The Formulation of a Queen

Congratulations to Chelsea Taylor, The Inaugural Miss Black UTSA 2016. Miss Black UTSA is a local pageant at the University of Texas at San Antonio. It dedicates it's time to on-campus social projects and servicing the community. Chelsea will dedicate her reign to advocating self-love and a positive body image geared specifically to the youth and how they are effected by eating disorders. Chelsea and I trained about 2 & 1/2 months leading up to the pageant. We started off training with 4 hour max practices. In those practice she brushed up on contemporary dance, as well as, ballet. While re-learning dance technique, she also learned choreography for her talent piece. The dance told the story of a young girl struggling to love herself. On stage, Chelsea performed an emotional and heartfelt performance utilizing a full-length mirror and a notebook as props. The notebook held a letter that Chelsea had written to her younger self. This note encouraged her younger self to be confident and love God. The mirror symbolized the deep roots of Chelsea's past. She used her reflection as a look within herself to find the beauty within. By the end of the piece the girl had transformed into a confident young woman. The long dance practices, sleepless nights and hour long conversations about costumes, on-stage walking, pageant tricks and Q & A paid off. During the show I also got the pleasure to style Chelsea's hair for each category. She was already a queen but helping her enhance what was already there was a great honor. The Styles by Yaya Team and I are so proud of you Chels! Welcome to the Queens Club.