Today we’d like to introduce you to Chaunte Causey
Hi Chaunte, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started competing in pageants when I was a teen. I did them mostly because they were talent-based. I’ve always watched Miss America and Miss USA and loved the idea of competing. While I never did any sort of pageant like that, I got involved with the Miss South Carolina Scholarship Organization back in 2013 when I was invited to a local competition for Miss Charleston and Miss South Carolina. Since then, I got hooked because of what pageantry can do for young women. It encourages discipline and community service, while also teaching young women life skills like building and putting together a resume and interviewing. In addition to these things, the young ladies are able to earn college scholarships, something I wish I would have done to help pay off the student loans I acquired. In fact, Miss South Carolina is the largest scholarship provider for women in the state with Miss America being the largest scholarship provider for women in the country.
I started volunteering with the Miss Summerville pageant, choreographing the opening production number for the local competition and helping the titleholders prepare for the state competition. I became co-director for Miss Lowcountry, Miss Summerville and Miss North Charleston in 2018 and became the sole director this summer, in June 2024.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
There are always hiccups in the world of pageantry. Girls overthink things, over prepare or under prepare as you as a director have to be there to pick up the pieces and hold it together. Also working with young women between 14-28 years old can be a challenge due to personalities. The other hard part that makes this volunteer position difficult is finding sponsors for our program. It’s hard for people to understand what really goes into being a pageant titleholder when young ladies are stereotyped for winning for just being beautiful. That’s not the case. The girls competing have to put together a resume, write an essay on their community service initiative (something they are passionate about and wanting to promote during their year of service). They have to compete in private interview, onstage question, prepare a 90-second talent, compete in physical fitness and evening gown. There’s a lot of work involved in preparing for the state competition, and we are in need of the community’s support and their understanding it’s not just a beauty pageant.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Outside of being a volunteer with Miss South Carolina as a local director, I work in corporate communications for a Department of Defense contractor in North Charleston. I’ve been there for almost three years. Prior to that, I worked in the local news industry as a producer and executive producer for nearly 15 years.
Can you talk to us a bit about the role of luck?
The world of pageantry is all about luck in my opinion for my titleholders. They compete each summer at Miss South Carolina in Columbia and are judged based on the opinions of 5 people. I tell my girls all the time, it’s luck because it really depends on how the judges are feeling each day of the competition. Their opinions could be different on any other given day and the dice could roll a totally different way with a different panel of judges. No matter what or who is judging them, luck is on their side and they need to go out and be themselves.
Contact Info:
- Website: crownthelowcountry.weebly.com; miss-sc.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misslowcountryorg/, https://www.instagram.com/misssummervilleorg/
- Facebook: https://web.facebook.com/MissSCOrg
