
three optional areas of competition. Number one, we have an
(18:08):
opening dance number. Talika has been texting me about having
two left feet, and I told her, some of your
sister delegates dance, reach out to them, and I dance
a little bit bit, so I'm like, you reach out
to them to help you. But the opening dance number
(18:31):
is not something that is scored per se, but it
is the first moment that the delegates are on stage
during pageant finals. Then we have four mandatory areas of competition.
The on stage question answer where a question gets pulled
out of the literal box and everybody has to answer
(18:56):
it in thirty seconds or less. That's number one. Number
two is fun fashion where people the delegates wear an
outfit that shows a different side of their personality or
sides you may not see us often, and it's very fun.
(19:17):
I know last year we had a catwoman, we had
a Jessica Rabbit, we had a carnival celebrator, we had
a cowgirl, we had a geisha, and that's just off
the top of my head. I was like, well, you go,
girls go. We have the evening gown, which is traditional
(19:46):
sort of. We do not specify dress color. We do
not specify dress style. We do not specify heel height
for the shoes. We specific look during wardrobe review to
make sure, and this is for all of their wardrobes
that they look nice in them. That is our only requirement.
(20:11):
So and not too low down here and not too
high on the size and in the front. That's it.
So the evening gown, and then the fourth, which is
most important to me personally, which is the Phoenix Rising testimonial,
where the delicates speak about something that they have achieved, overcome,
(20:31):
or a combination of the two in five minutes or less.
So starting with doctor Sonya, which of the four mandatory
areas of competition, Well, no, no, no, wait, let me
speak on the optionals, because you may prefer an optional
area to one of the mandatories. The optional areas of
(20:53):
competition are talent, which can be anything in three minutes
that does not include smoke, fire, glitter, or live animals. Right,
you have to say that, And I mean because somebody
come out there with a smoke ma sheet, we'll all
be wheezing out through that fire. Ready, yeah, fire into batons,
(21:18):
no fire, living my life like it's golden. Where the
delegates who choose to be in that area of competition
where gold from head to toe and the Black Pearl
Pitch competition, which is for those delegates who are or
would like to be entrepreneurs with a for profit business
or a not for profit organization, where they do a
(21:39):
ten minute pitch in front of a panel of judges
on the Friday before the finals. So this year that
would be October thirty first, and the winner will be
announced during the finals on November first. Now, doctor Sonya,
out of the optional and many areas of competition, which
(22:03):
one is most exciting to you? Now?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
So you made it hard.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
You named all of the category right and right, and
you know, she just made it really hard. So thank
you for making it hard. But I would probably have
to say my first one is the Phoenix Rising testimonial.
I think that gives us a way to not just
(22:30):
talk about our advocacy, but really to give a qualitative
space of being able to see us not just as
pageant queens, but to really see us as people, as women,
And we get a chance to share, and we get
a chance to invite people in and for some of
(22:51):
us it might be the first time talking about some
of the trauma or some of the things that they've
overcame to even be on that stage. So I love
that the Phoenix Rising testimonial.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
It's there.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Because it's a lot of stuff we carry and we
just don't have a space to be our authentic, transparent self.
So that's another way to connect with us as well as,
you know, beyond the pageant gowns and beyond the beauty,
beyond the makeup, where you get a chance to see
another side of us. The other one is fun fashion,
and I think that's more whimsical in a way because
(23:26):
sometimes we can, you know, really be in that pageant
life and we're trying to you know, nail the interview questions,
we're trying to you know, hit all of the categories
that we're gonna be competing in. But fun fashion just
kind of allows you to come as you are and
have fun and also still invite other people to have
fun with you, to have an experience with you during
that moment of coming down the runway and just having
(23:49):
fun and being celebraatory. When I hula hoop, I have fun, right,
A hula hoop? Keep yeah, because you know it's freedom, right.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
I can't do it. You keep bringing that up, so
you're gonna be there.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I promise.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
To that freedom, right and I like that, the freedom,
the joy. So the fun fashion I think is a
cool category to you know, just kick the heels.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Off and just do your thing or put the heels on,
depending on what your fun fashion is.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
You know what I actually fashion. Okay, now.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
This Jacqueline, tell me your favorite. So honestly I was doing.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
I was the phoenix rising is what came to me
in the beginning because it gives us all something different
that we can all probably connect with. And for me,
I'll be able to tell my story basically, and it
(24:57):
comes like sometimes you're a phoenix rising can be something
that's emotional.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
But then.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
And then you can have other bring other people in,
just like a short movie for me, and so that
that is like what stands out with me. And then
just having on that white and just feeling like that
phoenix that's freeborn.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Other things too, because you know, I like to do
you like to dress.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Yes, I've come from a place where before, like I
would go when I'm going to parties and it's a
theme and all this. I'm wearing my gym shoes, my
jeans or sweatpants and a T shirt because that's just
what I want to do. But now it's like I
get into different the different categories and buy like I
(25:49):
buy things just like if it's on sale, of course,
but it's just like, oh, I'm pad this because when
we get ready to go here, I will have it.
And so like, yes, I like to dress, and it
doesn't have to be something that's going to take you
out of your total budget. It can be something beautiful yeah,
so simple.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
So yes, I love the dress, thank you, but you
really like talents. I also, I just can't.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
I'm limited as far as that, so for now, for now, temporarily,
so yes, And it's so crazy because honestly, like all
the categories, I'm like, especially when you get more free
time during the day like me, I'd be like.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Okay, I could do this.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I can add this bracelet to this dress.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Stuff at it's limited over there.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Misterlika, what are your favorite categories?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
So I we're gone, I'm gonna say the phoenix rising
as well, because that's where we're most vulnerable at and
we're gonna free ourselves with that phoenix rising. And guess
what we're gonna rise again. So that's what that that
one is the most important to me.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
The fun fashion.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I'm still working out that one, all right, but also
the black Pearl pitch to see the leadership, the entrepreneurship
that we are coming to put on the table.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
So I'm ready for that one, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Now, part of our foundational pillars we just talked about advocacy.
I'm want to come back to a couple of them.
But the testimonials. The reason that it's so important to
me personally is what you all are going through or
(27:57):
have been through, someone else is in that space and
something you will say will show someone in that audience
how they can make it through. Someone that has been struggling,
someone that may not have even recognized the depth of
(28:20):
what they were enduring. Quietly, silently, painfully. You are going
to make that change for them, and you may not.
