Feb 28th-Mar 2nd - Miss USA Boot Camp!

On Friday I left for Miss USA boot camp! The directors of the Miss New York USA pageant were also the directors of Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Rhode Island so they wanted to have a get-together of all of their titleholders to prepare for their national pageants. I got on a bus to go to Syracuse to meet Miss New York Teen USA, Corrin, so that we could drive to Rhode Island together. It was a pretty stressful drive because my Miss USA profile was due that evening. I had answered all of the questions but I also needed to submit my headshot and I had not received the final edits of my photos! I finally received them while I was driving but then I had to choose which photo I would submit.

(Photographer: Fadil Berisha, Makeup Artist: Yuko Takahashi, Hair Stylist: Errol Karadag)

I asked the opinion of my loved ones, my pageant directors, and my pageant consultant and everyone liked different photos. Since there was not much time left I decided to go with what my pageant team chose since they knew more of what the pageant looks for. The only problem was that the photo they liked did not get touched up around the mouth so there was a little bit of lipstick higher on one side than the other. I really did not want to submit my Miss USA headshot with a mistake like that so I started to message some photographers that I know to see if they could retouch it. My friend Lucy from NYC photo duo Pony & Brett said she could do it right then for me!

It was getting very close to the time that my Miss USA profile needed to be submitted (we had about five minutes) and my pageant director and coach we're getting nervous, as was I! I felt bad giving her hardly any time to fix the photo but she got it to us last minute (literally) and I was so thankful for her help! Thank you so much Lucy! I sent everything over to the coordinators and they submitted my profile right when it was due (possibly a minute late haha but they said we were fine). It felt good knowing that everything worked out and was done!

We all recovered from basically having a panic attack and went to meet our sister-state titleholders in a conference room! It was nice getting to meet everyone and our directors Debbie and Cindy gave us each a notebook and pen with our name and title on them! Then they told us that next we were all going to a hockey game together!

We walked over to the Rhode Island Convention Center and we watched the Providence Bruins play from our suite while eating food they had out for us! 

While we were having fun eating and watching the game we had some visitors coming in and out to say hi! 

The next day we all had a catered lunch in the Rhode Island Convention Center where we got to get to know each other more. 

Then we found out that a young girl named Scout from the Make-A-Wish Foundation, her sister Tess, and their parents were coming to meet us! We gave them tiaras and walked down a runway with them to show them how to catwalk but they didn't even need teaching, they rocked the runway! 

A Marlow Photography was at the Convention Center to take promotional photos of the titleholders and when Scout and Tess found out that they were going to do a photo shoot they were so excited! We went into the studio to watch the end of their photo shoot and I got teary-eyed seeing how happy they were. It is moments like seeing these two young girls have an unforgettable experience that are the reasons why I wanted to become Miss New York USA. 

After the girls left, Michelle Holmes went over runway walking and posing with all of us for evening gown and swimsuit competition. Then Michelle and our directors Debbie Miller and Cindy Provost went over a lot of information on preparing for nationals and what to expect while competing for the national title. I took a lot of notes on things that I should buy and what to pack. That night for dinner we all went to Ten Prime Steak & Sushi where we were in a private area with a custom menu for us! 

Dinner was great but of course I was most exited about dessert, especially because the chef brought us out everything to try! There was cotton candy, creme brûlée, chocolate lava cake, espresso topped ice cream and apple turnover with maple ice cream! Yum! 

The next morning Christina, Miss Rhode Island USA, and I were up first for our photo shoot with A Marlow Photography! Jacklyn Beauty gave us a makeup lesson while doing our makeup for the shoot. We each shot in a couple of different outfits and it was fun! 

(Photographer: A Marlow Photography, Hair/Makeup: Jacklyn Beauty)

While I was doing the shoot the other contestants were in a fitness lesson. I caught the very end of it and I talked to the trainer about getting protein as a vegetarian. I also got to see Amy Diaz, Miss Rhode Island USA 2008, who was demonstrating for the trainer. It was so nice of him to give us fitness resistance bands to workout with! 

Then we all went to a private dining room at Centro Restaurant and Lounge where we had a delicious lunch. That concluded our weekend trip and it was such a great experience! Thank you everyone who helped put the trip together for us! We said goodbye-for-now to everyone and Corrin and I headed back to New York together.