When the reigning Miss USA and Miss Teen USA, Noelia Voigt and UmaSofia Srivastava, resigned last month, it rocked the pageant world.
As a reporter who has covered pageants before, including the Mrs. World competition in January, I wanted to understand more about the reasons for their departures and what was happening inside Miss USA. Even when the organization has faced allegations of racism, sexual harassment and pageant rigging in the past, no titleholder had ever before stepped down.
My colleague Callie Holtermann and I made dozens of calls, and uncovered a pattern of dysfunction at the organization that some traced to its new leadership. Some pageant contestants said they were disillusioned with Miss USA and described the environment as toxic.
We want to learn more about Miss USA, its parent company Miss Universe and the pageant world more broadly. We’re interested in hearing from contestants past and present, pageant coaches, parents, employees and anyone else who has knowledge of the inner workings of pageants.
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