Sparkling Snippets

     As a state titleholder, part of my job is creating an online presence that furthers the national brand of the Miss Volunteer America Organization. Being part of a growing organization, I’m also faced with the responsibility of recruiting girls to compete in our state competition. I’ve found that one of the best tools for finding new recruits is Instagram. One of the prime demographics on Instagram is 15- to 35-year-olds, so I use various methods to extend my reach.      Did you know that Instagram has a professional dashboard for your profile? This is one of my favorite tools for seeing the performance of my posts. Once clicked, you can immediately see the number of views and interactions on your page, as well as the total followers. From here, you can click each category for a deeper understanding of your reach. Each section shows the content that receives the most views or interactions, as well as the percentage of followers and non-followers respons...

  In less than two weeks I’ll be heading to Jackson, Tennessee to compete for the job of Miss Teen Volunteer America. It’s hard to believe that my journey to the national stage started back in May of last year, but seeing the growth I’ve had is truly a blessing. Now, if you have no experience in pageants you’re probably wondering what goes into preparing for a state pageant let alone a national stage, so I want to share all of the behind the scenes details.  Before I dissect how I have to prepare for each phase of competition, I need to explain our phases of competition. The Miss Volunteer America Organization is a national scholarship program that seeks service minded individuals who are ready to change the world. We are nationally partnered with The Salvation Army and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, so promoting the missions of these organizations is a priority for every titleholder. Now to obtain the national title each contestant competes in four phases of compe...

    Did you know that Facebook is the largest social networking site in the world? If asked, I would've expected TikTok or Instagram to take that title. In an era with countless social networking platforms to choose from it's easy to only focus on those you actively use, but it's important to broaden your reach across platforms.      Up until last year, I was exclusively an Instagram, Pinterest, and TikTok user. To me, Facebook was outdated and irrelevant. Going into college I initially created a Facebook page to find a roommate, but I've continued to learn more about it as I continue to use it. On Facebook, I've learned that I connect with a different audience than I do on Instagram. When I post on Instagram more of my peers tend to interact with my content, but on Facebook I tend to reach an older demographic that doesn't view my Instagram feeds. In learning this I've realized the importance of building your brand on multiple platforms. By focusing on o...

     I LOVE READING!! I use Goodreads to track my books throughout the year and leave ratings. While I don't consistently post reviews for them, if I have a very strong opinion (good or bad) I make sure to leave a review. In my reading journey I've only ever left one book unfinished. It was Dune , but in my defense, I don't read sci-fi or fantasy very often. It honestly just wasn't doing anything for me. Every year I try to read at least 80 books, but this year I decided to bump my goal to 85. While that doesn't seem like a huge difference, by the end of the year there's a chance it will feel like a stretch. I tried to get a head start on my reading for 2025, so here's my readings thus far and their reviews.     Also, a quick disclaimer that while this makes it seem like all I read is romance, I promise I read other genres. I am a sucker for a good romance book, but I'm also down for a solid murder mystery or historical fiction novel as well. Ri...

    I started choreographing for the Mansfield Youth Theatre back in 2022. We were in rehearsals for our spring production of Descendants where I was playing Evie. A guest choreographer was hired, but about three weeks before we opened, she had a family emergency and couldn't complete the job. While our director was struggling to find someone, I decided to offer myself in the case that she couldn't find someone. I had grown up dancing and creating our routines for cheer, but I never thought about pursuing choreography as a job. In the next week I not only created and taught the choreography for Descendants , but I also found one of my biggest passions. Since then, I've had the privilege of choreographing for the Mansfield Youth Theatre, MTVarts, Wynford Drama Department, Miss Greater Cleveland Scholarship Program, Miss Ohio Scholarship Program, and more. I truly found my passion for choreographing and teaching, so I will forever be grateful to the director for taking...

     With my experience in pageantry, I've learned how to create social media content calendars. I've created countdown calendars that schedule posts focused on various aspects I want to showcase leading up to a competition. In these cases, the posts are getting my brand, mission, and values across to the judges clearly. By outlining my content in advance, I can ensure that each detail is covered and posted in an order that makes sense. Similarly, I've also used these content calendars to schedule my posts. As a busy college student, it can be difficult to find time to draft each post. I've learned that firsthand this spring as I'm balancing my courses, rehearsals for  Hello, Dolly , and nationals prep. Going into the Miss Teen Volunteer America pageant, we've all been given social media calendars to promote the organizations and our personal brands. Instead of drafting each post on the day it's set to post, I've worked to draft, proof, and schedule them...

     Today I launched my first official podcast for Sparkling Snippets. Initially when given the podcast assignment I tried to think of who a social media expert would truly be. I went back and forth searching for people I knew, but there's no better social media expert than a pageant girl. We constantly use platforms like Instagram and TikTok to promote our organizations, personal service initiatives, and how we use our titles for good. One of the first people that came to mind was one of my best friends, Mia Fritsch-Anderson.     Mia and I met back in 2022 when we were local titleholders in the Miss America Opportunity. We connected through Instagram while I was working to put together a social media video for my platform, Loving Ourselves and Verifying We're Enough. I had messaged Mia to see if she would be willing to help and from there, we built a beautiful friendship. Little did we know Mia would soon be crowned Miss Illinois' Teen and a week later I ...

  It's officially spring recruitment season, so get ready to hear me say "Go Greek" a lot. This fall I went through the recruitment process to join a sorority. Now initially I wasn't sure Greek life was going to be a good fit for me. I had talked to a lot of my friends who are in sororities at other schools, and I just thought recruitment would be SO stressful. Granted, I was talking to a lot of people who go to schools like the University of Alabama, so their recruitment looks very different. I decided regardless of whether I'd give it a chance and the worst thing that would happen is I'd drop. I went to that first night and ended up feeling that it could be something I love. I also felt that Delta Zeta was different from all the other sororities. After visiting them time and time again, I sensed that this was the place where I could be myself. When I got my bid for Delta Zeta I was over the moon. I had found my home. My grandma was a member of a different so...