More Than a Pretty Face, Meet Sara Burd, the Activist Beneath the Crown By Deborah Bostock-Kelley If asked what comes to mind when you hear pageant beauty queen, preconceived notions and negative stereotypes about the women who participate are often mentioned. However, the easiest way to dispel these misconceptions is to speak to the women behind the crown. Miss Global USA 2022 winner Sara Burd is a Tampa Bay native born and bred in Clearwater and has regularly dealt with this misunderstanding about pageantry. “First and foremost, pageant women are
6 OCTOBER 2021
making a choice to be on stage. Pageantry is such an empowering industry. When I got into it, I was super low in confidence and self-esteem. I completely transformed my life through it and met the most amazing, accomplished, and supportive women friends for life,” she said. “And people think it’s a women-only industry, but there’s also a lot of male pageant systems too.” One of Sara’s friends DJ Davids just won Mister Global USA 2021. With her platform of environmental and ocean conservation, the 5’10, Norwegian, twenty-sevenyear-old model is just as
comfortable on a surfboard in the water as she is out of it, campaigning to protect the oceans. “Constantly being at the beach and watching how the environment changed over the years made me very aware of the needs of our aquatic environment.” A graduate of the College of Charleston in South Carolina with a Masters in Communication, in 2015, she got into competing through a nomination from her college sorority. “I loved it and had so much fun. I went back the next year and got second place. I started competing in preliminary pageants around
the city of Charleston and competed for Miss South Carolina a few times,” she said. “The director of the College of Charleston introduced me to Miss Global, which was a new pageant system. I won Miss South Carolina Global in 2017 and enjoyed working with the national director
For Advertising Info 727-943-0551 I info@nnlflorida.com or visit tbnewsandlifestyles.com
