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Writer's pictureannika-wooton

Get to know Beyond the Crown

Beyond the Crown FAQ


Man, oh man, has this been a long time coming! Honestly, I was really nervous to take this leap of faith and launch this program for fear that it wouldn’t resonate with anyone. Then I recalled all of the incredible women I have spoken to over the years who are beautiful, courageous, and outstanding humans who feel like they don’t have a purpose outside of pageantry, and I knew I wanted to do this for them.


So I am here to answer all of your questions about Beyond the Crown and how I hope to change how women feel about themselves beyond pageantry.


What is Beyond the Crown?


Beyond the Crown is a coaching program I created that helps you find purpose beyond just winning the crown. Whether you're still working towards that goal, whether you're on the other side, or if you closed that chapter, never quite having achieved what you wanted to.


We meet in 45 to 50 minutes sessions where we go through a customized plan for each client depending on where she is in her journey. We identify pain points, reintegrate passions, identify talents, empowering beliefs, eliminate limits, clarify purpose throughout their next chapter, and give them a sense of purpose beyond the crown.


Most of my clients fall into one of these three categories...


 

Before the Crown: If you’re still competing but want to take a different approach and know it’s

time to start thinking big picture and how to set yourself up for success whether you take the crown home or not, this is for you! We will approach this competition from a mindset of ‘you literally can not lose.’ You may or may not walk away with the crown, but from going at it with this mindset, there is no way you can walk away without having some sense of accomplishment!


Forever A Queen: You’ve recently relinquished your title and have hung up your crown and sash, maybe for the last time. You wake up and feel like you should be making an appearance or talking with your board or getting ready for an event, but instead, you’re just you, living everyday life, and it just doesn’t feel right. This is where we help you find purpose beyond the crown and help redirect your energy now that you are your fabulous self!


Aged out, now what?: You’ve aged out of your system, and you’re not really sure what to make of it. You didn’t win, and there are lots of emotions swirling around, and none of them are particularly great. You’re unsure how to process your feelings and still use this experience as a positive to launch into the next thing. Let’s figure it out together!


No matter where you are in the journey, this can be for you! At its essence, Beyond the Crown is life coaching. This structure and support system has your best interests at heart. We will challenge and support you and be a safe space for you to vent, be validated, and feel all the feelings that come with going through different transitions when going through pageantry. It will help you move forward in life with positive direction and purpose.



What inspired you to want to create Beyond the Crown?


I got the inspiration for Beyond the Crown after losing the last pageant I competed in. I was standing on stage clapping at Miss Kansas USA. I just had this moment where I realized that whoever wins gets swept away in all this excitement and glamour and sparkle (because I had been in those shoes as Miss Kansas in the America system back in 2019). Then there’s every other girl who competed, who did the same thing she did on that stage that weekend and the rest of them walk away with nothing.


I mean, I know there are some different prize packages and such, but there is no dedicated support for the women who don’t win the crown. This moment just brought back so many feelings of what I had felt each year of my journey, and each time I didn't win, I felt defeated. Or then when I did win and I went to Miss America didn't win that, and came back really feeling like I had been gutted.


This moment brought back visceral feelings of coming back from Miss America, and I felt like I had no sense of direction. Once I gave up my title as Miss Kansas in the Miss America system, the support that you have; the board, the attention, and the ‘you are their girl’ moment disappears as soon as the crown is placed on the next girl's head.


I was talking to someone else who had recently been in those same shoes, and she said, “You know they say you're a ‘forever’, but I really feel like a ‘yesterday’,” That resonated with me so much. It’s just one of those things where the feeling has already been there for so many women, but there has never been a structure or a place for those women to come to, to figure themselves out, and I wanted to create that space from them.


Why should I choose Beyond the Crown?


I have never seen someone provide a service, particularly like this, in the industry. I like to compare this to professional or college athletes. There is this really heightened season of your life where you are incredibly high performing, you are involved in this from sun up to sun down in every aspect of your life, and someday you wake up, and it’s all over. And sometimes you get to choose when it’s all over, and sometimes you don't. That is one of the more unique experiences of career transitions, and it’s not often talked about in pageantry. We’ve talked a lot about mental health, but I don’t think we’ve actually put that into action on supporting the mental health of title holders after they’ve left the space, and it’s a very serious thing. There are residual implications of competing in pageantry or being a public figure that follows women for years and years after they’ve stopped competing. I have been in every possible situation; I’ve lost time and time again, won, lost again, reigned for an incredible two years through the pandemic, and then put my hat in the ring again and lost. Through all that, and now being an experienced pageant coach for the stage element, I know what I experienced going through all of that tumultuous ups and downs. Still, I’m also witnessing how it’s impacting other women, and I see the cycles. I’m seeing the things happening over and over again, the patterns, the trends, and how they can be unique for everybody.


I want to be the person who can help you navigate all of those ups and downs and make sense of it all but even more so, use it to push yourself in a positive direction that feels healthy and natural for you.



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