The 17-year-old Potomac resident became Miss Maryland Teen USA in November, graduated from Winston Churchill High School in June and was crowned Miss Teen USA on July 24. She will attend New York Film Academy in the fall.
How long have you been doing pageants?
Maryland was actually my first one.
Don’t most competitors do this for forever?
Yes, definitely. Sometimes people prepare for their lifetimes for this, and I prepared for five months, and I won.
Why did you decide to try for the Maryland title?
My friends. They encouraged me; they said I would be good at it, so I decided to give it a shot.
What are your duties as Miss Teen USA?
I’ll be working with a lot of our charitable alliances: DARE, Best Buddies, Project Sunshine, Girl talk, Sparrow Club.
What are your goals in life?
After this, I want to start on medical school, and I want to become a dermatologist. I’m accepted into the University of Alabama pre-med program.
How will film fit into a dermatology career?
I would love to do commercials. I’ve done some modeling in the past.
Do you think pageant contestants are wrongly stereotyped?
Definitely. I think the TV shows that portray pageant girls in a bad way and make them look like brats, and movies that show that the only thing pageant girls want is world peace … those are far from what we are. Most of us are extremely intelligent. A lot of the contestants have degrees.
Do you have any pageant secrets, such as hair-spraying your bikini bottoms?
Actually, we use butt glue for that. But for the face, usually we have long days. We had to be ready by 6:40 every morning, and we weren’t going to bed until 12 [midnight]. So what I used was Preparation H under the eyes, so it wakes them up and revives them and doesn’t make them look so puffy.
— Liz Essley
