“ Number 45, Deanna Pinnock”

That night my dad walked me in front of a stage with hundreds of people, rooting for their daughters. I did my 360 in front of the judges and walked off with my dad. That day was one of the proudest days my family had.

It all began late June of 2018, when my Aunt Nicole asked if I wanted to do this National American Miss experience. I said yes, because at the time I wanted to be a model, so this would’ve really helped me with it. My aunt discussed it with my mom, and my mom agreed. The next week my aunt took me and my cousin, Aliyah to Cherry Hill, New Jersey to get interviews to see we were qualified for the pageant. We were almost late!! There were 20 minutes left, so I remember just being in the car anxious. I was praying in the car hoping i'll be able to get an interview and not wait another week. We made it. Just in time.

In my interview, I got asked,

“Why do you think this pageant is good for you?”

“What do you like to do?”

“ My grades?”

And a lot of other questions. Of course, I answered truthfully.

A couple of weeks passed, I went to go check the mail because I was really nervous to see if I was in the pageant. I was so activated, I was ready to see if I was going to be the next National American Miss. I opened the letter with my mom and read it aloud. “ Congratulations! You have been selected “. My mom and I were so happy and ready to win.

A couple of months passed and in those months I had to take photographs of myself, with just my face for the book/ memory book of the pageant. Also, my mom made my dress, it was a nice peachy color, with pink rhinestone. It was really pretty. Then my mom had to get the hotel that is the place of the event which is called The Hyatt Hotel. We got 50% room for all pageant members.

It was Friday, we left our house to go to the hotel to get ready for everyone. I got my N.A.M t-shirt, it was pink with the words.. “ N.A.M”

It was really cute, I had to wear that with some shorts and some white shoes. I was with my mom finding something to eat in the hotel. I started feeling nervous but really confident in myself. The only thing that they had was bagels and breakfast foods, so we decided not to eat and explore. My parents had to leave me and I had to go meet with the other girls. I met only one girl that I barely talked to. I was more to myself at this event. I just wanted to be with my parents.

We started practicing for the real pageant with a 360 walk on the stage in front of the judges. After that we did the modeling performance.. We then had a couple of hours to ourselves so my family and I went to Rhythm And Spice on Hamilton. We ate our food, we talked about my time in N.A.M, then we carried on our way back to the hotel and we got ready for the next day. The following day we practiced the dance that we will be performing in front of the stage on Sunday. When we were practicing the dance I was really to myself. I really don't talk to anyone else unless I had too and I was really quiet when I was 11 years old. After we did the dance, practice the 360 in front of the fake judges. There's a certain way that you have to stand on the stage so we had a practice and then we had to say our speech in the morning. Also on this day, we had to do business Interviews.

Fast forward Sunday which was the big day, my mom steamed my dress and I did my hair in this bun. I put on my jewelry and then I had to put on my business attire and said my speech in front of hundreds of people, but I messed up instead of saying good morning, I said good evening but the show must go on. Next, I have to put on my pink shirt, my name tag, my shorts, and my white shoes. On my nametag was number 45. We all walked in a line, in number order and we went to the stage, then the upbeat music started playing, we all started dancing. A lot of the girls messed up, but at this point, it was game time so I tried my best to not mess up. We had to hurry off stage and put on my dress that my mom made me, and my dad matched me with a nice blue suit. My mom fixed my hair, and I walked out with my dad and waited in line to get called. Then

“ Number 45, Deanna Pinnock”

That night my dad walked me in front of a stage with hundreds of people, rooting for their daughters. I did my 360 in front of the judges and walked off with my dad. That day was one of the proudest days my family had. At the end of the show, we had to stand there and wait until we got called. Unfortunately, I didn’t win but it was a fun experience.