Beauty Queen REVEALS Pageant Highlights and BTS Stories

Howdy my loves! Welcome to the very first episode of the Miss NTD podcast. This is where beauty meets goodness. I'm your host, Cynthia. For those of you who followed my journey on Instagram, surprise! I'm beyond excited to welcome you into our new podcast on YouTube and Genzing World, where I'll share my personal tips, insights, and experiences with you. For those of you who are new to Miss NTD, nice to meet you. I'm Cynthia from Texas. Last year, I had the opportunity to join my first ever beauty pageant, the Miss NTD Global Pageant. I was motivated really by their emphasis on inner beauty and timeless values, as opposed to other pageants. And I joined the competition as a self-challenge to improve my own understanding of femininity. Although, sorry to spoil the results, but something from my wildest dreams happened during the grand finale. I was crowned the very first Miss NTD. Since then, I've received lots and lots and lots of messages and all kinds of questions from audiences like you around the world. So, we started this podcast to offer a space for young women interested in all things wellness and pageantry. Together, I hope you'll join me in exploring the timeless values that form the foundation of classical beauty. Values like honesty, benevolence, compassion, faithfulness, and propriety. Through heartfelt conversations, interactive segments, and inspiring stories, we'll delve deep into the essence of these virtues and discover how they can enrich our lives and elevate our spirits. So, if you're seeking solace in a hectic world, craving connection with like-minded souls, or simply curious about the beauty of traditional values, Miss NTD is here to welcome you. And to make things extra special for this first episode, I'm answering some of the most frequently asked questions and revealing some of the first ever announcements into the 2025 pageant preparation. Let's get to it. Welcome to our interactive segment, Q with You, where I attempt to satisfy your curiosities. Our first question comes from Mary, who said, congratulations once again. Thank you. Can you share a funny behind-the-scenes moment from the pageant that wasn't shown on TV? Thank you for the question, Mary. I can think of a lot because, you know, first of all, you have 32 pageant contestants, girls from all around the world, who are pretty much in pageant boot camp for seven days. You're, you know, sleeping in the hotel together. You're taking the bus to the theater every morning. You're eating all your meals together. You're getting dressed, getting your makeup done together. It's really such a bonding experience. And it really makes me feel like I'm back in summer camp again. So there's definitely so many things that happen, good and bad. I think one of the most interesting things for me, one of the most funny, I guess, was when we went to Cheesecake Factory. I think this was the second day that we had met at all, ever. And all the girls went to Cheesecake Factory to just have a bonding experience, to have dinner together and really just share about our hometowns, about our lives, get to know each other better. I think it was the first time some of the girls from Europe or from other places like Asia saw cheesecakes that big. I think there were over 20 or 30 flavors of cheesecake and they were just so shocked. I have that seared in my brain now, that excitement and childlike wonder. Something as simple as Cheesecake Factory, which I've taken for granted. I think all Americans have. And they were so impressed by the decor, so impressed by all the food. The food was amazing that night. The plates were so big. I think just everything about that night was just so wondrous and so joyous. And the expression on their faces, I think, was something so funny to me. Another incident I remember is from the very first day. We brought in tons of luggage. Every girl had two to three bags. Some people were from international, so they brought literally everything they needed to. My hotel roommate, Vicky, on the very first day, she brought two luggages full of evening gowns and shoes. And everyone was just laughing with her because it was just so funny that, you know, you only need one evening gown for the entire pageant process. And she had brought like four, I think, or five, and they were like all brand new dresses. And in the end, it was her that was laughing because I ended up needing to borrow a dress because my dress was delayed. It never shipped until after the pageant had ended. So I had to borrow one of her dresses. And another contestant named Monica also had to borrow one of her dresses. And so she ended up basically becoming this dress rental. Her wardrobe ended up becoming this entire business, basically, for all of the contestants. And I thought that was so funny. In the end, obviously, we ate our words entirely. So it definitely gave me the lesson to be overprepared rather than underprepared. Another question by Terry says, what inspired you to apply for the pageant last year? Terry, thank you for the question. This is one I actually get a lot because I've personally never participated in pageants before. I know some of the pageant contestants at Miss NTD have, but coming from this background of not really being in the pageantry world gave me, I think, a lot of self-doubt at first before I joined. And I think it was last spring when my mom saw the commercial on television and she told me about Miss NTD. And when I was browsing the website, I actually didn't think too deeply about it. I saw that they were promoting inner beauty and that it was a pageant in New York. And I just read it, thought it was interesting, but then I moved on because I thought I didn't have experience and I didn't want to take on that challenge when I was already working full time. And I thought it might have been too much of a commitment. But I think two weeks went by and my mom asked me about it again. That's when I really started thinking about the what-ifs and I really started considering it seriously as a challenge, but also an opportunity for myself. Just a bit of a background on me. I grew up dancing and I grew up singing. So I had been in choir for about six, seven years and I had danced for over a decade. So after college, I didn't really do those things anymore because you're not in that setting. So I thought this would actually be a good opportunity because I miss the stage. I miss meeting