It may not be one of your supporters. It may
be someone that you have never seen, and that is
(28:40):
the beauty of the testimonial. You will alter a life
that maybe one day you will meet that person on
the street and said, you know, you said this at
the pageant. I was there as a guest of somebody else,
but you changed things for me. And entrepreneurship. One of
the concerns that and this is not why we included
(29:03):
in the pageant, but one of the concerns I'm hearing
a lot of from a lot of different demographics, is
about the status of employment, meaning traditional employment. My parents
were both educators. My mom worked over thirty years, my
father worked closer to forty and they got a pension,
(29:26):
and you know, that's what that was. That's not happening
as much anymore. And I do not know a wealthy employee.
If your goal is to be wealthy and not just
not hood rich, you know, I'm talking about wealthy and
(29:50):
to pass that on to your generations to come. Entrepreneurship
is the venue through which that is happening. That's the
vehicle that people are using to get there other you know,
unless you're robbing a bank and you don't get caught
type thing, which you know, I don't know how often
that's happening in the world anymore. But we give women
(30:13):
that opportunity to a think, if they're not in that space,
is this a space I want to get into and
b let me get a formula. Because even the women
that did not win the pitch in the past had
(30:34):
a foundation upon which they could grow because they didn't
know how to do the pitches themselves. You know, you
may watch Shark Tank or anything else, but they didn't
have that. Let me put the budgets together, let me
put my projections together, let me look at who is
my audience, who are my clients. They didn't do that
(30:55):
until the pitch came up. So that is a super
important part of the pageant, even though it is optional,
but it is game changing for those delegates that participate.
I want to speak a little bit about sisterhood because
(31:17):
it's not something that you have to see in big,
glaring lights. It's those small things. It was a small
thing that happened here, and I don't even think that
you all thought I was paying attention. Sonya lives far
away and she thought she had her right bag with
(31:37):
certain things, and then she didn't. So she chose to
come on instead of being late. Because they know time
is a big deal for me. I will have a
stroke if you are late. She was on time. Jacqueline
gave Sonia her sash so that she would have something
(31:58):
in writing to represent. Those are those small things that
are big things. Those are those I didn't have to
do that, And I'm not looking for a cookie because
I did it. MM, but I did it because this
is my new sister things.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
We do not.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Discuss competition. As far as competing against the other women
in the pageant, we never have. The women in the
pageant are collaborators. They assist each other. They made gang
up on us one day. I never know. No, i'm'a
watch it. I'm sure. The only competition that the ladies
(32:43):
have are the women in the mirror. To be better
than she is yesterday and to be not as good
as she will be tomorrow. Okay, so that is a
big deal. So that's sisterhood M testimonial advocacy, entrepreneurship, Okay,
(33:05):
philanthropy we have two levels now philanthropy. The Beyond Beautiful
World Pageant organization has always supported the Project Kennedy not
for profit, which was founded by Kennedy Parker, who is
my sorority pledged daughter's biological daughter. To make a long
(33:28):
and hard story short, Kennedy was diagnosed with a rare
form of cancer in college, went through a very long operation,
went into remission. While she was in remission, she helped
her mother write a book. She went back to college,
she worked two jobs, became a member of the National
(33:51):
Council of Negro Women, became a member of Sigma Gamberal
Sorti Incorporated and created the Project Kennedy not for profit
but Kennedy. And this is what makes it even more
difficult for me. Kennedy is five days older than my son, literally,
(34:11):
and she had just joined the National Council of Negro
Women and Sigma Gamarole when she started to feel not
well again and she did not make it the second time.
And this was in the beginning of the pandemic where
(34:33):
people were frightened to leave their homes. Over one thousand
people came to her funeral. She was three weeks shy
of turning twenty five, and to make that type of
change in less than a quarter of a century shows
(34:57):
what a magnanimous giants she would have been today. But
having said that, her mother, Darnisia Evans, has kept the
Project Kennedy Not for Profit going And they just did
a blanket send out, so everyone submitted names, the delegates
(35:18):
and others to Project Kennedy and they mailed them what
I call comfort blankets, because when you go through chemotherapy,
a lot of people feel very very cold, or when
you're in the hospital for treatment, you feel very cold,
and they send them some beautiful blankets. So everyone on
the mailing list got a blanket this year. They give
(35:40):
food cards, transportation, etc. Because a lot of people find
themselves in the hospital supporting their family members during Thanksgiving,
during holidays that other people deal with just whenever, and
you can't leave, you're afraid to leave, so they provide
certain necessities so that their stay there is comfortable. We
(36:07):
have also, and I'm so excited about this, We've created
the Beyond Beautiful World Foundation, which has been given its
not for profit status as well, so this year. We
created it last year and we got our not for
profit status this year, so I'm super excited about that. Yes,
(36:28):
so at the pageant you will have the opportunity for
the first time to contribute to the Beyond Beautiful World Foundation,
which works with women and girls in education and entrepreneurship.
We have for scholarships which are diversified. One is global,
(36:51):
one is local local media the United States, and two
are four different types of entrepreneurship. We are also working
with entrepreneurs on a different level and in the future
we'll have certain things like entrepreneurial fairs, et cetera for
women and girls that are not pageant delegates, but to
(37:14):
give them that space to grow and develop and become
what our delegates already have been. So we are excited
about that. Now. The last pillar is self evolution. This
pageant is not a you sign up in March and
(37:35):
then we see you in October and then you get
stage in two weeks. The delegates have modules twice a
month via Zoom because everyone isn't in the same space.
That are not just even though we did have the
walk Smile poles, which I do like that one. These
(37:57):
are also modules to increase not just your confidence level,
but your understanding of who you are as a woman,
and to bring more out of you, because we all
have more to give, even if it's only something that
we are giving to ourselves. So when we look at
(38:20):
the start, when you start the modules, and I think
that was in April, and you continue until the last module,
which is mid October. For this pageant season, I've watched
you all as women, not just again connecting more as sisters,
sister delegates, but being more confident in who you are
(38:43):
and how you present yourselves when you walk out into
the world, and some of you are still surprised that
you're doing this.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
That would be me.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
But it has been a positive I hope I'm speaking
your term for everyone experience, and it's been a growth
and development the old Chicago and I talked about the
old term for gangster disciple about growth in development. This
is truly about growth and development, not just of the delegates,
(39:16):
not just of the pageant system, but for myself and
for Pam because we change and evolved as you all do.
We learn more about ourselves and our organization and how
we want to change the world through what you all
show us. So for your self evolution, what do you
(39:38):
feel the changes have been in you? Let's start with Talika,
the change in me?
