great well without further ado i want to introduce my three being a full intelligent fabulous guess so the dr joy so thank you for joining me sharon thank you for joining me  thank you for joining me so i'm going to ask each one of you to briefly we tell me a little bit about you and only a year just so you know she is the reigning miss is new jersey america twenty seven pageantry again after i retired to spread my message of crohn's and colitis awareness i have crohn's disease i've had it for the last ten years i've had sixteen major life altering surgeries i've been through treatments chemotherapy everything under the sun and these are chronic auto immune invisible diseases and so what better stage to look beautiful but spread my message that you don't know the battle that someone's  facing on the inside right raise awareness for my diseases reese funding for research and help people that are in need of financial assistance for their treatments and just get my message out there well welcome thank you and congratulations  dad was a family member who was a child of a single parent and i just kind of of something needs to be god somebody needs to speak out against just the legitimacy period and i believe every child should know both sides of themselves and what better way to have them do that and trying to have both parents in the house now i'm a realist and i know that our marriage does not last forever some do not you know go on but if the intention is to start out with both parents a mouse giving the upper to child an opportunity to become you know offspring of both of their parents being bought up and especially and the african beautiful baby boy and then we got the diagnosis four years ago and it turned our lives upside down in so but he is my greatest love and he has taught me to take the limits off of life and joy every moment wow thank you now we're all queens and each queen fixes each other when we see that something is off so sharon would you please pull up lauren ney's yes thank you so then that way the viewers can actually hear you is third runner up so you have us all here in full support now how long have you been married to this so i've been married almost two years ok siberia's one year one year wow and i'm thirty you know already know who has a thirty pageantry when i was younger i retired and i figured i'm a more confident woman now at thirty than i was at twenty so i figured let's go for it again and you meet such amazing women and you build such amazing relationships it truly is a once in a lifetime and perience it is it is really yes well i was actually asked to be in the badge and it was not something i ever thought i would do i need to say that i am a grandmother and they are a great grandmother yet how i s women yourself and oh thank you you know i know it's just you know when you meet the women and pageantry it's almost like a sisterhood and you got to collect and you stay in touch and definitely it's not just one day that's right and i just wanted to bring that up over thank you mary mary i will turn fifty years old next year so i guess and and i know homeport is for as a parent as an educator and an advocate for my son  an education system which addresses the needs of a person diagnosed with autism and so i want to reach out to those and as my platform to assist them and that's wonderful for those of you that don't know i ran it was an out of the box experience and i'm a court so i'm i'm feeling pretty good about that and my platform i sit on the state board of consul new jersey so that you know protecting our children from harm is my platform that's the locally and that no it domestically i should say and then my husband and i also have an organization where we have brought clean quality so you know what i don't want you to share your expectations your experiences padded prep for them is new jersey way so my experience really was just show up and have a great time  you never get to live the same day twice and whatever happens i know i'm making a handful of new friends so it's show up take it all in enjoy it have fun last and whatever the outcome and we did have a blast we had saved all my god  and being in pageantry has made me more conscious and aware of my body my physical self and how i look and it's not about being perfect but it's being your perfect sense right makes you feel good and how you look you know who exemplifie that and yes pageant prep i have never been in a pageant before so this was a new goal for me and i knew nothing about coming into it clothes makeup hair and jewelry and that was just completely exciting and a whirlwind and i love just to live in the minute and i see every step as a journey and i want to know where this journey is taking me i wanted to join  party because of joining the sisterhood and i have met the most amazing and spiraling including the director elaine pal oh yeah and we love the yes and she's so supportive and just to step on the stage even though that night i had a broken toe the show must go on and i just love every second living in the moment yeah so judges we know it would judges we all had interviews we had backstage interviews and then we had the interview question onstage and this time from what i understand was the first time that they asked each one of us the question is in previous they would only ask the top five but they asked us a question on stage so what do you think the criteria is that the judges the looking for for their pageant i think they're looking for who is their most authentic selves and i don't think they want someone who's giving a very pageant patti prepared answer i think they want to see who we are what we stand for and i think showing them not what you think they want to see but the best version of allie and sharon and dr joy and renee and i think that's what they see personalities the causes the things that they stand for you know they just bought so much and i just i'm glad i was not a judge so what do you think the judges are looking for you want to add to what they said this would certainly be in addition because everything they said it very accurate and i think the judges are looking for someone who will represent the miss america pageant the best after i get to portray their image of the married wife and her role in today's society  your life changed since becoming part of this court was