Teen spreads kindness in the pageant world

Homewood teen Allie Grace Broadhead, 14, knows firsthand that beauty pageants are organizations that house “more than pretty faces.”

In fact, she wants to change the narrative surrounding the pageant world so society can understand that they provide an array of benefits like life skills, female bonding and world-building for contestants.

As a part of the Miss Alabama Organization, Broadhead is enjoying her first year, where she has already competed in nine preliminary pageants. In November, Broadhead was named Miss Phenix City’s Outstanding Teen 2023. This title now grants her entry into the Miss Alabama Outstanding Teen competition in March 2023.

Broadhead has not been in pageants her entire childhood, but she recently returned back to them after a lengthy hiatus, she said.

“There were competitions at ages 5 and 6, but then I didn’t compete after 6 years old until I turned 13,” she said.

Broadhead’s mother, Amber, a fourth-grade teacher at Edgewood Elementary School, was contacted by another teacher about an at-large pageant — Miss Alabama — and, as a family, they agreed it would be a great opportunity for Allie Grace. She said she is glad her daughter is on a journey to making decisions and networking for her future.

“I feel like the organization has changed her life, especially since coming out of Covid,” Amber Broadhead said. “The girls she has encountered are not simply her friends, but they are her family. We have not entered a pageantry world, but a scholarship world.”

“My favorite part of competing in the Miss Alabama Organization is that young girls and women get the opportunity to learn life skills, meet people, gain social skills and earn scholarship opportunities for their future,” Allie Grace Broadhead said.

She said she doesn’t seek perfection or high beauty standards but did want to improve on a few things as a teen, including “trying to be more relatable to people and helping others change communities through community service.”

Her platform centers on a social impact initiative, which is aptly named “Keeping Kindness.” Broadhead is quite passionate about being kind and has spread kindness throughout her community in different ways. Her acts of kindness include The Olive Branch Counseling Center Coat Drive, Pencil Toppers with Positive Affirmations, Chicktime and the “Keeping Kindness” Spotify podcast.

Kindness is not a pageant ideal that Broadhead picked up — it is a lifestyle trait.

“Being kind is something I’ve been doing my entire life,” Broadhead said. “During Covid, I had a friend who was suffering with mental health and suicidal ideation. In that moment, I had to be there and provide kindness. My friend recovered with my kindness and uplifting character. I made her feel seen and enjoy life.”

Being kind is something I’ve been doing my entire life.

Allie Grace Broadhead

That feeling made Broadhead jumpstart her initiative for “Keeping Kindness.”

Broadhead is a freshman at Homewood High School and is in the National Honor Society, National Beta Club and Show Choir. Like her peers, she also has other hobbies outside of pageantry.

“I am a dancer with Joy’s Dance Company; I love camping and long trips and enjoy quality time with my family, especially my two younger sisters, Mary Catherine and Jillianne,” Broadhead said.

Broadhead’s father, Brandon, a battalion chief for the Homewood Fire Department, has noticed a very different teen in the sum of a year because of pageants.

“Allie Grace was a very shy child,” he said. “[Now], she can answer very hard questions that even grown adults should stumble over. She has come out of her shell so much and the way she talks to people has grown tremendously.”