Miss Johnston wins state title

Editor’s Note: The Johnstonian News spoke to Miss Johnston County, Carrie Everett, in advance of last week’s Miss North Carolina Scholarship Pageant, which she won. Though a resident of Washington State, Everett was eligible to compete for the Johnston County and state pageant titles because she attends college in North Carolina. She is a student at N.C. Central University in Durham.

Carrie Everett, the reigning Miss Johnston County, says competing in pageants has taught her life skills and helped her grow as a person.

“This organization and this opportunity have been life-changing,” she said. “I don’t think that I would get the opportunity to do the things that I do anywhere else.”

The chance to inspire future generations is incredible, added Everett, 20. “I can show my face to people, making them happy, when they see me walking with the crown on my head,” she said. “And it’s something as simple as having a little girl want to be me and being a representative of what they can be.”

Everett represented Johnston County at last week’s state pageant.

“I feel like my life has changed forever,” she said in an interview before the event. “If I become Miss North Carolina or I don’t become Miss North Carolina, I’ve already made history as the second black Miss Johnston County. I’ve made history as one of the first participants from Liberia in this organization, and I know that my life is changed forever.”

Her pageant journey started when she was 16 years old.

“I didn’t grow up around the pageant world or pageant spaces, because it just didn’t seem like the type of place for me,” Everett said. “But a local counselor introduced a program to me.”

Her preparation for the Miss North Carolina pageant started six months ago, Everett said. “It has been a little vigorous,” she said. “People don’t see the work that I do behind the scenes, but I’ve been working every single week.”

“I do a lot of work with my vocal professor, as I am a performance major,” Everett said. “I have spent a lot of time preparing myself for interviews.”

She gains a wealth of knowledge from videos, Everett added. “I watched a lot of former contestants and Miss America interviews,” she said. “I’ve watched Miss North Carolina from 1995 to 2017.”

She wanted to understand the legacy that she would be adding to, Everett added. “As well as learning myself and who I am, that has been a major part of my preparation,” she said,.

So has practicing her talent, said Everett, who has been singing since she was 2 years old, “I’ve been studying since I was a child, and I started playing the cello at the age of 9,” she said. “I wasn’t always able to afford to be a musician because it was super expensive. I would carry the school cello back and forth to school because I couldn’t afford one of my own.”

“Music was everything to me,” Everett added. “Singing to me is my way of breathing. It’s a way of expression. I knew it was something that I wanted to pursue from the moment that I entered school.”

Everett hopes to pursue music as a performer and teacher. “I would like to move to Liberia, my country of origin, to teach music to children, enlighten them on the importance of music education and teach them the arts that they don’t have access to,” she said.

Everett would also like to remain in the pageant world. “I would love to continue my journey in pageantry and just be a leader or director in the organization,” she said.

Her community service initiative, CSI, is about uplifting people who want to be in the pageant world.

“We need ‘Equity to Build Communities’ because it’s all about community outreach, community healing and success,” Everett said. “My CSI is all about building the community within the Miss North Carolina program.”

Not every young woman who wants to be in pageants can afford to do so, Everett said. “I wanted to find ways to create accessibility within this community that we have because often we’re paying thousands of dollars for fees or we’re paying for gowns,” she said. “We’re paying for all of these things, and that’s not all that accessible to everybody.

“But if we create an equitable space, meaning if we open wardrobe closets, we create funding for young women who can’t afford it and we teach people who can’t afford coaches how to compete in this space, it could be beneficial to them.”

Everett wants others to be able to learn the skills she gained through pageants.

“I have learned how to style myself professionally,” she said. “I know how to carry myself and walk into a room. … I want the young women, regardless of their financial background or status, to be able to walk into any room and feel the same confidence that I feel regardless of where they come from.”

She has grown personally through her experience as Miss Johnston County, Everett said. “This journey has taught me to have a fighting spirit and to always rely on and trust in God,” she said. “It’s been a lot of effort, and there were days that I wanted to give up, but I have been taught a level of resilience that I don’t think I could be taught anywhere else.”

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