Owensboro resident competing for the Miss Voluptuous

“With this pageant, if you’re affiliated with a state in any way, you have the ability to represent that state,” she said. “I have family in Indiana and I’m working on a few things in Evansville.”

When Stevenson applied, she said Kentucky had already been selected to be represented by a contestant.

“I kind of stumbled upon it,” she said. “I saw it on social media and I thought it was clickbait. Something told me to scroll back up and I clicked it and submitted an application.”

Stevenson said she didn’t think much of it at first.

“I heard back a lot sooner than I was expecting and it just took off from there,” she said. “To be honest, I did it so I could see that I had it in myself to do it but I didn’t know how it was going to go.”

Giving all or nothing is how Stevenson said she tackles anything, and the pageant was no different.

“I said if they accepted me, I was going to do it,” she said. “I don’t want to say the pageant molded me into who I am because I’ve always been this person, but it’s given me the courage and the strength to do things that I typically wouldn’t.”

Having a way to express who she is and the things that are important to her is what stands out about the pageant for Stevenson.

“I don’t have to be anybody else; I don’t have to look a certain way; I don’t have to change anything about me. I can just be me,” she said.

Stevenson’s platform she selected is mental health, and she wanted to do something a bit different with it for the pageant.

“I didn’t know what my platform was going to be before I started the pageant,” she said. “They said to select something that’s meaningful to you and you’re connected to and I’m currently in school for psychology but I didn’t realize it was ‘my thing’ until recently.”

Stevenson said she has recently encountered mental health battles of her own.

“I was in a really dark place and it was so hard for me to get out of it because I didn’t really know what it was or why it was happening,” she said. “I went to therapy, I did a lot of self-reflection. I’ve tried probably every self-help method you can think of because I was trying to do whatever I could to get out of that space and gain some mental clarity.”

When Stevenson said she finally gained the clarity, it made her realize she would like to help others achieve it as well.

“That is what took me on the road of mental health,” she said. “... After this awakening, I knew I had to go back to school and do something with it. It was put so heavy on my heart and I couldn’t keep it inside and I need to share it with others.”

Her partnership with Girls Inc. has Stevenson creating a three-month curriculum with the students centered around mental health.

“We will go over things like recognizing mental health issues, coping skills and identifying what makes them happy,” she said. “I want to [equip] kiddos with those tools at a young age so that they can get through all of the hard stuff and the good stuff that life has to offer.”

Within Stevenson’s platform, she provides mental health workshops for everyone, but mostly targets youth and low-income families.

“I plan to provide these workshops for all of our local and national youth throughout my program, Empowering You!,” she said. “I aim to empower, enlighten and bring awareness to the importance of mental health to all.”

The international competition is set for April 2-7, 2023 in Denver.