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Well, keeping me on point with these Monday motivationals. I
just wanted and my sister to my left say, hey,
are you okay. I'm like yeah, She's like, oh, what's
the day is.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
I'm like.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Tuesday. Oh, let me go ahead and send this motivation.
You know, I forgot it was Monday. It was It
was a one of those moments for me grieving and
I was like dang, And so it made me reflect,
like this group of women keeping me on points to
be aware of my days because at one point I
(40:29):
ain't know everything was going into one another. Ad what
I wake up, go to work, wake up and.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Go to work.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
That's all I was doing. So it just made me.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Reflect and say, hey, they are enjoying these motivational mondays.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
They are keeping me on point. So it's making me
be aware of my days and myself.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
And it's making you be aware that you are important
to them that too, Yes, your contribution is important, doctor Sonya.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Self evolution HM, as a therapist, I don't think we
are ever fully evolved, and so there's always room for growth,
for a higher level of awareness. And so for me
to just be able to be even more aware of
(41:21):
how I'm moving, what I'm committed to, where I'm placing priority,
rethinking how I even define you know, what's important because
that thing of being overly committed trying to nail everything
with those commitments. I think I have a different level
(41:43):
of understanding who I am when I commit to something.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
And as we spoke about an hour which I was
talking with you about it before, how go ahead and said,
so I think.
Speaker 5 (42:04):
For me, just being able to toot my own horn
in a.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Way that.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
We talked about being cocky versus confident, but just allowing
people to share and embrace and celebrate and support me
in a way that I didn't feel like I had
to hide it or I couldn't talk about it, or
it wouldn't be celebrated.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
So doing more of that, being more.
Speaker 5 (42:32):
More alert and aware to how I'm coming to some
of the accomplishments and some of the things instead of
keeping them a secret.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Is that, yes, ma'am. Conversation too, adjustments, the adjustment is
still happened, Miss jack willan with me.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
I think, well, I know that since these past couple
of years be not working, So I'm able to know
that because my husband will always be like, You're not perfect,
because whenever things don't go right for me, it's I'm
at spell brad. So I'm not the brat, bad brat,
(43:14):
but just I cry. I'm very emotional and I don't
apologize for that because it's me, But just to know
me better to stop accepting things that I shouldn't accept
from people, to know that I don't have to accept
(43:36):
things that I'm not comfortable with.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
And that aren't good for me. And if you have
somebody backing you up, and you.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
Can say no and it's a complete sentence, no explanation.
Speaker 5 (43:50):
No.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
I've always been the one that people get over on
and so like I don't and I don't have to be.
It's not me being mean, because my waste everything is
always even tond It's just that I would just let
things go but now and I'm not confrontational. It's just
that I'm confident in me and that was something that
(44:14):
I wasn't before. So and just for somebody, because I
have a lot of people that have my back, but
I have a lot of people's back as well. So
that's something that I just I don't have to know
everything that's going on. I just need to know if
you're good, and then I'm gonna let you know I'm
good and we're gonna.
Speaker 5 (44:34):
All be good.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
I'll be good together. Well before we leave the Intellectual
Radio Studios today, I do have a couple of things
to say about Pageant weekend. Yayo, yeah, Yes. Thursday, the
(44:59):
ladies would check into the Quality Inn and Suites in
Orland Park and have their Sisterhood dinner that night. Friday,
morning for those that are participating in the Black Pearl
Pitch competition, they will be doing that. And Friday evening
(45:22):
are the prelims for Talent and for the Phoenix Rising testimonials.
All of those events are private, they are not open
to the public. Saturday, it's game on. They will be rehearsing,
they will be getting it right. The doors open at
(45:46):
four pm at Georgio's Banquets in Orland Park, eighty eight
hundred West one hundred and fifty ninth Street in Orland.
Dinner is served at five for those that bought dinner
tickets and the pageant starts for the finals at six pm,
So there are peoples that may want to come for dinner,
(46:10):
but we also have an option that will be the
general admission tickets. VIP tickets are sold out, but if
you just want to come to see the pageant itself,
come and buy open seating tickets so that won't have
a dinner included. You will be able to see the pageant.
We will have some phenomenal vendors, one of which is
(46:34):
a big deal to women, which is Black Girl Vitamins.
They will be in the house, yes, and there's a
list of other vendors that I will give when I
am back in the intellectual radio studios before pageant time happens,
and other sponsors. But it is going to be the
(46:59):
event that you don't want to miss. We are here
to elevate and celebrate women.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
No negativity, no drama, none of that. This is a
night that not just the delegates, not just the pageant team,
but the audience will not forget. As Jacqueline said, she
was there last year and that's why she's here this year.
So be ready to see a whole lot of sparkle,
(47:35):
a whole lot of shine. And I'm not talking about
the dresses. I'm talking about the ore from the women
inside out. And if you are still interested, because I
do believe there are still some vendor spots open. We
only have one vendor per item type, so we will
check your applications to make sure that there is not
(47:57):
a vendor selling the same things. We want to make
sure that each vendor has the maximized potential for earning
their income. If you want to buy tickets, go to www.
Dot Beyond Beautifulworld dot com and look at the Pageant
Weekend twenty twenty five tab and you can also if
(48:21):
you are still interested in being a sponsor for the event,
all of those things will be under that tab. Lastly,
last late, when you show up, I want you to
show up fine, especially the ladies, because this is not,
(48:47):
you know, the blue jeans sweatpants event. This is an
opportunity to wear your finest, be glorious and glamorous in
the audience, just like they're going to be on the stage,
because this is definitely your time to show up and shine.
If you have any questions, please go to the contact
(49:09):
us tab on the website. And I am four weeks.
It is four weeks. I am jumping in my seat.
Speaker 3 (49:18):
I am so excited.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
These ladies and their sister delegates are going to have
a night to remember, a weekend to remember, and we
hope that you join us there so that you can
have the same time and experience with us. And with that,
I thank you Beyond Beautiful World, Emerald Illinois, Beyond Beautiful World,
saft Fire Mount Prospect, and Beyond Beautiful World Southfire Chicago
(49:42):
for coming out with me today. Your supporters, Hey, you
better be in the house because we're gonna turn it
up and turn it out again. Peece and blessings in
the name of Jesus, will see you all in less
than four weeks.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Yes n.
