hi guys and welcome back to another episode of life out loud today ladies and gentlemen we have a very special guest coming in her name is kathleen and she is competing for miss england she is currently in the semi-final and i cannot wait to introduce you guys to her so i think i can hear her knocking on the door let's go get her we've got the studio ready got everything ready let's see this england shall we hi hi flynn how are you i'm good how are you meeting you ladies and gentlemen boys and girls children of all ages i present to you miss england semi-finalist kathleen hi everyone thank you for coming on the show today um so obviously you are competing for miss england what what how did you get into it just just i want to know i've never met anyone in the beauty pageant i think the only one that i've seen is miss congeniality and she was an undercover cop so um i don't even know how you can get into something like this explain to me the journey and the transition of you going from being in greenford to competing in miss congeniality oh miss concilia miss england well it all started with um you know like five years ago i i feel like my life has changed a lot in the last five years so i went from like studying to graduating with like first class honours i've got a business and finance degree so i really worked from worked myself up from there so i got myself an internship i got myself my first graduate job started studying and i was like this is not enough like something's missing and i really i love to help people and i've been a mentor for so long since high school and i've always just enjoyed helping people in so many ways and i was just thinking like what is the best way for me to for me to reach like a bigger audience and how can i potentially just do this on a bigger scale and then it sort of naturally came to me where last year i um actually done a pageant and it was in the british asian community okay so um that was the brit asian pageant and i actually won two titles there congratulations thank you very much as a winner i love a winner for all my fans do you know how much i love a winner yeah yeah you've got a winner right here so i was actually um brit asian miss glamorous 2019 and bret asian z fresh face of the year 2019 so i currently do still hold those titles and i was just like this is not enough once again like i want to do more um so how can i reach um a greater audience on a bigger scale and represent the nation represent you know people from all sorts of background that obviously belong to london like england um and yeah that's what i thought of miss england so tell me a little bit more about what the pageant is so a lot of people when especially like even if i think about myself it would have all been down to oh if it's miss england we're talking about looks we're talking about someone being just beautiful but it's it's more than that isn't it so of course it's it is definitely more than beauty it's it's so much more than beauty and that's actually um a stereotype because i know a lot of people do think that way about pageants in general but you know miss england has to be a positive role model she has to use her skills to help other people and is she talented and what can she actually bring to the world because there you are you will be as miss england going on to miss world and you'll be represent representing the nation so it is very much um about being an all-rounder about um helping others about being humanitarian charitable um what is your message to the world like what would you like to do for other people is it's very much about being selfless and it's definitely more than beauty but beauty is a big part of it and it's so nice because it's so inclusive and everyone from all backgrounds is welcome and you don't have to be you know just like a beauty on paper it's beauties in the you know it's just how inside and outside yeah it's inside and outside and it's how people perceive it differently so yeah it's much so easy now if i'm thinking about it's blowing my mind away you're representing a nation not just any nation you're representing england yeah so that's massive that must you me think about representing england would make me nervous yeah so just start off there that is what is but then you're a person of colored skin we're living in a world right now where racism is at the front and people are talking about it all the time how does that make you feel to be getting to actually be able to get into the semi-final of a competition like this for being from an indian background how does that make you feel just makes you feel so proud like you you're welcome and you're and you fit in because although i'm indian i i'm i'm british because i i've lived here for majority of my life and it's such a nice feeling that you know it's people look past your skin color and that's how we should be living in 2020 and with everything that is going on it's so um important to really get that message across um with the black lives matter movement that's a big part of miss england as well there's a campaign that we are all taking part as contestants um to ensure that everyone feels that you know you don't just have to be um english um you can be of any color um any ethnic city but you are british so you can definitely be a part of the pageant and um you know miss england actually is tied with miss asiana so that welcomes asian girls and we're also tied with all african colors and recently miss england has introduced a new title which is um miss all african colors england so that's welcoming once again like women from an um african background as well so it's it's so nice to be you know welcomed despite your color and we just look beyond that in this england which is fantastic so you're saying i want to help that there's not nothing much more you can do right now than compete and show that you know what everyone is equal no matter what so well done to you i mean like it takes bravery to be able to do that because even if i was thinking about it i would have thought miss england not being stereotypical but it would have been a white person but knowing that there's someone