Pageant coaches teach poise, polish for stage and beyond

Elizabeth Mueller is a 5-year-old ball of barely contained energy wrapped up in a bubblegum-colored dress.

Whether she's strutting across the rehearsal room floor to a rock 'n' roll number or ambling and sashaying to a country beat, Elizabeth demands the attention of everyone in the room.

Seriously, she does. Prefacing her rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" with an invitation to an imaginary audience to stand, she points to a crouching photographer and says sternly, "I include you, Mr. Cameraman."

Credit Elizabeth's effervescent personality to, perhaps, a cosmic luck of the draw. But for her confidence and ability to feel comfortable performing in front of total strangers, offer props to Georgina Vaughan, Elizabeth's pageant coach.

Give Vaughan credit, also, for Elizabeth's enviable pageant record. She has competed in nearly 20 pageants since Vaughan became her coach about a year ago, and has won all but one (and that, Vaughan recalls, laughing, was only because Elizabeth was so busy playing to the stage-side photographer that "she wouldn't get off the stage").

For Elizabeth, competing in pageants -- and doing all of the dancing, singing and performing that entails -- is just something that she loves to do. But, even if she doesn't realize it, Elizabeth, with Vaughan's help, also is learning skills and developing confidence that will serve her well throughout life.

If anybody knows about the benefits of pageantry, it's Vaughan, whose roster of pageant titles includes reigns as Miss Nevada Teen USA 2006 and Miss Nevada USA 2009. Now, as owner of Winning Wand Pageant Consulting, Vaughan passes on the skills she has learned to other pageant hopefuls.

As a pageant coach, Vaughan offers clients -- women and also, she notes, one man at present -- advice on hair, wardrobe and makeup. She does choreography and photography. And, she offers clients strategies to effectively handle interview questions and other vital aspects of pageant competition that casual viewers may miss.

"When I tell people what my job is, they look at me kind of cross-eyed: 'You make a living at that?' " Vaughan says. "And I explain that, even when I was Miss Nevada, it's not just, 'Eat healthy and go on stage and just look pretty.' It's so much more than that."

Vaughan, 23, estimates that, since creating Winning Wand just more than a year ago, she has worked with more than 50 clients in Nevada, California and Arizona.

"Honestly, it was just going to be a hobby, then, all of a sudden, it just took off," she says. "There was such a demand from kids and adults wanting coaching. I've literally coached somebody as young as 2 years old to someone who's 40."

Working with very young kids does require a different approach from working with teens or young women, Vaughan says. For a 2-year-old, for instance, the focus will be mostly on having fun, although young kids also can develop such skills as being comfortable in front of crowds.

Vaughan says she sometimes suggests to parents that they return with their children when the kids are more ready to benefit from pageant training.

Brittney Cobb, 27, started competing in pageants at the age of 5. Three years ago, she created Fit for the Crown, her own Las Vegas pageant consulting firm.

"I tell people that (pageantry is) just like anything that you'd compete in in life," Cobb says. "There are professional football players who get paid millions of dollars, yet they still have coaches and they still need to train and work to perform their best.

"It's the same with pageantry, and you can see a difference with the girls on stage as to those who have some training and coaching and those who do not."

Cobb so far has worked with more than 60 clients ranging in age from 4 to 65, and says her philosophy is to "polish and bring out the best qualities and best features" of each.

"There are some very basic guidelines and, kind of, tricks of the trade," she says. "But, all in all, it's just about helping the individual's personality come through, and shine and capture the judges' attention."

Vaughan notes that the skills pageant contestants work to develop -- confidence, poise and the ability to interact with others, speak to a crowd, think on your feet and excel in an interview -- translate well to job searches, school, careers and life off of the stage.

"I've had people say, 'Can you just spend time with my daughter?' because you're a role model and, in the teenage years, they're not listening to parents," she says. "I can do that. Sometimes it feels like a psychology session."

Pageant training largely is about becoming "comfortable in your own skin," Vaughan adds. Toward that end, she promotes pageants "that have interviews in them, because -- no joke -- when I was growing up, because of all the (pageant) interviews I had been in, I have never not gotten a job, because I was so used to telling people, 'This is what I have to offer.' "

Cobb agrees, saying, "For me, it's all about building people's self-confidence.

"I had one young lady I worked with, and her teacher the following year told her mom, 'Wow, she's the best speaker in class.' She would just get up to do a book report or whatever, and she did such a great job, and her mom kind of credited (her) working with me as giving her the confidence to do that."

Cathy Kennedy's daughter, Marilyn, 14, has been competing in pageants since age 7 and now works with Vaughan.

"I've been to a couple of different coaches and Georgina is the best," Kennedy says. "She's reliable and she's honest, and that's very important with kids."

Pageant coaches don't work for free -- Vaughan's basic fee, for example, is $50 per hour -- but Kennedy notes that pageantry is "just like any other sport" that a child might participate in.

"I don't think it's any more expensive than any other sport," she says. "You have lessons, you have to pay for uniforms, you have to be dedicated."

Also like any other sport or activity, pageantry requires that competitors learn skills from trained coaches. Vaughan, Kennedy says, "definitely has the skills that are required for someone who I want my daughter to spend time with."

Elizabeth hadn't competed in pageants before she began working with Vaughan. As Elizabeth practices her "Rocker" routine with Vaughan, mom Cristina Hinds says that the most important thing about Elizabeth's new hobby is that she enjoys it.

But, beyond that, Hinds adds, Vaughan has "been able to bring out her personality. She always wins 'Best Personality,' and that's because Georgina has taught her how to express herself."

Contact reporter John Przybys at jprzybys@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0280.