Speaker 2 (50:01):
That's it for today's segment of the ques Such a
Queen's Podcast.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
I see the depths of your so beautiful, Make your tenderness,
your lovely, your sweetness,
I'm slowly.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome everyone today's segments of the Quintessential Spiens Podcast. This
is your host, Bria ray Hair Sharborough, and I am
so excited to be with you all today. So for
those of you who do not know, four weeks from today,
(00:26):
the Beyond Beautiful World Pageant will have new reigning queens,
and I cannot express how hyped up I am about that. Now,
for my guest today, I have three of the twenty
twenty five delegates. To my immediate right, I have Beyond
(00:50):
Beautiful World Sapphire Chicago doctor Sonya Kennedy. Next to her
is Beyond beautif for World Sapphire Mount Prospect Jacqueline Ransom,
who has my mom's maiden names, so I'm sure we
are cousins from somewhere back down the line. And to
(01:13):
her immediate right, we have Beyond Beautiful World Emerald Illinois
Teleika known as t Willis. How are all three of
you today?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
Awesome?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
All right? So for those of you that need a
little more information about the Beyond Beautiful World Pageant, this
is our fifth anniversary year and we are really, really
really extra amped up about it because sometimes what God
has for you to do others have doubt for it,
(01:52):
but we have made it five years and we will
make it many more years after this. We have women
that are diamond which is the age division of twenty
one to twenty nine. Rubies are thirty to thirty nine,
Emeralds are forty to forty nine, and Sapphires are fifty
and beyond. Each age division has a reigning queen. Plus
(02:17):
the overall winner is missed Beyond Beautiful World, which means
she can come from any age division. She is the
overall top scorer. Now, these three ladies, as you heard,
two are Sapphires, which you could not look at them
and tell neither could you tell our Emerald, because our
ladies are looking fresh and young.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yes, absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
So I want to talk with you all a little
bit about being a delegate in the Beyond Beautiful World pageant.
Miss Telika, why did you decide to become a delegate
this year?
Speaker 1 (02:57):
Because last year I was broken and so I wanted
to rebuild myself and so becoming a delegate made me
self reflect.
Speaker 3 (03:08):
So that's my why to become hole again.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Yes, ma'am, missus Jacqueline, So.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
I was at the last pageant last year and I'm
always looking to.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
Do I know your name, I know you need to
move closer to your mind.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
I'm sorry, I'm always looking to do great things. And
I supported my sister friend last year, April, and I
enjoyed the pageant and I decided to just step out.
Speaker 2 (03:42):
Now her friend, Miss April is Miss Sapphire Beyond Beautiful
World twenty twenty five, so she is currently a reigning queen.
Yes now, doctor Sonya, Yes, why are you a delegate
this year? Well?
Speaker 5 (03:59):
I I liked what Beyond Beautiful World stands for. It
wasn't the traditional pageant in a sense, and it gave
a space for women of all different walks, to shape, sizes,
to have a platform, and to have a voice. So
(04:21):
for me, that was something that drew me, that drew
me to Beyond Beautiful World. I had done the pageant
previously and it was nothing like that, and I just
saw that this was a place of resilience where a
woman could come with whatever she had and still show
up in her most authentic self.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
So for me, it was a no brainer.
Speaker 5 (04:44):
And plus I had seen a pageant several years and
so I've seen it evolve, and so I wanted to be.
Speaker 2 (04:49):
A part of that amazing thank you. Now, for those
of you that know, the pageant has six foundational pillars,
let me inform those of you who don't. One is entrepreneurship.
One is what self evolution part of what Talika was
(05:11):
talking about, the rebuild, the rebrand. One is philanthropy. One
is you all should know this. I'm going to I'm
gonna run them all down. One is sisterhood, which that
is not between myself and Pam Braxton, who is the
(05:32):
national director of the Southern Region. That is between the
delegates themselves. And for example, this group of delegates has
a private messaging system. I don't even know what format
is on. I don't know if it's text or WhatsApp
or what. But they talk with each other without us,
and they encourage and support each other without Pam and
(05:56):
I even knowing what the conversations are. As a matter
of fact, I didn't even know that the group existed
until to Leika asked me something. And then I look
up later on the date and I'm getting text messages
from one of the other delegates like so, God, we
doing such and such. I said, how do they know this?
(06:18):
To Leka, Okay, so they have a mode of communication
world is now. We also have testimonials, Yes, we also
have our testimonials as a foundational pillar. And one that
is super important to me, which is advocacy. Now, in
(06:41):
some pageant systems that's called a platform. This is a
cause that each of the delegates represent and they do
it as delegates and if they become raining queens, they
do it as raining queens. Every September for the Beyond
(07:02):
Beautiful World pageants system is Advocacy Spotlight Month, So each
delegate does an event whatever it is that they choose
to spotlight their advocacies. So, Jacqueline, what is your advocacy
and how did you spotlight it this year?
Speaker 4 (07:24):
So my advocacy is corectal cancer and I am an
advocate of the Corectal Cancer Alliance. This year I did
the Englewood Music Festival. I had a table and I gave.
Speaker 6 (07:40):
Away a little squeeze poops, little pete pecs and bracelets
and pamphlets so that people can be educated a little
more on correctal cancer.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
And she said squeeze poops, She means they were swirly
brown shape stress balls, which I had never do you
have a squeeze food. Oh my goodness, SQUEEZYO. I was like,
oh lord, yes, but it is like a stress.
Speaker 4 (08:14):
And the message on it is squeezed. Now I've squeezed
it all off, and so it's telling you because it's important.
Speaker 2 (08:24):
Now, why did you choose correctal cancer as your advocacy?
Speaker 4 (08:28):
So my reason is during the pandemic, well right before
the pandemic, my sister friend of thirty five plus years
ended up with correctal cancer and the journey that her
that she went through and a few of us that
went to high school together we went through the journey
(08:50):
with her and.
Speaker 2 (08:52):
She died before we made fifteen.
Speaker 4 (08:57):
The thing that hurt me so bad because I lost
people before, like my grandmother's, my grandfather's, but it hurt
worse when it was my sister friend because we were
the same age, Like that's not supposed to happen. You know,
We're about to celebrate our fiftieth birthday and she's not there,
and so it was the same time that we were
(09:17):
are supposed to get our colon checked and she didn't
make it, but she had already. So the thing is
for me right now is that I want to tell
people that if you have if it runs in your
immediate family. You should be tested at the age of
thirty instead of I think now they have it at
(09:38):
forty five. So that's very important because if you get
ahead of it, then you won't be behind it.
Speaker 3 (09:45):
Absolutely powerful.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
Speaking from a personal perspective, my father died from colon
cancer and my doctor told me because of my family history,
I had to get tested sooner than the average person
and with a little more frequency. Yes, I'm actually having
a colonoscopy a couple of weeks after the pageant because
(10:10):
I'm on a schedule, because yeah, it will sneak up
on you and you will look up and it's too
late to be treated effectively. So I applaud you for
that advocacy. It's not one that most people would have chosen. Now,
(10:31):
doctor Sonya, Yes, I'm going to let you state your
advocacy and explain it.
