She's an environmental advocate and comes from a lineage of successful bowlers - when it comes to Miss Delaware 2021, Sophie Phillips is an exciting woman who will take the nation by storm when she hits the stage at Miss America later this year. This week, I had the opportunity to talk to her about all things Miss America 2.0, serving during COVID, and her multi-prong approach to giving back to her community.
June 25th was an awesome day for Sophie Phillips when she was crowned Miss Delaware 2021. Ms. Phillips described that feeling of being crowned as shocking, but she also didn't have any reaction. She won both the top interview and top impact awards - and the rest was history. However, from there, it was time to get to work.
Ms. Phillips' social impact initiative is something that's a huge part of who she is and what she stands for. She chose to center her focus on environmental issues nationwide, but feels as though Delaware is "a good representation of what's going on," She expressed how these environmental issues can be solved with policy attention and community awareness - specifically with the idea that people at a small level can make huge impacts. What she also mentioned is that POC and low income neighborhoods face these environmental issues the most. As a result, they cannot afford to take care of the issues on their own, and it's not their responsibility.
"It doesn't matter what you look like, this environment is for you," she said.
With the rapidly changing Miss America to Miss America 2.0, Ms. Phillips paralleled this excitement to how she wants to advocate for this new brand.
"What we wanna stress now is how important it is to be yourself and to understand this is a scholarship organization," Phillips said, showing great excitement about the direction Miss America is heading. "I feel like a lot of people still have the image of Miss America that it is still a pageant - it's still all about looks and if you really look at who's being crowned what they stand for it's a completely different organization,"
"No one is fitting this perfect mold anymore - and I love that,"
This led me to a question of which of the four points of the crown - style, success, service, or scholarship - she most relates to and why.
"We're not talking about crowns or sashes anymore, but I think those four points still mean something." Phillips remarked. She expressed that she most resonates with the "service" point as the importance of service was instilled in her at a young age. Now, Phillips is making it a goal that with her future career, she can still focus on community service.
Ready and empowered to take on the role of Miss Delaware and prepare for her journey to the Miss America 2.o competition, Ms. Phillips talked to me about three major goals she has.
The first goal she has is about increasing access to the Miss America competition - as competing in a pageant can rack up a serious bill.
"I don't think that's right," she said, discussing the financial hardship a competition can have, "The new messaging is that everyone can be a Miss America."
She intends to combat this lack of access by setting up local competitions that are closed to neighborhoods and create dress drives or sponsorships that can lend wardrobe pieces to candidates. With only 12 women vying for the title of Miss Delaware in the past competition, Ms. Phillips' goal is simple.
"I want to make that messaging clear by actively helping,"
Her second goal is to bring awareness to these urgent environment issues. How? By getting people out and active. Especially with the challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic brought, people are still able to safely get out and volunteer under health and safety guidelines. Now more than ever, that's a crucial step to healing our environment. Some projects Ms. Phillips has in the works are reforestation tasks in Baltimore, MD and Dover, DE, and building a park in Wilmington, DE. These are three excellent ways that the community will be able to get involved. Not only that, but Ms. Phillips intends to talk to the local communities to see what they want or need.
Her last goal, and her second major goal when combating environmental issues include those necessary steps to create policy change. She talked about the importance of community organizing that will create productivity for what the communities need and what Ms. Phillips will be standing for when discussing with senators to turn awareness into actions. Having political figures in a community, a state, or a nation who are willing to get behind an environmental protection policy is crucial, and Ms. Phillips is actively working to make that happen.
Trying to turn these plans into action has not been an easy feat due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Ms. Phillips has been able to take to social media through strategic planning and posting that discuss different environmental issues every few posts. The power of social media with socially-distance volunteer opportunities have been a key role to the success of Phillips spreading her social impact message.
When I asked Ms. Phillips about what the most important advice would be for competing, she mentioned inarguably the best advice someone should have in all walks of life: just be you.
"When you're competing, you try to be what everyone wants you to be," she said. "In this new organization that we're starting it's all about who you are." The judges will see right through someone you're not, and being able to take pride in who you are - your best self - when competing for a title is the best reward.
Ms. Phillips' motivation is to keep pushing for environmental justice is the communities.
"I want to make lives better for them and change views of environment and policy changing," she said. "Knowing that my work is going to make a difference is what keeps me motivated."
Before every pageant, Ms. Phillips likes to temporarily abandon the overwhelm of the competition in a way that just feels relaxing and therapeutic.
"I like to go away, I like to go into nature." she mentioned. Being with friends and family in nature is something she loves to do beforehand. Typically, they will go hiking, among other fun nature activities. "It helps me get into the zone and get into myself more."
Ms. Phillips' love for the environment sprouts further than just her social impact initiative. She hopes to be a park ranger, already having gained experience from working at the Yosemite. This extraordinary opportunity included her living in a tent, but she made the most of this real-life adventure through the many visitors she was able to meet.
You can follow along on Sophie Phillips, Miss Delaware 2021, during her reign and road to the competition on her Instagram account, found here.
For more information about the Miss America organization, the 100th anniversary, or for tickets and details about the 2022 competition, click here.
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