from a west london uh competing but being from an indian background it's just an amazing achievement as it is um so well done to that and it's already you making a difference you know just our reigning miss england is actually from an asian background she's actually indian as well so seeing that is more inspiring as well and it welcomes you yeah the reigning uh miss england is dr bashar mukherjee and she's actually south indian and she sorry she's indian south asian um and it's nice because i come from the same place so it just shows you you know anything's possible english and anything is possible um so obviously this time around doing the uh the pageant it's been a little bit different because obviously we've had the kobe 19. how has this experience a developed you and changed um the way you look at pageant into in you know in total i think it's um really opened my eyes i've always sort of believed in doing it all and now so like more than ever it showed you that you i know there's a global pandemic going on i know there's a lot going on i know people are losing you know have lost lives and have lost family members um so it's very uncertain and it is a tragedy that we're all facing together but it just shows you how unity is so important and perseverance you know just continuing despite what's going on around you it's really tough like i know people personally that have lost their lives to covered so contin finding the strength to continue in a pageant like this has really taught me that you must make the most of life in each step that you can um and in general just it's really made me realize the value of social media of technology when used you know to the correct way how important it is if it wasn't for um sort of instagram or youtube how would we get our entry videos out there so right now the semi-finalists have all um given the entry videos so we would do an introduction a catwalk italian which we're all recording at home we don't gonna be recording it from our iphones or our samsungs or whatever it is you're doing at home you're using your family and friends to help you um and it's just adapting it's being it's just uh adapting to what's happening because it's not in our control but where we can control it we are making the most of it so so we spoke a little bit off-camera and we both came to an agreement that we we don't really like being on camera or we're not used to being on a camera so you were saying how you never did snapchat before i've never even had snapchat before and it's one of those things that where just like you said if you want to put yourself out there social media is the biggest way of doing it and by if you are going to do social media you do need to record yourself you do need to put yourself on camera you do need to talk on camera have you have you changed since you've you've done that has your confidence grown do you feel like you've been developed by having to go onto the social media platforms yes definitely i think um it's definitely made me more confident it's um because i used to find it quite cringy actually watching myself in like snapchat and you know a lot of people say that oh i hate the way i sound in videos and it's just music to my ears now because this is my voice i need to own it i can't change it so just just work with what you have and um yeah no it's definitely made me confident and it's nice because you learn a lot about speech and it's you're talking to a camera but you don't know who else is going to see that so it's really nice and um it's sort of it's preparing you and developing you for the future and you can use this skill in so many places um you know like for example even at work like i have like meetings with a lot of senior and senior members and like vice presidents and stuff at work so this is a skill i can take with me for life i can you know whether it's instagram social media or work or conferences or um doing speeches one day hopefully like to you know motivate others or whatever it is it's um just just pushing past your comfort zone like get out of your comfort zone and um just give it a go and see how it see how it comes out for you practice makes perfect exactly if you see the amount of bloopers that i have and the amount of bloopers i've actually put out there like i i could be honest about it like it takes a while to get even one video perfect because especially when you're doing it on your own if you're bouncing off people i find it it works out to be a little bit easier but if you're on your own and there's a camera and it's just staring at you for me the way i feel is like i'm used to speaking to 10 20 50 100 200 people in one go but then when it comes to the camera i feel like i can't bounce off the energy of a camera there's no one really there and then it just gets me a little bit like tongue twisted like my words won't come out correctly or something will go wrong or i just i just i just don't find it comfortable but i've had to push through that barrier week in week out week in week up to make myself more comfortable more confident and be able to say you know what no i can actually do this because this is what will grow my business so it is the biggest platform that we can use right now and it's so simple because it can be just as small as your mobile phone that can get you out there um so you're currently in the semi-final of miss england yes um if i say that what does that make you feel like when i say look you're in the semi-final of miss england how does that make you feel bubbly it makes me feel so happy inside and it's it's a great achievement to even have come so far like i'm so grateful for it and already i feel like i've reached out to so many people and i've done great things i've contributed as much as i can like despite kovid um you know like charity work and getting videos doing challenges speaking to people meeting girls that are in the pageant and it's only online it's through instagram and social media once again because i haven't actually met anyone from the miss england team like face to face or i haven't met any of the other contestants face to face so it's such a great feeling