Speaker 5 (10:40):
So my advocacy is emotional wellness for African American women
and for September, and I should say this a little
bit more.
Speaker 2 (10:50):
Deeply, emotional wellness.
Speaker 5 (10:52):
And also I'm advocating for women with hidden disabilities. I
myself have a few hidden disabilities, they're not visible. But
at the same time, I identify as a disabled person,
and so for me, it was around mental health and
emotional wellness because a lot of people who have hidden disabilities,
(11:15):
especially African American women, we tend to do a lot
of masking, which leads to a lot of anxiety depressive
related symptoms or even trauma related symptoms. And so for me,
because I'm a military veteran as well diagnosed UH with PTSD,
(11:35):
it was it was like a given for me to advocate.
Also because I'm a clinical therapist, so there were all
these overlapping things that essentially I wanted to talk about.
Because I'm functional, it doesn't show up, and so there
are a ton of us out here operating very functional
in a way that we don't get the recognition, let
(11:58):
alone the services. And so I wanted to do advocacy
around emotional wellness and I chose yoga. I should say
somatic body body healing because I'm also a certified yoga instructor.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
See, this is why Rea wanted me to do this.
Speaker 5 (12:15):
So yoga was something that was a saving grace for
me in a lot of ways. It helped me to
deal with a lot of the emotional trauma that was
happening or had been happening since my time in the military,
and I wanted to be able to give that back
to the community. I became a certified yoga instructor, and
really my health began to change. And I knew that
(12:37):
if I, as a African American girl growing up in Englewood,
could come and do a whole three sixty and make
some changes that were for the betterment, then I could
give this to other African American women. And it wasn't
something that it was costly. It wasn't something that they
had to go through a lot of hoops and hurdles
to get to. All they needed to do was get
a towel or yoga matt and lay on it. And
(12:59):
so that's why I wanted to do. Great thing is
we also have fun because we hula hooped this past Saturday.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
Okay, confession number one. I can no longer hulu And
I was so sad when I learned that I can
no longer hula hoop. But Song and Doctor Song's gonna
give me back on track because I tried it a
few years ago and I was like, I used to
(13:28):
do that a lot.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
It was like, this isn't working.
Speaker 2 (13:32):
Something that is not working. So I was not the
best hula hooper. So that's okay, we're gonna get We're
gonna fix that. For me to add me to that program, yes,
because I was like, this should be easier than it is.
But yeah, for sure it was not. And for those
of you who do not know me personally, if I
(13:55):
know you by a particular name, that is the name
that stays in my head and it is very difficult
for me to switch over. So Telika is Teleika, even
though I know she is not known as Telika to
most of the universe, but that is the name I
know her as. So she is Talika Telika. What is
your advocacy and why did you choose it?
Speaker 1 (14:15):
My advocacy is around grief, and I chose it because
we fail to talk about it in our community. And
my advocacy for September Spotlight was life after Loss. And
so what I did I did around table talk, and
I had a therapist, a.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Doctor, a pastor, and lived.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Experienced panelists and we talked about how grief shows up,
how we don't talk about it, how we push it away,
how we think it's embarrassing, and we judge others for
going through it. So for me spotlighting grief because I
(14:58):
went through it and it was heavy and it was dark,
and so now I want to put.
Speaker 3 (15:05):
A spotlight on it.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
And it's okay to say, hey, I'm just not feeling
good today. You can lose someone myself lost someone lost
my mother, and then this last recent loss, it just.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
Was like wow, wow, wow, wow.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
All of them just impacted and compounded on one time
at one time, and so you don't even realize that
you're not grieving per se at those moments. And so
to think that my mom died in two thousand and eight,
it's twenty twenty five, and now it's like what the So, yeah,
(15:47):
grief is something that our community needs to talk about.
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Well, not just even per se death necessarily as far
as the physical death. Grief can be over the death
of a relationship, can be over the death of a friendship,
a non intimate connection. There's so many different ways that
grief can show up, and we live in a society
(16:12):
that minimizes it, that discounts it, that pushes it to
the background, without understanding that what you push down is
going to eventually come back up. That's what a boil is,
you know, it's that constant toxin in your body that
you know you ignore, but it's going to swell up
at a point and you're going to have to deal
(16:33):
with It's going to either rupture on its own or
you're going to have to take care of it. So definitely,
grief is a big deal, and especially in the post
COVID era, oh yeah, where there were so many people
that grieve the loss of a loved one due to
COVID and to add insult to the injury, did not
(16:57):
have the methods by which they can could express their
grief because we were under technically lockdown. So a lot
of those people are still dealing with that feeling of
not having the ability to have properly celebrated the lives
of those that they loved and lost. So thank you
(17:20):
all for all of your advocacies. As different as they are,
they are definitely all about putting the spotlight not just
for that one day, but on a topic that is
important in different ways. Now four weeks, four weeks, four weeks,
(17:44):
four weeks, we will be in a different place, in
a different space. So we have four mandatory areas of
competition and the Beyond Beautiful World Pageant and we have
three optional areas of competition. Number one, we have an
(18:08):
opening dance number. Talika has been texting me about having
two left feet, and I told her, some of your
sister delegates dance, reach out to them, and I dance
a little bit bit, so I'm like, you reach out
to them to help you. But the opening dance number
(18:31):
is not something that is scored per se, but it
is the first moment that the delegates are on stage
during pageant finals. Then we have four mandatory areas of competition.
The on stage question answer where a question gets pulled
out of the literal box and everybody has to answer
(18:56):
it in thirty seconds or less. That's number one. Number
two is fun fashion where people the delegates wear an
outfit that shows a different side of their personality or
sides you may not see us often, and it's very fun.
(19:17):
I know last year we had a catwoman, we had
a Jessica Rabbit, we had a carnival celebrator, we had
a cowgirl, we had a geisha, and that's just off
the top of my head. I was like, well, you go,
girls go. We have the evening gown, which is traditional
(19:46):
sort of. We do not specify dress color. We do
not specify dress style. We do not specify heel height
for the shoes. We specific look during wardrobe review to
make sure, and this is for all of their wardrobes
that they look nice in them. That is our only requirement.
(20:11):
So and not too low down here and not too
high on the size and in the front. That's it.
