By Julia H.

You can’t rely on how you look to sustain you…. What is fundamentally beautiful is compassion for yourself and for those around you. That kind of beauty enflames the heart and enchants the soul ~ Lupita Nyong’o.

This is what 2015 Georgia Teen: America's US Miss, Imani Johnson, lives by everyday.
Miss Georgia Teen is a pageant based on teens’ beauty on the inside and out.  Imani Johnson, age 16, says that she has been positively affected by being Miss Georgia Teen because she has been given the opportunity to change the lives of so many children and she has gotten to travel the world.  However, being Miss Georgia Teen requires a lot of work and responsibility. “I have to travel across the country and meet [with various people],” says Miss Johnson.  She must do 200 service hours, which is 10 times more than Girl Scouts must spend on their Girl Scout Bronze Awards, four times more than they must spend on their Girl Scout Silver Awards, and more than twice the time they must spend on their Girl Scout Gold Awards.  Miss Johnson is currently halfway to her requirement.
According to Miss Johnson, “Miss Georgia is someone who is equipped with compassion and humbleness, and a servant to her community. She is creative, today’s girl, a role model, someone who is outspoken, and one who is not afraid to stand out from the crowd.”
As Miss Georgia Teen 2015, Imani Johnson works to promote positive body image for teen girls. Miss Johnson says, “I think it is very important to support a healthy body image ... Being healthy enables you to be more comfortable and confident in your own skin, and allows you to appreciate your body, self, and mind more.” She believes that even though girls are affected by unrealistic standards of beauty in advertising, movies, social media, and much more and we are constantly in competition with ourselves, beauty is what comes from the inside and shines on the outside.
Positive body image affects life in many different ways. Miss Johnson quotes, “In order to succeed in life, you must be confident.” She believes that confidence is needed in all aspects of life including in a classroom, at a job interview, and more. All in all, Imani Johnson works to show girls what beauty really is – it is inside you.


3 comments: