If anyone has seen “Toddlers and Tiaras,” it would appear some people are just born to be in beauty pageants; however, in some cases, like with Mya Pronschinske, a doctorate student at UW, the interest in competing can spark later in life.
Pronschinske acquired both her bachelor’s and MBA in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing at the University of Cincinnati near where she grew up. She went to college on a golf scholarship.
After graduating with an MBA in Marketing, Pronschinske went on to work for the Professional Golf Association, where she operated in the event management section.
Even though she had frequent interaction with tour players, Pronschinske said she gave it all up to come to UW.
“I knew I wanted to do something with sustainability,” Pronschinske said.
“I started looking at programs and just kept hearing that Wyoming started their PhD program in Marketing with an emphasis in sustainability last year. I was part of the incoming cohort.”
While playing college golf, Pronschinske’s coach would make the players do team building exercises, Pronschinske said.
“One of the questions was what was on our bucket list, and mine was always wanting to compete in a beauty pageant,” Pronschinske said. “I had struggled with self-esteem and body image problems through out my life, so I just thought I never could.”
In many beauty pageants, there is a cut off age of 27 for the women competing.
“So that age factor came in, and I thought ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to age out. This is on my bucket list, I have to do it,’” Pronschinske said.
After gaining the title of Miss Earth Wyoming, Pronschinske went on to compete for Miss Earth U.S. in July of 2011. Miss Earth is the third largest pageant in the world, she said.
Miss Earth is a pageant that not only focuses on beauty, but sustainability as well. While other pageants focus on talents, Miss Earth focuses on sustainability questions, Pronschinske said.
One question asked during the pageant was, “There is a big box retailer who is coming into this small town. It will provide jobs through the company, but all the increase in traffic is going to provide pollution, which will harm the environment. What do you do if you’re on the city council?,” Pronschinske said.
Pronschinske came in fifth place at the Miss Earth U.S. pageant. She said her ability to answer these types of questions played a big part in her placing.
“I think my education here at the University of Wyoming has really helped my environmental awareness,” Pronschinske said. “I was told that I had the highest score in that question, because I was able to talk about all parts of sustainability: economic, social and environmental.”
While Pronschinske will leave the age bracket to compete, she plans to take her love and interest in beauty pageants into her doctoral studies.
“We’re starting to think about my dissertation, and my interest is really in beauty and images and how marketing uses that,” Pronschinske said. The context of beauty pagents has never been explored before, so Pronschinske is working with Dr. Kent Drummond on the idea.
Pronschinske said she hopes to go into teaching after getting her doctorate and continue researching beauty and its function in marketing.
