Confessions of an accidental beauty queen

In the middle of a stressful senior year, Aneesa Sheikh, 18, signed up for a state beauty pageant on a whim…and won. Now, as she competes this month for the Miss Teen USA national title, she reflects on how an unlikely experience uncovered her most authentic self.

- By Katherine Hammer

“And the winner of Miss Michigan Teen USA 2020 is…Aneesa Sheikh!” Staring into the blinding stage lights and a beaming audience, it felt like I was dreaming. As former winners placed a crown on my head and draped a sash across my gown, the scent of the bouquet of roses in my arms reminded me that yes, this was *really* happening.

Let me say this right up front: I never thought of myself as someone who’d ever be in a pageant. My senior year, I was captain of the varsity figure skating team and captain of the debate competition squad. My makeup bag was basically three lip glosses and a mascara months past its prime. My closet is stuffed with sneakers, not sequins.

When I wasn’t doing school, sports or debate squad, I loved singing and songwriting and hanging out with my huge family. But, sadly, my schedule was so packed, I’d often be playing guitar in the car on the way to my before-sunrise practice sessions on the ice and doing my math homework on the bus to speech competitions. My life senior year was crazy, and tbh, super stressful.

One afternoon, as I was settling into a study session at a coffee shop, I looked up and there it was: a flyer to enter the Miss Michigan Teen USA pageant. I’d heard of the pageant before— a friend of mine from debate club had done pageants her whole life—but I’d never actually thought about being in one.