Pageantry: A Doorway to Empowerment

By Arianna Shanks-Hill

I think that pageantry, in its own way, saved my life a little bit. Becoming part of the Miss America opportunity forced me to innovate and shift the concept of who I was and what I stood for. It forced me to grow out of being angry and resentful because of the things that had happened to me. I had let my abuse completely surround me, and I had taken up residency as the angry girl; the girl who couldn’t move on and move past it. As far as I was concerned, that was the version of me I was going to live and die as: stuck on the fact that it happened, and that no one came to save me. It consumed every piece of my life and for (more than) a moment in time I thought of absolutely nothing else. 

When I showed up to Miss Banks of the Wabash in 2022, I was an 18 year old girl fresh out of high school and freshly moved out of the town I grew up in. I saw so much more than a pageant that day. I saw a doorway. At first the doorway just looked like sequins and sparkles, diamonds and updos, and a way to play dress up and forget my own life. But once I stepped through that doorway, I saw a version of me that focused less on what had happened to her and more on what she could do for others. This version of me came to terms with the fact that her history could never be undone, and she was empowered by the idea that she could prevent those experiences from happening to others. This version of me stood tall and unashamed, and she refused to be told that she couldn't. I fell in love with the promises that this version of me held. 

Suddenly I didn't want to just “play dress up” as her: I wanted to be this girl. I wanted to stand for something more than just myself. I wanted to live for something other than myself; I wanted to live, period. I found joy again, and found myself again through pageantry. I threw myself into finding ways to serve others. I spent hours educating myself on domestic violence and the legal policies in place surrounding it, on resources available to survivors, on the best ways to educate others so that my story was never repeated. I showed up to every event, every service project, every opportunity to do something bigger than me. I started to believe that I was important, that I was making a difference. I began to believe that my life truly did have a purpose. I found the courage to take up space completely unapologetically. I learned to say “I belong here, and what I have to say is important”. 

My voice started to carry with a strength I thought I had long since lost… a strength I thought I would never get back. At first I cautiously asked others for platforms and stages to elevate my story, but as I grew into my bravery I began to create my own platform; one that could never again be taken away from me. Pageantry saved my life because it made me believe I was a person worth saving. Before The Gabby Project was born, and before it became a fully realized mission to end domestic violence and save others from abuse, I stepped up and saved myself from a life that was barely even a life. I made a choice to find the light. 

Then I made a choice to be the light. I was no longer going to be defined by the labels that other people gave me. Pageantry allowed me to define myself and find who I was beyond being a “victim”. For a long time I thought that was all I was ever going to be. Now, I know who I am. Arianna Shanks-Hill: advocate, pageant queen, fighter. Friend, sister, lover, dreamer, educator, survivor. 

That’s the beautiful thing about what Miss America has done for me: empowered me to be exactly who I am with the fiercest pride.  

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Arianna Shanks-Hill is the current Miss Tippecanoe (Indiana). You can find her on her title's Instagram and/or her personal Instagram. She is also frequent and valued contributor to Section 36 Forevers. Be sure to read all of her guest blogs.

To learn more about Arianna, feel free to check out her Interview with Section 36.