and it's um i don't know i just feel really really proud actually it's going to be one for the record but because if you think about miss england 2020 there probably won't be especially maybe not in our lifetime a beauty pageant like this because everything was done behind closed behind closed doors through social distancing and it's just a different experience totally and you've been able to live through all of that as well exactly it's so exciting because it's the first ever like virtual semi-finals um that are happening and you know who would have thought but is i have to say like i'm so proud to be a pageant to be a part of a pageant that is um actually really adaptable and sort of keeping us going and is doing as much as they can to um like you know not let us down the contestants are very happy and i'm sure i can speak on behalf of them when i say this that we're all so happy that miss england has decided to continue even if it's doing it virtually um because this is something that we were all probably like really waiting for um so it's so nice because everything is virtual like our videos and even the semi-finals will be virtual um they'll be sort of done on zooms so everyone can buy their tickets and it's just like watching it on tv it's like how you would watch um you know miss world or miss universe on tv you get to watch missing so it's very fine that brings me to the next stage there it is the semi-finals when is the semi-finals the semi-finals is on friday the 31st of july um and it will start approximately 7 p.m um we are selling tickets online as well on the miss england website so please do check out the link and um tickets are now only 8.99 and when you do buy your ticket you can also vote for a contestant hopefully myself kathleen contestant number 12. so um and then yeah you can just log on like a zoo meeting grab your popcorn and watch us and see who actually goes through um to the semi-finals and there's various rounds and um you know you'll get to see our introduction see what the girls are about um what we have to offer why should we be the next miss england or why should i be the next most england yeah um but yes it's really good it's really exciting definitely we've got the next miss england in our studio today so guys if you haven't um caught all of that what we will do is put a link in our bios and we'll put a link in the youtube clip as well so that you'll be able to click straight onto there and then go on to the website and then just literally log in yeah just log in go to the semifinals page and the live stream tab and you can buy your ticket there would you compete again i would yes if i win miss england i don't think i would compete again because um i would then be going on to miss well yeah um but if i don't i think i would compete again also there is a age restriction you have to be 26 on the you know the year of entries so i will actually be turning 26 this year so this would be my last chance so do or die kind of like i see you yeah there's actually an age-related age restriction yes so you have to be under 26 so i'm definitely out of next year out of uh i was i was really thinking about competing i guess that's why it's called miss england and not mrs england because you get it now spouse and you can't have children and you are a miss not misses so it has to go through all those regulations as well so you can't be married to be in well you can't have no children okay no children you know are there mrs england there actually is not a mrs england there's mr england and there's miss england but there's no misses wow what do you think about that uh i think it will happen in the future if it's not there now i think it will happen in the future and that reminds me that takes me back to my last pageant because we actually had a lot of categories so we had a misperation we had a mystery asian we had mrs bration and we had a special category which was people of disabilities okay so they were also welcomed and it was a very inclusive very diverse um pageant and yeah it was great to be a part of that experience i like that i actually really like that i like the fact that there's more than just one one set of people that can come on to it so um if miss england is watching this uh mrs england should come next and i'll take part in that too mystery right here you should go for that i don't think i can get into shape for it i love my burgers too much um so what's next for you so um well currently you know miss england and preparing for that got a lot to do there's several rounds so um you know you you get judged on basically because public voting is a big thing and how that works is when people do buy the tickets for the livestream and they get a um and they vote for you at the same time that counts towards your public vote um so actually the first week of the semi-finals i am currently leading the public vote and i hope to stay at the class um guys um it's all about fundraising as well beauty with a purpose is the charity that is tied with miss world and miss world england um so we are raising funds for that and we've now got a new round as well which is miss eco so what we have to do is um make a dress a green dress out of recycled materials and make it at home record yourself making it record yourself modelling it um so there's a lot that goes into it so um july is just for me to prepare for that um and yeah just give him my all because i hope to be in the finals in october so the finals are in october so yes they are july would be semi-finals yeah august is then august september would be preparing for the finals for the final show and also um originally how it was is the semi-finals were due to take place in um in june and then the semifinal sorry the final was actually planned to be on the 31st of july but everything has been pushed back because of covid so now um the semi-finals are on the 31st of july virtually and then the um finals will be in october oh they're still thinking in a venue okay so hilton birmingham and i work for horton so it's it's great yeah everything just ties thank you very much um so you spoke a lot about um charity uh and