A Portadown youngster is preparing to take to the catwalk at a pageant in England following Irish success.
Eight-year-old Zara McKee started doing pageants last year at the age of seven, with her first outing being a charity contest called Miss/Ms Inner Beauty.
There she received a crown for ‘best hair’, with mum Joanne admitting this gave Zara the “pageant bug”.
“She then got signed up for the Future of Empowering Women Pageant. She even held her own wee disco to raise money for charity and raised over £270,” explained Joanne.
Zara was then entered into another charity pageant, where she won her age group and received a crown and a sash.
She then entered Miss/Ms Inner Beauty again where she scooped four crowns for ‘best walk’, director’s choice’, ‘junior inner beauty’, and the charity crown.
Joanne added: “It was all good practice for her Future of Empowering Women pageant in December where she won a crown for the ‘photogenic side’ award.”
It was all just the beginning for Zara’s pageant career, as she was then to enter the ‘Miss Diamond Ireland’ pageant in Belfast, where she was crowned ‘Junior Miss Diamond Ireland 2024’!
Now, she is off to Wigan at the end of August to represent Ireland in the Diamond United Kingdom and European Union Pageant.
Continued Joanne: “She is also holding a charity disco on May 9 from 4pm to 5:30pm in Killicomaine Community Centre for YoungMinds.”
If she’s successful, Zara will be heading stateside to Orlando to represent Ireland and the EU.
Said Joanne: “She started off so shy and now the confidence in her has changed enormously. To say we, as her parents, are proud of her is an understatement. We tell her to just be herself on-stage and that’s all anyone can ask of her.”
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