Heidi for Miss California 2016
Donation protected
Hi Friends and Family!
In January this year, I was crowned Miss Yosemite Valley 2016, securing my spot early in the Miss California Class of 2016, in my final year of eligibility in the Miss America Organization. This was not a easy feat, as I competed 8 times over the course of 2 years to make it back to the Miss CA stage (yes I was heartbroken when I didn't make it back last year, but I do believe I have grown and learned about myself exponentially since).
Many of you don't know how this journey through the Miss America Organization, and more broadly pageants, has played a role in shaping who I am today. In times like these, I find myself going way back to the beginning, so I thought I'd share!
When I was 8 years old, I received a letter in the mail about a confidence pageant. At the time, I was a tomboy with short hair, I liked to ride bikes, and I was super shy. My mom decided it was a good idea to sign me up (against my will) to help me build confidence and presentation skills. She then spent every day practicing my talent, speech, modeling, interview, and personal introduction segments for 6 months leading up to the pageant. For those of you who don't know, my mom is the breadwinner, and my dad is a home-maker, so she was doing this on top of her multiple full time jobs. To my surprise, after standing a few feet behind all the other contestants in opening number, and tripping in my evening gown, I placed 2nd runner-up in talent for singing "When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt. That was when I caught the pageant bug, and I started competing year after year, until 8 years later, when I won my first title of Miss Northern CA Junior Teen 2008, and went to nationals for American Coed Pageants in Orlando, Florida. I made plenty of new friends, had a blast with my family at DisneyWorld (even though my dad ate too much at a buffet and had to get his stomach pumped), and placed in the top 5 for talent (playing piano). However, I didn't win the national crown that I worked super hard and dreamt about so much. I was totally bummed, but I knew my pageant days weren't over.
That year I started looking into the Miss America Organization, and reached out to Steve Takemura, the Miss San Francisco Organization Executive Director for more information. Soon enough, I met with Field Director and long-time (50+ years) volunteer Gwen Adkins, Freeman Stamper, and Kenneth Brown. We went over responsibilities, expectations, and my talent piece. For whatever reason, the SF team saw something in me that I have been trying to find ever since. Within months, my Miss America journey started. I was crowned Miss SF's OT in '09, placed 4th RU to Miss CA's Outstanding Teen '09, got into my dream school, went on to become Miss San Francisco 2013, competed as a Miss and went to numerous events across the Bay Area, graduated from Cal, and started my career, all while dealing with hardships along the way including death of family members from cancer, an abusive relationship. Today, at 23 years old, I am confident in my own skin, hardworking with a purpose, reflective in both my strengths and weaknesses, and so grateful for the journey that took me here, facing one last chance to become Miss California. Through scholarships, interview/presentation practice, and letters of recommendation, the Miss America Organization has given me necessary tools to be successful in school and at work, the confidence to strive for anything, the humility to know that you can't always win, the gratitude for my village of what feels like a thousand people, and the experience of a lifetime.
So I guess what I'm saying is, your support in my last leg of my quest to become Miss America will mean the world to me.
Here's how: you can buy ads in the Miss CA program book. You can sponsor $15-500 to have your name on my contestant page (Half of the page will be my picture and facts about me, while the bottom half will be space for advertisements totalling of $1500. If you sponsor $15 I will put your name on my contestant page, $100-$500 I will put your business card on my contestant page: $100 will get you a small space, while $500 I will guarantee a sixth of the 'real estate' on my contestant page will go to you, since the half page costs $1500). You can also buy an ad for $500 to have a quarter page in the front of the book, or a full page in the back. There are also options for sponsorship varying from Bronze to Platinum sponsors.
Every one of you has supported me in this journey in some capacity, and for that I am forever grateful. Your sponsorship will go towards opportunities for me to be my best at Miss CA such as picking my contestant number early, and potentially even having brunch with two Miss Americas and the Miss CA CEO during Miss CA week.
There are many options, so please feel free to ask any and all questions. I've uploaded the different flyers describing all the ad and sponsorship opportunities
The deadline for this is May 5th.
Thank you for reading this and even considering.
