Many young girls dream of competing in and winning beauty pageants, and for some those dreams carry on into adulthood, as is the case for lifelong Winston Countian, Rhonda Cooper Prisock.
Prisock traveled to Baton Rouge, LA, in mid-January to compete in the World Universal Beauty Pageant, which is affiliated with Our Little Miss, and featured hundreds of competitors in different age groups.
Prisock performed remarkably winning the following awards: Living Dolls, ages 18-up, 2nd Alternate; Top 4 in Pro-Am Modeling, Ages 13-up; Best Western Wear; Best Hat Wear; Best Party Dress; Best High Fashion; Best Animal Print; Best Coat/Cape; Best Today’s Fad; Second Best Sportswear; 2nd Best Headshot, and in the Ages 29 and up group Prisock won Best Evening Gown; Most Photogenic; and First Alternate.
Prisock is no novice in the pageant world, having coached competitors for 30-plus years in pageant systems such as Miss Teen USA, Miss Mississippi and Miss America. Prisock is also the owner of Fantabulous Formals which provides formal wear for all occasions including pageantry, and has customers coming from surrounding states.
She acknowledged that she was disappointed at not winning, but that it is quite an honor to be named First Alternate. In addition, Prisock had earlier been named First Alternate in the Mississippi Pageant, and as the reigning Mississippi Queen was named the winner of this year’s World Universal Beauty Pageant, Prisock will automatically be honored as the new Mississippi Queen.
This was not only an opportunity to compete, but also to act as a role model and set a positive example. She said, “I was disappointed, but I wasn’t. I have a lot of little eyes looking at me, I have a lot of little admirers looking at me. And how I react could be perhaps how they would react in the future.”
Concerning the decision to compete, Prisock said, “I did it for the simple fact that there are a lot of seasons changing in my life, and I just wanted to do something for once, for me.
And I just wanted to prove to myself that I still could do it, and that I was okay.” She said it was one of the best weeks of her life and it was an opportunity to make many new friends, as well.
Prisock is the daughter of Joe and Elaine Cooper. She has three daughters, Alexis Ray, Courtney Holdiness and Kayleigh Jo Prisock, and three granddaughters.
