Miss Hmong Madison 2019 Reflection 2 Day After

Credits: MissionsbyLi

Hello! Thank you for tuning into this entry!

My 2018-2019 journey is over. I went into this with no idea of what I’ll be judged on. I was told the topics to prepare for, but no one in my family has done it before, so we didn't know what to expect. People that know me were curious why I decided to do it, so here’s why:

• I wanted a representation of myself: college grad, Hmong Leeg, and an independent woman under her own roof.
• I had participated in a variety of competition and I’ve put off the pageant for a long time because I wanted and waited to become my idea of a Miss Hmong and reach more milestones/experiences. 
• I was tire of the fake, cliches, and temporary parts of the pageants. That’s everything from actual contestant to the fake things they say. I wanted to change my own views of the pageant status for the Hmong community. Had I won, I would execute my platform, something that some pageants do not show/communicate properly. 

My biggest fear going into this was how I would sound. I’ve never really spoke in a huge crowd or even with a mic, so I was extremely concerned that I would sound like the Hulk. One of my biggest downfall was my confidence in walking. I was really bad at it, because I don’t … I just don’t, I don’t know. I mean, what if you’re physically disabled and you can’t walk? The things that should be judged on should be universal things; just your 2 cents. Like, how does walking show/make me a great Miss whatever? If anything, that should show the speed of my brain :P. I’m super kidding! It should’ve just been, how did you present in the category.

What I got out of the pageant was more than what I came for. I went in as a tennis player (solo) and came out with a soccer team (get it?). Running for the pageant can be stressful (and I thought I would have achieved it alone for a second? Face slam). At the very least, you will need one person on the day of to help you dress. There’s no way your outfits will turn our near perfect without a second set of eyes. Anyway, lets start the list of what I gained:

• Bond with amazing girls; our group did ⅚ as paj huam for our talent. That itself is powerful. Every single paj huam had such beautiful rhyming and a very important message/topic. I wished I would’ve had more time to prepare a semi lengthy paj huam. 
• Amazing support from my family. If you didn’t know this, now you will. Not every pageant contestant comes up with all the ideas by their self from scratch. Our 2019 MHM had an aunt who sew together her history costume that was brainstormed with her mentor. As for me, I drafted my design, but one sister executed it and the other brainstormed the speech.
• Learning about the Hmong language and culture itself. If you have time, seriously, go watch all the paj huam the girls performed. It is extremely beautiful; I’ll have to translate it some time for our non and limited Hmong speakers. I learned the paj huam just weeks before the final event. I was extremely proud to walk on that stage with my Hmong Leeg tongue.

I encourage everyone who is eligible to run for the pageant, wherever it is, to do it if they can (ok, not everyone all at once now :P jk. Do ittttt!). If you are tire of seeing what doesn’t represent you or your idea of a Miss Hmong/whatever, get it done yourself, or tell your aunt, friend, nieces, whoever they are, they need to get on that stage. I learned that the pageant doesn’t have “bad” contestants. It simply has contestants that are willing to put themselves on stage more than anything and that means the “good” ones sitting comfortable in the audience crowd or at home letting that happen. There are no bad contestants, just a lot of individuals who do not believe in their self enough to try it. The next time someone has a negative thing to say, go say it on stage; don’t write a shady comment/letter on social media because YOU are the reason the pageant (or whatever other issue you have) continues to stay the way they do.

I have more thoughts on this, but we’ll see how much I want to share or even put it on a video :P As always, thank you for reading. Subscribe to my youtube channel for Hmong music and Hmong New Year dance performances. Like my FB page if you want to follow my journey in other directions of life. Thank you and happy new year from the Hmong calendar.

Credits: MissionsbyLi