Everyday life of a small participant in children's beauty contests

A beauty contest is always stress, rehearsals, excitement before going on stage, painful days of preparation, expensive costumes, hairstyles and makeup. It would seem that there is something special? But what if the contestants are not yet 13?

While sitting in a nail salon in Massachusetts, Ilana Panich-Linsman overheard a woman talking about the next big thing in her daughter's life: a beauty pageant. Being an inquisitive photographer, Ilana was immediately drawn into the conversation. So she got into the world of teenage beauty contests, more precisely, into the world of one of the contestants - Emily Dextraize. Ilana was interested in this 11-year-old girl, and she wanted to make a project about a simple child who combined ordinary life in a quiet town with pressure from parents and peers on the eve of a beauty contest. According to the photographer, Emily is still a child, but she approaches the beauty contest in an adult way. Someone plays football, someone goes to art school, and Emily participates in beauty contests. By the way, Ilana noticed that these contestants treat each other as friends, and not as rivals. In addition, the time of preparation for the competition is one of the few periods when mother and daughter can really be together. In any case, Emily's future will surely be connected with beauty pageants.

(Total 12 photos)

1. 11-year-old Emily Dextraize watches how her rival gets her hair done. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

2. Practicing gait and some physical exercise every day. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

3. Emily (center) with other contestants. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

4. Hair and makeup before the competition. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

5. Emily photographs herself outside her home in Westfield, Massachusetts. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

6. Emily rests while her makeup dries. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

7. Emily's mother Sherry Farina straightens her daughter's dress. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

8. The girls sort out the sweets that they were given on the eve of the beauty contest. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

9. Emily, her mother Sherry and younger brother. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

10. Emily looks through photos from the contest on her phone. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

11. 11-year-old Amaya Collins and Emily before the competition. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)

12. Wendy O'Rourke Camolis - a family friend whom Emily calls "grandma" - comforts the "granddaughter", who was upset because of her performance. By the way, in that beauty contest, Emily was awarded the crown. (Ilana Panich-Linsman)