Behind the writer

So during the course of my interviews with fellow queens one of them suggested I do a behind the writer piece for my blog.

I normally don’t write about myself but I thought I would give it a try.

So here is goes …

My name is Charlotte Lister and I’m the current Ms Diamond South Yorkshire, I work for a manufacturing company, I’m a mum to a 9 year old mini me and I’m a blogger for all things pageants and I’m a writer for pageant magazine.

I started competing in pageants in 2012 after being scouted for my local Miss England heat unfortunately as I’m a mother I couldn’t compete but I really wanted to experience pageants as what I only really knew of them was from the film Miss Congenitally.

So I did some research and found a system that allowed mothers to compete. This was Miss British Empire York. This was my first ever pageant I had no idea what to expect but I knew charity was a large part of it so before the final I arranged a charity photo shoot to raise money for Bullies Out which was the heats chosen charity I also contacted my local paper and they ran my story. I contacted a dress designer I knew called Kiss Me Kate and they provided me with a stunning evening dress for my first ever pageant.

Me and some of the girls backstage at Miss British Empire York

My fashion show !

Now I didn’t win I didn’t even place but I won Best Dressed thanks to Kiss me Kate and also Miss Congenitally, I felt like Sandra Bullock.

My sashes including my sponsor sash !

Evening wear wearing Kiss Me Kate Designs

That was it I was hooked I loved pushing myself, giving back to charities and meeting new friends so I decided to compete in the Sheffield Heat of the same pageant which I actually won !

Press and sashes from Miss British Empire York and Sheffield

I then went to the U.K. final of Miss British Empire U.K. 2012 where I won Miss Publicity.

Because I loved the experience so much I then competed in Face of the Globe North East heat which was incredible and I won ! That was it I was on my way to my first ever International pageant in London and Paris and what an experience that was !

It was hard work but full of laughter and fun and lots of tears as I missed my daughter so much. I didn’t place and I didn’t expect too but I was still hooked so I carried on competing but this time I started doing pageants with a 1-2 year gap as I had learnt from the international that you need to be in the right mental state when you compete.

I competed in a few different systems including Miss Progress where I placed top 15 and won Miss Publicity and Miss Congenitally.

Ms Earth U.K. where I placed 3rd runner up and won Miss Charity.

Royal U.K. Miss in the Ms Category where I won Miss Charity and Best in Interview and Royal U.K. Miss (Ms) Role Model.

After a couple of years break I decided it was the right time to compete again. I had previously been accepted into Miss Diamond U.K. back in 2016 but I had a holiday booked at the same time as the international and didn’t want to risk competing so I had to drop out.

But even then I knew that the Diamond System was one for me as it allows all women to feel empowered through pageantry, it also allows all women no matter there size, height, age etc to compete which is amazing as back when I first started competing there wasn’t many systems that allowed Mother’s to compete.

So last year I decide to complete my online application form for the Diamond System but this time as a Ms.

I was over the moon when I became a finalist and was awarded my regional title of Ms Diamond South Yorkshire 2019-2020.

One of my first appearances as Ms Diamond South Yorkshire was dropping off over 100 Easter eggs to local children’s ward.

Since becoming a regional finalist I was always out and about with my finalist sash and helping in my local community. I then started taking part in online campaigns to help my sister queens from the Diamond System and other systems too.

During this time I decided on my platform as Ms Diamond South Yorkshire which is Cancer Awareness, this is very personal to me for a couple of reasons.

Unfortunately I have lost 3 grandparents to different types of cancer, my dad and aunt are both in remission and I found a lump in my breast 2 years ago it was nothing serious but it was incredibly scary experience to go through. Because of my experience with cancer I wanted to be a health advocate for not just myself but also for other people.

All my appearances were going well and earlier on in the year I became a volunteer for my local Children’s Hospital.

Now because of this I then developed my platform further to incorporate end of life care as during my research it showed that around 25% of people in hospital with a terminal illness don’t want to be there but because they don’t have an end of life care plan there wishes are ignored.

For those that don’t know what an end of life care plan is, it can cover things from where you want to be, to food, visitors, room temperature as well as much more.

Due to this I came up with my own online campaign to raise awareness of End of life care which is called #yourwishescount so people are aware of end of life plans and how important they are.

Now as we all know earlier this year in March the U.K. went into lockdown so all physical appearances had to stop but I decided to keep pageants in the forefront of my mind so I first of all found online appearances and not just online awareness campaigns, I could take part in such as skype interviews, podcasts and online interviews both in the U.K. and America.

