Emily Diamond, the newly crowned Miss Georgia State University 2013, is still in disbelief.
When hearing her name called out, Diamond was not only shocked, but nauseated as well.
“I thought I was going to vomit all over myself,” Diamond said.
The fact this was her first pageant she has ever competed in. Winning was far from what she expected.
“I just signed up because I was like, ‘I watch toddlers and tiaras, I can do this.’ I wanted to have fun and have an experience and I ended up winning,” Diamond said.
After the pageant was over, the representative for the Southeast pageants came up to Diamond to say congratulations.
“He said, ‘you know your two crowns away from Miss America’ and then my dad overheard it and he was like ‘yeah, I’m two crowns away from being Miss America’s dad’,” Diamond said.
Diamond understood that she represents Georgia State and wants the Panther community to know that she is always available to talk.
“I’m kind of like a figure head now I want people to be able to come to me, especially new people at the school,” Diamond said.
Her featured talent was vocals; singing a slow version of Jackson’s Five’s “I want you back” as her talent for the evening.
Diamond’s major is psychology with a minor in French. She plans on getting a Ph.D. in human sexuality.
“I’m not into the whole research aspect of it— I’m more into the educational aspect. I want to let people know that human sexuality is not just sex there’s so much more to it,” Diamond said.
Human sexuality is not a common major, according to Diamond, because for the most part it is tabooed.
“I’m a pageant queen that likes to talk about sex,” she said.
Diamond is also a huge fan of Dr. Drew Pinksy and would like to have a job similar to his one day. Joking about what she would say to Pinksy at a party, she said, “Hey Dr. Drew, do you like cake? I like cake.”
Hearing horrible stories about pageant girls, Diamond was not sure what to expect, but after day one of being around the girls, she was pleasantly surprised.
“All of the girls were just so nice,” she said. “You think of pageant girls, you think of catty. The girls at this pageant were all so nice and so supportive and some have done pageants before, so they were offering advice.”
Every contestant participating had to choose a platform, a cause or a charity to support. For Diamond, she chose a charity that raises awareness for AIDS. She helped raise awareness by selling $1 bracelets around campus for the charity “Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS.”
Student Activities Fees paid for all of the contestants and the cost of the pageant overall, except for the pageant wear. Each individual had to buy their own stage wear. Since this was a college level competition, it was a lot cheaper. Diamond still felt bad when it came to spending her parent’s money.
“[I would say]: ‘Dad I am so sorry that we are spending all of this money,’” she said. Despite the costs, Diamond’s family fully supported her.
Aside from the gowns, tattoos were a big thing this year for all of the contestants. Diamond has three tattoos and at first she was worried about them causing a problem with her chances, but little did she know she was not alone.
“When I entered the pageant I was like, ‘I have all of these tattoos. Is this going to be okay?’ But almost every girl in the pageant had tattoos. We got real personal,” Diamond said.
“I would tell you what the meaning behind the tree [tattoo] is, but then I would have to kill you.”
Aside from Diamond’s busy schedule, one of her favorite things to do is to hang out in her apartment with her cat.
“I like singing in my apartment with my cat, it’s basically the Georgia State mascot. He is huge, just this massive black cat,” she said.
Diamond also won two other awards for Interview, lifestyle and fitness. She now plans to compete in the upcoming Miss Georgia USA pageant this November.