other people who were, you know, just in arts or interested in beauty and this setting. And so I thought it would be good to try something new, meet new friends. I didn't think too much about it. And yeah, I decided to apply and the rest is history. Lucy asks, what question did you expect to be asked on stage? For people who haven't seen the broadcast, I think this is referring to the grand finale. Basically, the very last stage of the pageant is when the top six contestants are picked out and you stand in a line to pick random questions out of a box. And basically, you're given 60 seconds to answer that question. So you don't know what the question is going to be. Nobody has the questions beforehand. There's not really any way to prepare for it. So it's really an on-the-spot improv at that moment. I think my mind was actually blank. I didn't really expect any questions to be asked or what type they would be. And I think that worked in my favor because from what my mom said in the audience, she said that it felt like I was speaking from the heart. And I think that's true because I really reacted on the spot and I really tried to get the point across what I thought was important. So if I was the judge, I would probably ask something like, what is a classic beauty and how would it benefit you and the young women around you? I think it's something really simple. I don't think it needs to be something too deep or anything. And there's a lot of reasons why I would ask that, but I'd love to hear answers from you. So if you could leave them in the comments, I'll read through them next time, maybe. Anna was curious. Hi. Hi, Anna. I live in Europe, but I saw this was held in New York. That it is. Can I also apply for the pageant? Yes. I have great news for you, Anna, because next year's pageant is going to be open for all ethnicities. You can come from any country in the world. As long as you're between the ages of 18 and 30 and you fit in the eligibility requirements on our website, missntd.org, anyone can join. So I hope to see you in New York next year. One other question from Brian says, what was something you learned from this process? I think I learned more about myself than anything else. Obviously, you know, you learn how to get along with other people. You learn how to walk the stage. You learn how to walk in heels. You learn how to walk in an evening dress. That's like very necessary for a pageant. But I think over the process, you really learn your own limits. And that was the key for me, because before that pageant week, I hadn't known my limits, my true limits. And, you know, standing in heels, walking all day, you know, 10 to 12 hours and practicing that, it's really not something I believed that I could do before. But now I know I can. I know that it's within my ability. And I think that's probably what I learned the most is my own limits and broadening my own horizons. What was your highest high and your lowest low during the preparation process? My highest point was probably the day before I arrived at the pageant, because I had met another pageant contestant. And we actually went on a hike together. We hiked. It was like upstate New York. I think it was the Catskills. And we hiked maybe three miles before, like the morning of our first pageant night where we had the press conference and the pageant officially started. And that was probably my highest point because I was just so excited. I had met another contestant at that point, and I was just so happy and so elated that it was finally happening, you know, because the pageant application process takes a few months. And so you're just waiting and waiting and waiting. And once you get the result, you know, you're waiting again for when the pageant actually happens. And so I think that day of and the day before were probably the highest point, because you could really feel like, oh, this is happening. So that was probably where I was like the most excited and my adrenaline peaked. My lowest low was probably a few days before that, because there was a point where I also felt like a bit of anticipation and a bit of, I guess, like self-doubt, because there's not really a lot of things that you know about Miss NTD, because last year was the very first year that it was held. And so, you know, there was no expectations. I didn't know how pageants ran. And it was really a learning curve for me. I had to really go in with an open mind and try to pick up as many things as possible. And so since I had that self-doubt of, you know, will I perform well? You know, will I be able to learn as fast as the other girls? Or, you know, will I be able to fit in? All of those questions are kind of a spiral when you start thinking of it. So I think just like diverting my attention and my efforts, my time to something more productive and trying to actually get prepared and pack for the actual pageant, I think that helped a lot to just take my mind off of it. The last question says, what was your most exciting moment? I don't think I have to explain much for this one, but my most exciting moment was definitely the moment I won. There's no question about it. I think I was so shocked. If you've seen the broadcast, you know that I cried when they first announced it. And I actually got a lot of questions about why I cried. I had like distant relatives and acquaintances that I hadn't spoken to in years like see that clip. And they were like, oh, like, you know, was it really hard? Like, was the pageant like really difficult? Like, why did you cry? You know, did your feet hurt? Things like that. And no, my feet didn't hurt at that point. It was like, I was already used to heels. They were probably numb at that point, to be honest. It was more of happy tears for sure. And I think if I were to relive any part of the pageant easily, it would be that grand finale night, just because everything that week is building up to that moment. And just the fact that we had completed the pageant well, I had met all of these new friends, these new sisters. It was really special to be able to celebrate together and to have that moment on stage. So that's my answer. I think that's pretty obvious, though. Time really flies by so fast. Unfortunately, that's all the time that we have today, loves. Remember to keep spreading optimism and inner beauty like a true queen would. This has been the Miss NTD podcast. Leave a comment to join me in the fun next episode. Until then, stay beautiful. Adios.