So the evening gown, and then the fourth, which is
most important to me personally, which is the Phoenix Rising testimonial,
where the delicates speak about something that they have achieved, overcome,
(20:31):
or a combination of the two in five minutes or less.
So starting with doctor Sonya, which of the four mandatory
areas of competition, Well, no, no, no, wait, let me
speak on the optionals, because you may prefer an optional
area to one of the mandatories. The optional areas of
(20:53):
competition are talent, which can be anything in three minutes
that does not include smoke, fire, glitter, or live animals. Right,
you have to say that, And I mean because somebody
come out there with a smoke ma sheet, we'll all
be wheezing out through that fire. Ready, yeah, fire into batons,
(21:18):
no fire, living my life like it's golden. Where the
delegates who choose to be in that area of competition
where gold from head to toe and the Black Pearl
Pitch competition, which is for those delegates who are or
would like to be entrepreneurs with a for profit business
or a not for profit organization, where they do a
(21:39):
ten minute pitch in front of a panel of judges
on the Friday before the finals. So this year that
would be October thirty first, and the winner will be
announced during the finals on November first. Now, doctor Sonya,
out of the optional and many areas of competition, which
(22:03):
one is most exciting to you? Now?
Speaker 3 (22:08):
So you made it hard.
Speaker 5 (22:09):
You named all of the category right and right, and
you know, she just made it really hard. So thank
you for making it hard. But I would probably have
to say my first one is the Phoenix Rising testimonial.
I think that gives us a way to not just
(22:30):
talk about our advocacy, but really to give a qualitative
space of being able to see us not just as
pageant queens, but to really see us as people, as women,
And we get a chance to share, and we get
a chance to invite people in and for some of
(22:51):
us it might be the first time talking about some
of the trauma or some of the things that they've
overcame to even be on that stage. So I love
that the Phoenix Rising testimonial.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
It's there.
Speaker 5 (23:04):
Because it's a lot of stuff we carry and we
just don't have a space to be our authentic, transparent self.
So that's another way to connect with us as well as,
you know, beyond the pageant gowns and beyond the beauty,
beyond the makeup, where you get a chance to see
another side of us. The other one is fun fashion,
and I think that's more whimsical in a way because
(23:26):
sometimes we can, you know, really be in that pageant
life and we're trying to you know, nail the interview questions,
we're trying to you know, hit all of the categories
that we're gonna be competing in. But fun fashion just
kind of allows you to come as you are and
have fun and also still invite other people to have
fun with you, to have an experience with you during
that moment of coming down the runway and just having
(23:49):
fun and being celebraatory. When I hula hoop, I have fun, right,
A hula hoop? Keep yeah, because you know it's freedom, right.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
I can't do it. You keep bringing that up, so
you're gonna be there.
Speaker 3 (24:01):
I promise.
Speaker 5 (24:03):
To that freedom, right and I like that, the freedom,
the joy. So the fun fashion I think is a
cool category to you know, just kick the heels.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Off and just do your thing or put the heels on,
depending on what your fun fashion is.
Speaker 3 (24:17):
You know what I actually fashion. Okay, now.
Speaker 2 (24:24):
This Jacqueline, tell me your favorite. So honestly I was doing.
Speaker 4 (24:33):
I was the phoenix rising is what came to me
in the beginning because it gives us all something different
that we can all probably connect with. And for me,
I'll be able to tell my story basically, and it
(24:57):
comes like sometimes you're a phoenix rising can be something
that's emotional.
Speaker 2 (25:02):
But then.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
And then you can have other bring other people in,
just like a short movie for me, and so that
that is like what stands out with me. And then
just having on that white and just feeling like that
phoenix that's freeborn.
Speaker 2 (25:20):
That's right.
Speaker 6 (25:23):
Other things too, because you know, I like to do
you like to dress.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Yes, I've come from a place where before, like I
would go when I'm going to parties and it's a
theme and all this. I'm wearing my gym shoes, my
jeans or sweatpants and a T shirt because that's just
what I want to do. But now it's like I
get into different the different categories and buy like I
(25:49):
buy things just like if it's on sale, of course,
but it's just like, oh, I'm pad this because when
we get ready to go here, I will have it.
And so like, yes, I like to dress, and it
doesn't have to be something that's going to take you
out of your total budget. It can be something beautiful yeah,
so simple.
Speaker 5 (26:08):
You know.
Speaker 2 (26:09):
So yes, I love the dress, thank you, but you
really like talents. I also, I just can't.
Speaker 4 (26:18):
I'm limited as far as that, so for now, for now, temporarily,
so yes, And it's so crazy because honestly, like all
the categories, I'm like, especially when you get more free
time during the day like me, I'd be like.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
Okay, I could do this.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
I can add this bracelet to this dress.
Speaker 3 (26:47):
Stuff at it's limited over there.
Speaker 2 (26:52):
Misterlika, what are your favorite categories?
Speaker 1 (26:56):
So I we're gone, I'm gonna say the phoenix rising
as well, because that's where we're most vulnerable at and
we're gonna free ourselves with that phoenix rising. And guess
what we're gonna rise again. So that's what that that
one is the most important to me.
Speaker 3 (27:16):
The fun fashion.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
I'm still working out that one, all right, but also
the black Pearl pitch to see the leadership, the entrepreneurship
that we are coming to put on the table.
Speaker 3 (27:34):
So I'm ready for that one, okay.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Now, part of our foundational pillars we just talked about advocacy.
I'm want to come back to a couple of them.
But the testimonials. The reason that it's so important to
me personally is what you all are going through or
(27:57):
have been through, someone else is in that space and
something you will say will show someone in that audience
how they can make it through. Someone that has been struggling,
someone that may not have even recognized the depth of
(28:20):
what they were enduring. Quietly, silently, painfully. You are going
to make that change for them, and you may not.
It may not be one of your supporters. It may
be someone that you have never seen, and that is
(28:40):
the beauty of the testimonial. You will alter a life
that maybe one day you will meet that person on
the street and said, you know, you said this at
the pageant. I was there as a guest of somebody else,
but you changed things for me. And entrepreneurship. One of
the concerns that and this is not why we included
(29:03):
in the pageant, but one of the concerns I'm hearing
a lot of from a lot of different demographics, is
about the status of employment, meaning traditional employment. My parents
were both educators. My mom worked over thirty years, my
father worked closer to forty and they got a pension,
(29:26):
and you know, that's what that was. That's not happening
as much anymore. And I do not know a wealthy employee.
