Hidden Gems: Meet Shanice Reed of Miss Compton Pageant

Today we’d like to introduce you to Shanice Reed.

Hi Shanice, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As a single parent, my mother raised me, my little sister, and my two older brothers with the mindset to value education and work hard for what we want. Although we did not have much growing up, she always encouraged us that if we work hard, we could have everything we ever wanted.

My mother, my sister, two older brothers and I moved in with my aunt and uncle to Compton California when I was twelve years old. Soon after that, I began my education in Compton Unified School District. I attended Roosevelt Middle School and Dominguez High School and carried that mindset my mother instilled in me as a little girl and continued my education at California State San Bernardino (CSUSB). At CSUSB, I received my BA in Business Administration with concentration in Marketing in Dec. 2007. In the year of 2008, I decided to continue my education at the University of Redlands to widen my opportunities of helping me reach my goals of becoming a living example to my community. During the time of pursuing my master’s degree at Redlands, I was scouted by a Miss California USA recruiter to become a contestant in the Miss California USA pageant. I thought it was the perfect opportunity to gain a platform to showcase my community in a positive light.

I was tired of hearing the negative stereotypes that was always associated with the city that I was raised in and loved! I wanted to do something to change it because I did not feel the stereotypes was a fair assessment of the city of Compton. I knew many amazing people that come from Compton with a rich history, and I did not feel those things was highlight enough.

When I would mention to non-residence that I lived in the city of Compton, many people would have something negative to say or ask. Many times, they would only associate the city with rap culture, violence, gangs, and despair. But I knew the city was much more than those negative associations, and I wanted to highlight the positive things that many people did not associate the city with. Therefore, I participated in the Miss California USA pageant representing the City of Compton as Miss Compton in 2010. Although I did not win the Miss California USA pageant, I was able to accomplish my goal of shining a positive light on the city of Compton and gain a lot of exposers for my city landing the front page of LA Times newspaper. I also received my Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Dec. 2010 after competing to continue my goal of being a positive example to my community.

Shortly after competing in Miss California USA pageant and graduating from Redlands University, I reopened the Miss Compton Pageant locally in 2011, which had not be open to the community for over a decade so the young girls and women in my community could have the opportunity to also shine a positive light on our city, the City of Compton.

Currently, I work for Centinela Valley Union High School District as a Job Developer and continue to direct the Miss Compton Scholarship Pageant. Our organization’s biggest goal is to provide a platform for young women from inner-cities to shine a positive light on their community and provide opportunities for inner-city youth. We do this by education and creating role models for our community. We also encourage our youth to go get educated and come back to our community to become living examples to the generations after them as well.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
The road has not been smooth at all! When I was first getting started, it was very hard to find contestants that wanted to represent the city of Compton. I remember one day myself, and one of my team members was marketing the pageant the first year to young girls at Roosevelt Middle school, and one young girl said I love the idea of being in a pageant and having a pageant locally, but do I have to have Compton on my sash? Can I put LA? So, it took some time building a brand that girls would desire to represent their Compton sashes proudly and come on board with being the change agent to help change the negativity associated with our community. Many girls did not want to be associated with the negative stereotypes that would be associated with wearing a sash that said Compton on it. So, building the brand was a challenge and getting people to get on board with the mission first starting.

Another challenge when we first open the pageant was finding a location to host practices with the girls and a place to host the pageant. When we first started, the city of Compton did not have a location available to us to host the pageant, therefore our first year hosting the pageant we had to host the pageant in the city of Carson in their community center and we held our practices at the Los Angeles County parks in the city of Compton. Not having a location to host things made planning when we first starting off very challenging.

Another big challenge getting started was funding. We had to build a brand that people would gravitate to accomplish our mission, and that took funding that our organization didn’t have at the time, so often times I had to fund things from my own pocket to create the brand and get things started with the Miss Compton Pageant.

As you know, we’re big fans of Miss Compton Pageant. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
The Miss Compton Pageant is a scholarship program for young girls and women ages 14-26. Our goal has been to provide a platform for young women to showcase their community in a positive light and to open up many other opportunities for inner-city youth. We also strive to inspire young girls and young women to have self-confidence, spark a sense of community responsibilities and community pride in the city they come from. There are many negative stereotypes that are associated with inner-city communities & youth, such as Compton, Watts, South Central Los Angeles, etc. that does not reflected the truth about their entire community. There are many great people, youth, professionals, and leaders that come from inner-city communities, and the Miss Compton Pageant feels the need to tell the story of the positive things that are taking place in inner-city communities. It’s our goal to continue to mentor beautiful, caring, intelligent young girls and women in are community to reach their career goals than introduce them to everyday people that are not from inner-city communities and may have never visited an inner-city in a non-stereotypical manner.

During the course of the competition, each contestant picks a mission to shine light on during the course of them running for the each title. Girls also compete in three areas in the pageant for the scholarship: Interview, Swimsuit and Evening gown. There are also many other awards contestants can win such as Miss Grand Talent, People Choice Award, Miss GPA, Miss Photogenic, Community Service Award, Miss Inspirational and the Miss Congeniality award.

Our program specializes in giving young girls and young women a platforms to shine a positive light in the community, build self-confidence, network and be open to limitless opportunities. We are known for scouting some of the best and the brightest of our community and inspiring many of youth in the community. Our organization gives hope and inspiration to the inner-city communities.

I am most proud brand-wise is that our program is now very respectable that oftentimes we even get nonresidences applying to represent our community. Also, it is such an honor to also watch the young girls and young women that are from our community represent with their Compton sashes with so much pride, confidence and excitement. I know our program is truly making an impact; and watching many girls wear their sashes with pride is the true testament to our impact.

Do you have any advice for those looking to network or find a mentor?
The best advice I would give for finding a mentor and networking in general is to get out in the community and volunteer. You will be amazed by the amazing people you will be able to meet and network within the midst of giving back to the community. I have met some of my greatest mentors by volunteering and giving back to the community.

Contact Info:

• Email: info@misscompton.com
• Website: www.misscompton.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misscomptonpageant/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/misscomptonpageant/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/misscompton1/featured

Image Credits:
Andrea Logan