With Love,
Heidi Cheung
Miss Yosemite Valley 2016
In January this year, I was crowned Miss Yosemite Valley 2016, securing my spot early in the Miss California Class of 2016, in my final year of eligibility in the Miss America Organization. This was not a easy feat, as I competed 8 times over the course of 2 years to make it back to the Miss CA stage (yes I was heartbroken when I didn't make it back last year, but I do believe I have grown and learned about myself exponentially since).
Many of you don't know how this journey through the Miss America Organization, and more broadly pageants, has played a role in shaping who I am today. In times like these, I find myself going way back to the beginning, so I thought I'd share!
When I was 8 years old, I received a letter in the mail about a confidence pageant. At the time, I was a tomboy with short hair, I liked to ride bikes, and I was super shy. My mom decided it was a good idea to sign me up (against my will) to help me build confidence and presentation skills. She then spent every day practicing my talent, speech, modeling, interview, and personal introduction segments for 6 months leading up to the pageant. For those of you who don't know, my mom is the breadwinner, and my dad is a home-maker, so she was doing this on top of her multiple full time jobs. To my surprise, after standing a few feet behind all the other contestants in opening number, and tripping in my evening gown, I placed 2nd runner-up in talent for singing "When You Believe" from Prince of Egypt. That was when I caught the pageant bug, and I started competing year after year, until 8 years later, when I won my first title of Miss Northern CA Junior Teen 2008, and went to nationals for American Coed Pageants in Orlando, Florida. I made plenty of new friends, had a blast with my family at DisneyWorld (even though my dad ate too much at a buffet and had to get his stomach pumped), and placed in the top 5 for talent (playing piano). However, I didn't win the national crown that I worked super hard and dreamt about so much. I was totally bummed, but I knew my pageant days weren't over.
That year I started looking into the Miss America Organization, and reached out to Steve Takemura, the Miss San Francisco Organization Executive Director for more information. Soon enough, I met with Field Director and long-time (50+ years) volunteer Gwen Adkins, Freeman Stamper, and Kenneth Brown. We went over responsibilities, expectations, and my talent piece. For whatever reason, the SF team saw something in me that I have been trying to find ever since. Within months, my Miss America journey started. I was crowned Miss SF's OT in '09, placed 4th RU to Miss CA's Outstanding Teen '09, got into my dream school, went on to become Miss San Francisco 2013, competed as a Miss and went to numerous events across the Bay Area, graduated from Cal, and started my career, all while dealing with hardships along the way including death of family members from cancer, an abusive relationship. Today, at 23 years old, I am confident in my own skin, hardworking with a purpose, reflective in both my strengths and weaknesses, and so grateful for the journey that took me here, facing one last chance to become Miss California. Through scholarships, interview/presentation practice, and letters of recommendation, the Miss America Organization has given me necessary tools to be successful in school and at work, the confidence to strive for anything, the humility to know that you can't always win, the gratitude for my village of what feels like a thousand people, and the experience of a lifetime.
So I guess what I'm saying is, your support in my last leg of my quest to become Miss America will mean the world to me.
Here's how: you can buy ads in the Miss CA program book. You can sponsor $15-500 to have your name on my contestant page (Half of the page will be my picture and facts about me, while the bottom half will be space for advertisements totalling of $1500. If you sponsor $15 I will put your name on my contestant page, $100-$500 I will put your business card on my contestant page: $100 will get you a small space, while $500 I will guarantee a sixth of the 'real estate' on my contestant page will go to you, since the half page costs $1500). You can also buy an ad for $500 to have a quarter page in the front of the book, or a full page in the back. There are also options for sponsorship varying from Bronze to Platinum sponsors.
Every one of you has supported me in this journey in some capacity, and for that I am forever grateful. Your sponsorship will go towards opportunities for me to be my best at Miss CA such as picking my contestant number early, and potentially even having brunch with two Miss Americas and the Miss CA CEO during Miss CA week.
There are many options, so please feel free to ask any and all questions. I've uploaded the different flyers describing all the ad and sponsorship opportunities
The deadline for this is May 5th.
Thank you for reading this and even considering.
With Love,
Heidi Cheung
Miss Yosemite Valley 2016
Organizer
Heidi Cheung
Organizer
San Francisco, CA