If your goal is to be wealthy and not just
not hood rich, you know, I'm talking about wealthy and
(29:50):
to pass that on to your generations to come. Entrepreneurship
is the venue through which that is happening. That's the
vehicle that people are using to get there other you know,
unless you're robbing a bank and you don't get caught
type thing, which you know, I don't know how often
that's happening in the world anymore. But we give women
(30:13):
that opportunity to a think, if they're not in that space,
is this a space I want to get into and
b let me get a formula. Because even the women
that did not win the pitch in the past had
(30:34):
a foundation upon which they could grow because they didn't
know how to do the pitches themselves. You know, you
may watch Shark Tank or anything else, but they didn't
have that. Let me put the budgets together, let me
put my projections together, let me look at who is
my audience, who are my clients. They didn't do that
(30:55):
until the pitch came up. So that is a super
important part of the pageant, even though it is optional,
but it is game changing for those delegates that participate.
I want to speak a little bit about sisterhood because
(31:17):
it's not something that you have to see in big,
glaring lights. It's those small things. It was a small
thing that happened here, and I don't even think that
you all thought I was paying attention. Sonya lives far
away and she thought she had her right bag with
(31:37):
certain things, and then she didn't. So she chose to
come on instead of being late. Because they know time
is a big deal for me. I will have a
stroke if you are late. She was on time. Jacqueline
gave Sonia her sash so that she would have something
(31:58):
in writing to represent. Those are those small things that
are big things. Those are those I didn't have to
do that, And I'm not looking for a cookie because
I did it. MM, but I did it because this
is my new sister things.
Speaker 1 (32:19):
We do not.
Speaker 2 (32:22):
Discuss competition. As far as competing against the other women
in the pageant, we never have. The women in the
pageant are collaborators. They assist each other. They made gang
up on us one day. I never know. No, i'm'a
watch it. I'm sure. The only competition that the ladies
(32:43):
have are the women in the mirror. To be better
than she is yesterday and to be not as good
as she will be tomorrow. Okay, so that is a
big deal. So that's sisterhood M testimonial advocacy, entrepreneurship, Okay,
(33:05):
philanthropy we have two levels now philanthropy. The Beyond Beautiful
World Pageant organization has always supported the Project Kennedy not
for profit, which was founded by Kennedy Parker, who is
my sorority pledged daughter's biological daughter. To make a long
(33:28):
and hard story short, Kennedy was diagnosed with a rare
form of cancer in college, went through a very long operation,
went into remission. While she was in remission, she helped
her mother write a book. She went back to college,
she worked two jobs, became a member of the National
(33:51):
Council of Negro Women, became a member of Sigma Gamberal
Sorti Incorporated and created the Project Kennedy not for profit
but Kennedy. And this is what makes it even more
difficult for me. Kennedy is five days older than my son, literally,
(34:11):
and she had just joined the National Council of Negro
Women and Sigma Gamarole when she started to feel not
well again and she did not make it the second time.
And this was in the beginning of the pandemic where
(34:33):
people were frightened to leave their homes. Over one thousand
people came to her funeral. She was three weeks shy
of turning twenty five, and to make that type of
change in less than a quarter of a century shows
(34:57):
what a magnanimous giants she would have been today. But
having said that, her mother, Darnisia Evans, has kept the
Project Kennedy Not for Profit going And they just did
a blanket send out, so everyone submitted names, the delegates
(35:18):
and others to Project Kennedy and they mailed them what
I call comfort blankets, because when you go through chemotherapy,
a lot of people feel very very cold, or when
you're in the hospital for treatment, you feel very cold,
and they send them some beautiful blankets. So everyone on
the mailing list got a blanket this year. They give
(35:40):
food cards, transportation, etc. Because a lot of people find
themselves in the hospital supporting their family members during Thanksgiving,
during holidays that other people deal with just whenever, and
you can't leave, you're afraid to leave, so they provide
certain necessities so that their stay there is comfortable. We
(36:07):
have also, and I'm so excited about this, We've created
the Beyond Beautiful World Foundation, which has been given its
not for profit status as well, so this year. We
created it last year and we got our not for
profit status this year, so I'm super excited about that. Yes,
(36:28):
so at the pageant you will have the opportunity for
the first time to contribute to the Beyond Beautiful World Foundation,
which works with women and girls in education and entrepreneurship.
We have for scholarships which are diversified. One is global,
(36:51):
one is local local media the United States, and two
are four different types of entrepreneurship. We are also working
with entrepreneurs on a different level and in the future
we'll have certain things like entrepreneurial fairs, et cetera for
women and girls that are not pageant delegates, but to
(37:14):
give them that space to grow and develop and become
what our delegates already have been. So we are excited
about that. Now. The last pillar is self evolution. This
pageant is not a you sign up in March and
(37:35):
then we see you in October and then you get
stage in two weeks. The delegates have modules twice a
month via Zoom because everyone isn't in the same space.
That are not just even though we did have the
walk Smile poles, which I do like that one. These
(37:57):
are also modules to increase not just your confidence level,
but your understanding of who you are as a woman,
and to bring more out of you, because we all
have more to give, even if it's only something that
we are giving to ourselves. So when we look at
(38:20):
the start, when you start the modules, and I think
that was in April, and you continue until the last module,
which is mid October. For this pageant season, I've watched
you all as women, not just again connecting more as sisters,
sister delegates, but being more confident in who you are
(38:43):
and how you present yourselves when you walk out into
the world, and some of you are still surprised that
you're doing this.
Speaker 3 (38:51):
That would be me.
Speaker 2 (38:55):
But it has been a positive I hope I'm speaking
your term for everyone experience, and it's been a growth
and development the old Chicago and I talked about the
old term for gangster disciple about growth in development. This
is truly about growth and development, not just of the delegates,
(39:16):
not just of the pageant system, but for myself and
for Pam because we change and evolved as you all do.
We learn more about ourselves and our organization and how
we want to change the world through what you all
show us. So for your self evolution, what do you
(39:38):
feel the changes have been in you? Let's start with Talika,
the change in me?
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Well, keeping me on point with these Monday motivationals. I
just wanted and my sister to my left say, hey,
are you okay. I'm like yeah, She's like, oh, what's
the day is.
Speaker 3 (40:05):
I'm like.
Speaker 1 (40:07):
Tuesday. Oh, let me go ahead and send this motivation.
You know, I forgot it was Monday. It was It
was a one of those moments for me grieving and
I was like dang, And so it made me reflect,
like this group of women keeping me on points to
be aware of my days because at one point I
(40:29):
ain't know everything was going into one another. Ad what
I wake up, go to work, wake up and.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Go to work.
