Makeup, the perfect wardrobe, cardio and hairspray. Lots of hairspray. Fifty-two women worth of hairspray, to be exact.
This is what the Miss America Pageant looks like from the outside. But, from the inside, Tippe Emmott, Miss Missouri 2012, has been preparing relentlessly for Miss America, the ultimate trial in pageantry, for the past five years within the organization.
After being crowned Miss Missouri as Miss Branson in June 2012, a whirlwind of hard work, but reward, set in immediately.
“There is no offseason for pageants,” Emmott says. Clocking 400 miles on the road in one day and making 53 appearances in 55 days—all while training for competition—provides a true testament to this statement.
Emmott, a Glendale High School alumni and communications major at Drury University, hopes to work for a local television station and, eventually, own a dance studio after hanging up her crowns.
“First and foremost, I’m a role model,” Emmott says. A self-declared servant to communities across the state, Emmott spends much of her time at public speaking functions and sharing her personal platform, aimed at instilling self-confidence in females. That platform—“POINTE Toward Building Self-Confidence to Achieve Success”—stems from Emmott’s love for ballet en pointe, a passion she will take to the stage on January 12.
