For Sharitha McKenzie, a University student and current Miss Oregon USA, beauty pageants are business ventures. Instead of a briefcase, she carries a tackle box full of MAC makeup, and in place of a suit she wears a sash and crown, but like any professional, she’s working to sell herself and beat out the competition.
McKenzie, a senior majoring in journalism: electronic media, has been competing in pageants for almost 10 years, and won the Miss Oregon USA crown in September 2006, breaking the streak of three, first-runner-up finishes in a row.
The Miss USA pageant, to be held March 23 in Los Angeles, will put McKenzie face-to-face with her competition and friends from across the country, but she won’t let camaraderie get in the way of winning a more prominent title and the opportunity to live in Donald Trump’s mansion in New York.
“This is what I’ve been after since I started,” McKenzie said. “Because I was first runner-up so many times, people didn’t think I could do it, but because this title didn’t come easy for me, I appreciate it more.”
A native of Northeast Portland, McKenzie, 23, began competing in pageants when she was around 14 years old. She placed in the top five in the Miss Oregon Teen USA pageant and was crowned Benson Polytechnic High School Rose Festival Princess.
As McKenzie finishes up her degree, she has been traveling up and down Interstate 5 making appearances, which commonly includes speaking to middle schools about beauty, race and using negative energy from others as motivation when life gets tough.
“I think it’s important for all little girls to know that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes and ethnicities, and they have to know that to become empowered and be proud to be who they are,” McKenzie said, adding that a lot of people act surprised when they find out Miss Oregon is black.
This year, Oregon, Washington and California are sending women of color to the pageant, something McKenzie said she is proud of. She is also the second University student crowned Miss Oregon USA in the past 10 years, and the pageant’s second runner-up this year was also a University student.
Although the national pageant is still weeks away, McKenzie leaves Thursday for Los Angeles where she and the other contestants, all between 18 and 27 years old, will learn the program’s choreography, make public appearances and get to know each other – before they turn into the competition.
“You’re there for business. You go to win, but you want to make as many friends as you can,” McKenzie said, adding that if you leave without the crown it’s better to have made friends along the way.
If McKenzie doesn’t win the title competition rules state that she can never compete for it again. Because of this harsh reality, she is making her decisions carefully, keeping in mind the controversy surrounding the party-going, rehab-entering current Miss USA, who almost let her crown slip away.
“Nobody’s perfect, but I will say, on the other hand, this is like applying for a job and you sign a contract. You are a role model and you have to remember that,” McKenzie said. “I don’t think this incident should overshadow what other great Miss USAs have done.”
McKenzie said she believes the judges are looking for a woman who is lady-like, real and comfortable in her own skin, in addition to someone who knows what she wants to do in life.
For McKenzie, that is being a TV news reporter. She has already interned at Eugene television stations KEZI and KVAL, and thinks that winning the Miss USA title would be a good career move.
The contestants will be judged equally on the evening wear, the swimsuit and the interview portion, which McKenzie prepares for by answering questions e-mailed to her weekly by a pageant Web site.
“It’s just a conversation. You can have things you want to talk about, but they just want to know who you are,” she said.
McKenzie said she understands that different judges favor different types of women, but she thinks she has a real shot at the crown and is ready for the weight of its responsibility.
“Right now I’m living my dream. This has been my dream since I was a little girl,” she said.
The Miss USA pageant will be aired on NBC on March 23.
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