Speaker 3 (40:34):
That's all I was doing. So it just made me.
Speaker 1 (40:37):
Reflect and say, hey, they are enjoying these motivational mondays.
Speaker 3 (40:44):
They are keeping me on point. So it's making me
be aware of my days and myself.
Speaker 2 (40:50):
And it's making you be aware that you are important
to them that too, Yes, your contribution is important, doctor Sonya.
Speaker 5 (41:00):
Self evolution HM, as a therapist, I don't think we
are ever fully evolved, and so there's always room for growth,
for a higher level of awareness. And so for me
to just be able to be even more aware of
(41:21):
how I'm moving, what I'm committed to, where I'm placing priority,
rethinking how I even define you know, what's important because
that thing of being overly committed trying to nail everything
with those commitments. I think I have a different level
(41:43):
of understanding who I am when I commit to something.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
And as we spoke about an hour which I was
talking with you about it before, how go ahead and said,
so I think.
Speaker 5 (42:04):
For me, just being able to toot my own horn
in a.
Speaker 4 (42:09):
Way that.
Speaker 5 (42:12):
We talked about being cocky versus confident, but just allowing
people to share and embrace and celebrate and support me
in a way that I didn't feel like I had
to hide it or I couldn't talk about it, or
it wouldn't be celebrated.
Speaker 2 (42:29):
So doing more of that, being more.
Speaker 5 (42:32):
More alert and aware to how I'm coming to some
of the accomplishments and some of the things instead of
keeping them a secret.
Speaker 2 (42:38):
Is that, yes, ma'am. Conversation too, adjustments, the adjustment is
still happened, Miss jack willan with me.
Speaker 4 (42:52):
I think, well, I know that since these past couple
of years be not working, So I'm able to know
that because my husband will always be like, You're not perfect,
because whenever things don't go right for me, it's I'm
at spell brad. So I'm not the brat, bad brat,
(43:14):
but just I cry. I'm very emotional and I don't
apologize for that because it's me, But just to know
me better to stop accepting things that I shouldn't accept
from people, to know that I don't have to accept
(43:36):
things that I'm not comfortable with.
Speaker 2 (43:38):
And that aren't good for me. And if you have
somebody backing you up, and you.
Speaker 3 (43:45):
Can say no and it's a complete sentence, no explanation.
Speaker 5 (43:50):
No.
Speaker 4 (43:50):
I've always been the one that people get over on
and so like I don't and I don't have to be.
It's not me being mean, because my waste everything is
always even tond It's just that I would just let
things go but now and I'm not confrontational. It's just
that I'm confident in me and that was something that
(44:14):
I wasn't before. So and just for somebody, because I
have a lot of people that have my back, but
I have a lot of people's back as well. So
that's something that I just I don't have to know
everything that's going on. I just need to know if
you're good, and then I'm gonna let you know I'm
good and we're gonna.
Speaker 5 (44:34):
All be good.
Speaker 2 (44:36):
I'll be good together. Well before we leave the Intellectual
Radio Studios today, I do have a couple of things
to say about Pageant weekend. Yayo, yeah, Yes. Thursday, the
(44:59):
ladies would check into the Quality Inn and Suites in
Orland Park and have their Sisterhood dinner that night. Friday,
morning for those that are participating in the Black Pearl
Pitch competition, they will be doing that. And Friday evening
(45:22):
are the prelims for Talent and for the Phoenix Rising testimonials.
All of those events are private, they are not open
to the public. Saturday, it's game on. They will be rehearsing,
they will be getting it right. The doors open at
(45:46):
four pm at Georgio's Banquets in Orland Park, eighty eight
hundred West one hundred and fifty ninth Street in Orland.
Dinner is served at five for those that bought dinner
tickets and the pageant starts for the finals at six pm,
So there are peoples that may want to come for dinner,
(46:10):
but we also have an option that will be the
general admission tickets. VIP tickets are sold out, but if
you just want to come to see the pageant itself,
come and buy open seating tickets so that won't have
a dinner included. You will be able to see the pageant.
We will have some phenomenal vendors, one of which is
(46:34):
a big deal to women, which is Black Girl Vitamins.
They will be in the house, yes, and there's a
list of other vendors that I will give when I
am back in the intellectual radio studios before pageant time happens,
and other sponsors. But it is going to be the
(46:59):
event that you don't want to miss. We are here
to elevate and celebrate women.
Speaker 3 (47:11):
That's it.
Speaker 2 (47:12):
No negativity, no drama, none of that. This is a
night that not just the delegates, not just the pageant team,
but the audience will not forget. As Jacqueline said, she
was there last year and that's why she's here this year.
So be ready to see a whole lot of sparkle,
(47:35):
a whole lot of shine. And I'm not talking about
the dresses. I'm talking about the ore from the women
inside out. And if you are still interested, because I
do believe there are still some vendor spots open. We
only have one vendor per item type, so we will
check your applications to make sure that there is not
(47:57):
a vendor selling the same things. We want to make
sure that each vendor has the maximized potential for earning
their income. If you want to buy tickets, go to www.
Dot Beyond Beautifulworld dot com and look at the Pageant
Weekend twenty twenty five tab and you can also if
(48:21):
you are still interested in being a sponsor for the event,
all of those things will be under that tab. Lastly,
last late, when you show up, I want you to
show up fine, especially the ladies, because this is not,
(48:47):
you know, the blue jeans sweatpants event. This is an
opportunity to wear your finest, be glorious and glamorous in
the audience, just like they're going to be on the stage,
because this is definitely your time to show up and shine.
If you have any questions, please go to the contact
(49:09):
us tab on the website. And I am four weeks.
It is four weeks. I am jumping in my seat.
Speaker 3 (49:18):
I am so excited.
Speaker 2 (49:21):
These ladies and their sister delegates are going to have
a night to remember, a weekend to remember, and we
hope that you join us there so that you can
have the same time and experience with us. And with that,
I thank you Beyond Beautiful World, Emerald Illinois, Beyond Beautiful World,
saft Fire Mount Prospect, and Beyond Beautiful World Southfire Chicago
(49:42):
for coming out with me today. Your supporters, Hey, you
better be in the house because we're gonna turn it
up and turn it out again. Peece and blessings in
the name of Jesus, will see you all in less
than four weeks.
Speaker 1 (49:58):
Yes n.
Speaker 2 (50:01):
That's it for today's segment of the ques Such a
Queen's Podcast.
Speaker 3 (50:06):
I see the depths of your so beautiful, Make your tenderness,
your lovely, your sweetness,
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