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Arts & Culture

Disrupted

Beauty pageants are changing: 'It's about the whole person'

By Wayne Edwards,

Kevin Chang Barnum, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Robyn Doyon-Aitken , Meg Dalton, Catie Talarski

Published July 17, 2024 at 12:47 PM EDT

Shavana Clarke is the first openly queer and lesbian woman to win Miss Connecticut USA.

In its early stages, Miss America was mostly about physical beauty. Today, pageants have placed more emphasis on interviewing skills, social platform and inclusiveness.

Shavana Clarke is the first openly queer and lesbian woman to win Miss Connecticut USA. She shares her pageant journey and her mental health experience through her personal blog.

We also hear from Sally-Ann Fawcett, one of the judges in the first ever Miss AI Beauty Pageant. It’s a competition where teams from around the world digitally create the contestants.

An AI-generated Moroccan AI influencer named Kenza Layla won the first ever Miss AI crown.

GUESTS:

Shavana Clarke: 2024 Miss Connecticut USA.
Sally-Ann Fawcett: Miss AI Pageant judge. Head judge, Miss Great Britain.

Disrupted is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

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Disrupted Black Voices

Wayne Edwards

Wayne Edwards is a freelance producer at Connecticut Public contributing to multi-platform productions, including ‘Disrupted’, ‘Where Art Thou?’, and ‘Cutline in the Community’.<br/><br/>

See stories by Wayne Edwards

Kevin Chang Barnum

Kevin Chang Barnum is a producer for Connecticut Public Radio’s weekly show Disrupted. Kevin grew up in Connecticut and started his radio work at his graduate university’s radio station, KUCI. He has also worked for HRN, a network of food and beverage podcasts.

See stories by Kevin Chang Barnum

Khalilah Brown-Dean

Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is an award-winning scholar at Wesleyan University, author, and host of 'Disrupted' on Connecticut Public.

See stories by Khalilah Brown-Dean

Robyn Doyon-Aitken

Robyn Doyon-Aitken is the Deputy Director of Audio Storytelling and Talk Shows

See stories by Robyn Doyon-Aitken

Meg Dalton

Meg Dalton is the director of audio storytelling and talk shows for Connecticut Public where she oversees the station’s talk shows and podcasts, including the limited series 'In Absentia'.

See stories by Meg Dalton

Catie Talarski

Catie Talarski is Senior Director of Storytelling and Radio Programming at Connecticut Public.

See stories by Catie Talarski

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