Local to compete in Miss Texas Teen USA pageant

Hold onto your tiara because a Pecan Plantation resident will soon be competing in the Miss Texas Teen USA pageant in Houston.

Pixie Rain Easley, a 16-year-old junior at Lakeside Baptist Academy, will be representing the town of Granbury during the competition from July 1-3.

Easley, who has been a Hood County resident since she was eight, attended Cornerstone Christian Academy for five years before switching to Lakeside Baptist Academy at the start of high school.

“Me and my parents have been movers our entire lives,” she said. “I’ve lived in 13 houses.”

Easley first became interested in pageants last year when she watched Kim of Queens, a reality television series that focuses on a pageant coach who utilizes her knowledge and experience to provide pageantry advice to young women.

“I fell in love with it,” she said. “I was like, ‘I really want to do this.’”

She voiced her interest to her grandmother, Cherie Siller, who immediately signed Easley up for the competition in 2021.

"She was like, ‘Hey, I signed you up,’ and I was like, ‘What? Oh, we're actually doing this? OK,’” Easley said, laughing.

Unfortunately, Easley’s registration for the 2021 competition was too late — but unbeknownst to her, pageant officials never removed her name from the registration list, thus immediately registering her for the 2022 season.

“For six months, I’ve been working for this,” Easley said. “There’s coaches for everything, which I had no clue, but I have an interview coach, a walking coach — yeah, didn’t know that was a thing — and then I have a coach who is somewhat of a pageant therapist. She kind of, like, helps me calm my nerves and gets me in the zone of pageantry. I definitely recommend it to anyone going into pageantry.”

There are two divisions for the competition: Miss Texas USA, which encompasses all women ages 19 to 27, and Miss Texas Teen USA, which encompasses all female teens from ages 14 to 19.

Easley will be competing in three categories: interview, evening gown and activewear, which replaces the swimsuit category in the teen division.

In addition to choosing the Miss Texas USA or Miss Texas Teen USA, awards will be presented to the Swimsuit/Activewear Winner, Most Photogenic, People’s Choice and Miss Congeniality, according to the Miss Texas USA website.

“My hope is to win Miss Congeniality,” Easley said. “I know all my family says that I won't be able to win it because apparently, I'm a little too honest. I don't get it, but I think I will win Miss Congeniality.”

Easley’s long-term goal in life is to become a fashion designer and hopes that this pageant will propel her in the right direction.

“If you win, you automatically get a modeling contract, and with being in fashion, I obviously am going for that; that's where I want to be,” she said.

Easley has been interested in fashion ever since she was a little girl, creating dresses for her dolls out of her socks and turning a pillowcase into an outfit for her dog.

“When I was 10, I created an entire fashion line called Comfort Your Outside Zone, and I took all of my bedding and turned it into big outfits and ball gowns. I actually charged my parents $2 to attend, but they paid,” she said, giggling. “Yeah, we had a whole fashion show in the living room.”

Following graduation, Easley plans to pursue her fashion career by attending the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City.

“From there, I want to build my fashion empire,” she said. “It’ll be like, ‘Oh, there’s Gucci, there’s Chanel, there’s Pixie Rain.' That’s my goal — to be among the big names.”

Easley said she’s looking forward to the experience of the competition, meeting new people and “from a fashion mindset, seeing all the dresses that everyone’s going to be wearing.”

She added, “I would say if you're even just thinking about doing pageants, go for it. Just put yourself out there because with this pageant, I know that you get so many other opportunities. You can put it on your college application. There's so many good things that come with pageantry, and it's definitely worth it. It’s so worth everything.”

To vote for Easley in the People’s Choice award competition, visit misstexasusa.com/contestants/teen2022 and find the “Granbury” entry. Voting ends at 8 a.m. on July 3.

To become a sponsor, you can donate to Easley’s Venmo account at @heidieasley 9320 (last four digits of phone number).