This piece is part of our Q+A series. Do you know someone we should interview? Let us know.
Meet Kaylyn Levoy, Miss Chattanooga for 2024. We recently spoke with her before she competes for the Miss Tennessee title to learn more about her journey into pageantry.
Q: Hi Kaylyn, can you tell our readers a little about yourself?
A: My name is Kaylyn Levoy. I am 20 years old, and I go to Southern Adventist University where I’m studying business marketing.
Q: You are representing Chattanooga in the Miss Tennessee pageant, how did you become Miss Chattanooga?
A: I was working at Madewell and Love, Eros was doing a pop-up permanent jewelry event where I met the business owner Kim Thompson. She asked me if I would come and model for their rebranding shoot and I said absolutely, I’ll be there in a heartbeat. When I was there, I met the winner of Miss Tennessee from last year, Claire Portilla, who also represented Chattanooga in 2023. Later, she reached out to me and said she felt like I would be a great representative for Chattanooga if I was interested in being her successor.
Q: What did the application process look like?
A: When you’re representing a city before you get to state, you primarily do an interview application process. I did the application and talked with the Tennessee director and once I was accepted, I ordered my sash and crown and started to get more involved in local events and doing community service.
Q: You mentioned getting involved with the community, who are you partnering with along on your journey?
A: Every contestant is encouraged to pick a platform, I decided I wanted to represent the Chattanooga Autism Center. I have a personal family connection who played a big role in my life growing up. When I saw Chattanooga had a nonprofit that supported Autism needs, I wanted to partner with them.
Q: What has been one of your favorite parts about being Miss Chattanooga?
A: Doing all the hands-on stuff within the community. From community service and getting to go to events, I love getting to know people. At first, it was a little scary knowing I would be representing Chattanooga because I am only one person in Chattanooga. I felt like if I was going to represent the city, I needed to know a lot of the people in the city and spend time realizing that although it’s one face, it’s a group effort and I wanted to get as many people involved as I could.
Q: You’re about to take part in the state competition, what will that competition look like?
A: The first day and a half will be getting there and getting settled to do some training with the director and other queens to make sure we understand what the flow of the event will actually be. Then we’ll do the pageant and interviews where we’ll speak with multiple judges. The pageant includes a swimsuit, opening number, and evening gown walks. The judges will vote and then there’s a people’s choice where community members and families can vote for you.
Q: Is this your first time being involved in pageantry?
A: Yes, I’m doing my best to explain the process from what I know so far, but I have never been in a pageant before. It’s new territory for me.
Q: What’s one thing about pageantry that has surprised you or you think not many people know about?
A: It is a lot more work than what I think people give it credit for, prior to being involved it just sounded like a lot of fun and glam and I mainly just focused on the actual pageant. But there’s over a month of preparation that all of the contestants put before it. That along with being a full-time student has been a lot to balance, the pageant is happening the weekend before my finals.
Q: What’s the best way for people to follow you along your journey?
A: A good way is to follow me on Instagram and Facebook, that’s where I’ll post what I’m doing with pageants, especially with the competition weekend coming up. It would also be great to follow the Chattanooga Autism Center’s Instagram, especially with the Autism Walk that’s coming up on Saturday, April 13 I’ll be there to help kick off the event. I would love to see people there and you can even join my team to walk during the event.
I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity and it’s opened up a lot of doors for me. There’s been a lot of local businesses that I’ve gotten connected to and it’s been able to further me in education outside of my classes. I just want to give a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me, everyone I have met has been so incredibly kind and uplifting even though I’m kind of an amateur in all of this. It’s also been a very God-directed journey for me, there’s been a lot of unknowns that I didn’t know what to do. He’s opened a lot of doors for me and guided me to make my decisions.