I then decided to create a blog to highlight online campaigns, press and any activities I was taking part in at home. This helped spread awareness of these campaigns but also helped me stay pageant focused.

My blog then developed into interviewing fellow pageant queens from across the U.K. and the world.

Due to the success of my interviews I then gave myself a target of 25 interviews in 2 weeks which I hit way ahead of time so then I increased the target to 100 interviews in 28 days which again I hit. It was hard work but incredibly inspiring that I was able to share all these Queen journeys to thousands of people in the pageantry and none pageantry community.

Once I hit my 100 I carried on but now I only publish one interview per day.

These interviews sometimes get sent to Pageant Magazine which I now contribute too. Three interviews have been published online and I’m hoping some will be in the physical issue when it comes out but due to Covid19 this has been delayed.

I actually used to write for a pageant magazine called Natural Sparkle years ago too so it was lovely to get back into writing and share all these stories.

I now have completed nearly 150 interviews with fellow queens from the U.K., America, Canada and Australia from some incredible systems. I have learnt so much from these interviews some have made me laugh some have made me cry but I’m proud to be able to share them all with you.

Now I didn’t want people to think I had stopped caring or talking about my platform so I started little videos about awareness days/weeks for things such as cervical cancer and children’s hospice awareness week and I even started my latest project Cancer Chats with Charlotte which I film on Skype and publish once a week.

Now Cancer Chats with Charlotte isn’t something I was sure on at first but after some feedback I decided it would be a good idea to raise awareness, see if people have managed to turn there experience with cancer (whether they have had cancer themselves or a friend or family member has had cancer) into a positive and finally discuss any advice they have to help other people in a similar situation to them.

I have published 2 of these Cancer Chats with Charlotte and so far the feedback has been positive.

Now because of Covid19 the finals of the Diamond U.K. and Ireland has been postponed and we have a new date of February 2021.

Which means I have quite a few months to get ready for the final and to continue to make a difference in my local community.

A couple of the events I should of taken part in at the beginning of the year have been rearranged one is a colour dash run and the other is a mud run both are for Bluebell Wood Hospice which I volunteer for.

But until I’m able to attend events I’m still making the most of virtual ones including online interviews (my next one is 21st July), online campaigns and my blog !

Now I’m going to answer some of the questions I ask other queens in there interviews I have covered some already but here’s the rest !

What have pageants taught you ?

Pageants have taught me so much from the importance of charity and community work and that one voice can make a huge impact, that pageants really own there own community and sisterhood and that everyone helps each other, goal setting skills which has been a huge help for me during lockdown and finally skills that you don’t learn in normal education such as interview skills, how to address a crowd, how to give a speech to hundreds of people and how to make a difference.

What’s your dream title and what would it mean to you if you won ?

So if you haven’t guessed yet my dream title is Ms Diamond U.K.

If I was lucky enough to be crowned it would not only be a huge honour but huge responsibility that would mean the world to me. Winning would allow me to reach a wider audience about my platform of cancer Awareness and End of Life Care as well as continuing to make a difference in my community and for my chosen charities. Plus I would love to visit the children in the Hospice in my Crown and Sash (once it’s safe of course)

What’s the best advice you have for fellow pageant queens?

My best advice to is find a cause or platform that speaks to you one that you are passionate about and don’t be afraid to use your voice.

What’s your favourite appearance ?

So throughout my pageantry journey I have taken part in hundreds of appearances so I don’t have one favourite I have 3 all for different reasons.

1. Half marathon because this showed my determination and I was raising money for Hallam Cash for Kids who I still work with now, last year I started a collection of Christmas presents to donate to them. I ended up with over 100 presents which was incredible.

2. Skydive because I overcame a fear and raised money for charity

3. Bungee jump now this was scarier than the sky dive I did this last year in darkness I burst into tears and had to be pushed but I did it and raised nearly £200 for Deptherapy

What makes a good pageant role model ?

A good pageant role model is someone who is kind, friendly and passionate. Someone who is willing to help in the pageant and none pageant community. Someone who is actively using there crown to promote there platform and the system that they represent.

What’s your favourite pageant round ?

This is a mix between fashion wear and interview. I love fashion wear on stage as it’s so upbeat you can show off your sass ! But I love interview as you can tell the judges about you, your platform and what you have been doing during your regional or national reign

How do you deal with pageant nerves ?

This is something I still struggle with but I find running through my walk in my head and deep breaths just before going on stage helps.

So that’s my journey so far in pageantry ! Now I have till February 2021 before the national final so expect more blog posts, more appearances and more Cancer Chats with Charlotte. Much love Charlotte, Ms Diamond South Yorkshire 2020.