Brenna Russell, 2023 Miss White County Fair Queen, was the guest speaker at this week’s Kiwanis meeting, where she discussed what she has been up to since being crowned in August. Not only is Russell preparing for the pageant, she is also studying Political Science at the University of Illinois. She shared some of her favorite moments during her reign, working with the PAWS program in White County and ringing the bell for the Salvation Army one Saturday morning at the Carmi Wal-Mart with some of her queen sisters.
Russell went into detail about what she has been up to since being crowned back in August. Not only has she met with the 73 other county contestants vying for the title of Miss Illinois Fair Queen, but she has also created her own YouTube channel, “Queen Questions.”
“It was sort of a lightbulb moment for me. While talking to some of the other queens there, I realized it wasn’t just our pageant with low participation. We just had three contestants this year and only four last year, and it used to be a lot more than that. This has been such a great opportunity; I’ve gotten to talk to and meet so many great people, and I’ve gotten to go to new places; why don’t more people want to get involved? I decided, after talking to some of my mentors, that I wanted to start a platform called Queen Questions to sort of promote involvement and participation in our pageant system through authentic education.”
Authentic education gives an inside look into real-world experiences, in this instance, pageantry. Russell uses her platform to create videos about her real and honest experiences of what the pageant field consists of. She has advocated for the fair, agriculture, and community of White County during her reign.
Next Wednesday, Russell leaves for the pageant, and on the 10th, the top 16 contestants will be announced.
Russell concluded…
“While obviously, it would be amazing to be a finalist. My goal has just been to give my all and representing my county and to be proud of the performance I put on stage and in my interview, and to just stay true to who I am while doing it. I feel like that is super important sometimes.”
Next week, the Kiwanis members will have the White County Historical member Kristin Land as their guest speaker.