you're doing a lot with charity right now do you want to go through that a little bit in detail just to explain what you're doing yeah so um you know being in miss england a big part of it is charity it's all about fundraising um so every contestant is encouraged to do that and um have sort of a cause that you want to raise money for so i am currently raising money for disadvantaged children um that actually come from you know they have like terminal illnesses because that's something that's very close to my heart um having been through a lot as a child as well in terms of health and stuff um supporting their families and stuff so raising money for beauty with a purpose has been a great part of my singular journey um and i have also recently taken part in another course um which is the 19 challenge which is brought to you by nedo uk south and they're working with all african colours and what they're doing is um they're providing emergency aid to um any sort of illegible dependent or family member um of a nigerian um family where they've sadly lost um a family member due to coverage so we are raising money for them um and as part of that we had to do a 19 challenge where um for 19 days you do something a challenge that's related to the number 19. so i had a lot of fun with that with that what was your favorite challenge so i saw you went up the hill norfolk hills yeah 19 times wow nine loops around it yeah get back up and then go back down and then go back up um but you know my challenges like really varied from um in terms of like sports and fitness um health and beauty and then baking cooking smoothies yes so it was really a lot of fun um and what made it so special is that you know my family got involved so i'd done like a badminton challenge where my dad and i had done like 19 shots back and forth in a row and then um i've done i've given like an indian head massage to my sister for 19 minutes so it was nice to have like my family and friends supporting me with that not just recording behind the scenes but actually like getting involved in a challenge and taking time out from their day but i'd say my favorite one was the charitable ones where um one of them i'd done each time the challenge video got reposted i added an additional so i started off with 19 pounds and each time the video got reposted um i added an additional five pounds to what i would donate and by the end of it i donated 40 pounds myself to the course and then my other charitable one was where i donated the plan was to donate nine um bags to nine different charities but once again do you like covered got in the way a little bit and charity shops were actually not open so i found a local charity shop and uh donated all the nine bags to to that one store i like that well done yeah that was nice so the one that stuck to me was a 19 minute indian head massage what is that my hands i tell you i might like i really had my muscles come out after that because honestly it was so tiring um but my family is always just like if you give like amazing hair massages and um one of my first ever jobs actually was in a hairdresser's and i was a genius i used to wash hair and massage like scalps and stuff so it's it's just i think it's something a skill that i've had and not really used as much but like um and i've sort of learned it from my mom as well because my mom like gives us like indian head massage here and there so i learned it from her my mom are you watching sorry one second mom are you watching this you better be watching i didn't get one of these if anything i was giving it to you and your mom on top of that jeez anyway yes oh sure you'd have to come over and just give you an interview yeah no no definitely if if you would have seen my hair two days ago you would never actually say yes i'll do that you know what it contains like it involves a lot of um oil and stuff so yeah i'm ready i think there's some water yeah so um she loved them you know what she deserved it because she died she was asking for it for a long time so that's really nice really really nice right kefla is there anything you would like to say to your viewers your fans anything just before we sign off before your miss england semi-final yes i would like to say firstly i'd just like to say a big thank you to everyone that has supported that is watching this right now we really appreciate you and just taking time out to support and view you know um and just everything that you've done to help me get so far in the in the pageant as well and your continued support would mean so much to me so please do buy your tickets and um when you do buy your tickets please do vote for me and please do view my entry videos that i have submitted for the semi-finals my introduction my catwalk and my talent video um and yeah i just want to say thank you so guys all of the things that she just mentioned you're going to see links coming up everywhere click on them go view them watch them we'll put little teasers in there for you because i don't want to give everything away you need to go onto her page and check absolutely everything out so we'll have her instagram we'll have a youtube everything will be there please guys go ahead and go support her especially those that are following me because i know most of you are from west london and we should really be showing as much love and support as we can because she's doing it through a pandemic and you know giving positivity during a time like this is the most important thing and it's just amazing to see that someone like yourself is smiling happy and going out there to do something so well done to yourself as well um for those of you who've been waiting for an episode i apologize i look like a caveman and i was just not confident enough to come on the thing as you can see i'm a little bit better groomed out mr england here i come so be prepared there's going to be some more episodes of life out loud as well so ladies and gentlemen boys and girls children of all ages mom and dad sister brother-in-law and my little nephew and everyone else that i forgot to mention thank you for joining us on another episode of life out loud