Derrick LeBlanc
- Lillian Perez is a beauty pageant contestant in Texas who has been competing since 2018.
- While training for the pageants, she's studying kinesiology and hopes to open her own gym one day.
- Pageants have helped her make connections for her future career and strengthened her work ethic.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lillian Perez, a 23-year-old pageant contestant in San Antonio. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Whenever I was asked, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" when I was younger, I always had the same answer: "I want to be Miss Texas."
I had no idea what I was in for as a kid, but it was something that I just knew I wanted.