there with you and k well i met you ladies and everybody involved in the pageant and because of my platform for autism acceptance advocacy and awareness it's just taken upon a life of its own and in the first runner up contest for the national mrs america pageant so i'm still in the running it everybody goes to the mrs new jersey pageant page and gives me a shout out vote that would be great because i want to take autism nationwide to a broad audience so what does that mean he says you are first we go to the page and what do we have to do you see a picture of all the first one reps in the united states ok state and whichever first runner up contestant gets the most votes from the public they get to be in las vegas in august with allie and opportunity to have a stage to speak to and given an audience that you want to listen to what you have to say whether be big or small i think that's been the biggest benefit so far and i would also answer that you know you know so many of causes right what am i doing for my community now did you know i'm sure you guys are familiar with pageant planet yes i used to listen to their podcast driving to and from work ok well i don't think side you not me no no no first of all yours truly but dissipated in the badge and along with these beautiful women here and we are all very intelligent multiple degree ok and we have straight sense all right and you know we care about all the people here says number two pageant girls and will slash women are self centered now really do you think that these ladies a self centered do you think that just selves and i don't think so i have to agree with that as much as i love pageantry i love the sisterhood i love the bond you make you do have to have a tough skin there is a panel of judges that are judging you and they are going to be critical and you may not be their cup of tea and you have to have a thick skin and be confident that you show them who you are you love yourself and it might not be for them but it should not get you down at all so i think a thick skin comes in handy for that part i mean you have to be i think that each of us are very comfortable in our own skin and i know that when i stepped on that stage i had the support of my hometown belvedere new jersey and all the towns in the area warren county new jersey and my local merchants who helped me get my dress ready jen so it all and they were all excited and they wanted to know when it was where it was and they're excited my talent is so excited that somebody is doing something especially on the platform and it's really about awareness and embracing all diversity that's right individuality and i cannot be so more excited than just knowing that i come from a great place and i want to spread the wor because i am right in the middle of new jersey is so i wanted something that represented that but also would speak to everybody in my county in my home towns would be like oh that's our girl all so i kind of picked it based on my town but also county wise a seventh generation resident of northern new jersey wow six generation in warren county and then and in one generation was an hundred and so i'm just so proud and then i could just never down to one card of new jersey i love all interest now you participated in pageantry for a long time for a few years in my late teens while i was in college and then i retired from it and then last year i just decided my husband was like i want to see you  because this is your first time and you're and court well yes please sharon i would definitely encourage you so much for your self esteem actually helps you to become more in touch with who you are that's right and what your purpose that is the camaraderie between the women is it's just amazing and i'm very thrilled to be a part of it and i would encourage anyone to be a problem because i think it's not just about those moments up on stage but as sharon said it's the journey getting up to that day that you're you're making positive choices healthy lifestyle choices in a positive frame of mind around positive people and it all comes on one day but it is a lifestyle so renee i like there's one word that you just kept saying over and it's a positive experience it should and it should be more than just that one experience it shouldn't be about obtaining a crown or obtaining a title it's like rene said like sharon said it's about the journey it's not about the destination so it's about the relationships that we're making every day trying something new pushing ourselves and it's just about enjoyment journey getting there that's very my message to all move contestants out there november ok so it gives me a nice goal to prepare for and up until that time i'm just doing a number of large appearances at my local area in new jersey all on the basis and foundation of autism awareness and embracing that and then of course next year mrs america new jersey here we come back i am i have so much fun i've got to go back oh wonderful sharon what what's on the horizon for you what's next for you i think so of course i'm making all of my appearances around new jersey this upcoming weekend i'm hosting an event with a new jersey charity called nothing is impossible they raise funding for needy the families that are in whether it be medical situations natural disasters so i'll be a part of that next week i'm going to be a guest at the oakhurst mv base and i'm going to get to meet some of our military men and women some of our veterans and celebrate with them and then it's really just the race to mrs america you know when is the miss america pageant it is saturday august twenty sixth and it will be televised it will be televised in las vegas where staying at the beautiful westgate so if anyone is interested in participating in a pageant i'm speaking to the viewers here make sure that you do your research figure out which system you would like to participate in like it's going to if you go to mrs america dot com ok there will be a fabulous face competition all of the first one are runners up like renee said you click new jersey look at her beautiful picture a dollar of joe and  her to the national pageant so if you're naismith facebook and i have a link there to take it ok so but there's something we can vote for for you yes so i will be entered into a different fabulous face competition it will help put me into the