From being bullied ... to placing at beauty pageants
A beauty pageant runner-up, who was bullied at school, is hoping to inspire confidence in young girls who may be in a similar situation.
Shannon Wright, a call centre operator from Redcar, had never imagined she’d be accepted into Top Model Tees Valley, let alone be placed second. After suffering bullying about her looks throughout the majority of her secondary school experience, this new achievement has instilled a newfound confidence in Shannon – and now she wants to help young girls find it too.
The Tees Valley beauty pageant was held on Friday, June 24 at the Billingham Synthonia Suites and it marks the first of many beauty pageants for Shannon. Having caught the bug she now has her sights set on Top Model North Yorkshire and Supermodel England, the latter competition being one of the most prestigious pageants
in the country.
As part of the Tees Valley competition, each beauty pageant contestant was asked to hold a fundraiser to raise money for the children’s hospice, Zoe’s Place. Through continuous bake sales and hard work, Shannon raised £450 for the hospice – overall the girls raised £6,000 for the hospice.
On how these beauty pageants had changed her life, the 21-year-old said: “When I first signed up in December 2021, I didn’t really expect anything from it. When I was accepted, I was completely shocked and then when it came to the competition day that’s when it all hit me.
“I didn’t think I’d be good enough to do it, I ended up thinking back to when I was bullied in secondary and I was so close to dropping out the entire time but I ignored it and gave it a go and it was amazing, the thrill of being on stage and feeling like a princess in the formalwear. When they came to second place and they said my name I couldn’t believe it, I was absolutely flabbergasted.”
Knowing what it feels like to be isolated by your peers, Shannon’s ultimate goal is to encourage people of all ages, shapes and sizes to push themselves out of their comfort zones so that they can be unafraid to be themselves.
She added: “At school, I was the nerd at the back of the group being called all sorts of names and never feeling good enough to do anything so now I feel as though this has inspired me to prove to people that anyone can do modelling.”