Leonard to compete in Miss Kentucky Teen pageant

Laura Leonard didn’t take her daughter, Shaylee, to the Daviess County Fair pageant a few years ago with the intention of prompting her toward the hobby.

But that’s all it took for Shaylee to get bit by the pageant bug, and the rising junior at Daviess County High School has been finding success on stage ever since.

“I did not encourage her,” Laura Leonard said. “I took her to her first pageant to watch, we’d gone out to the Miss Daviess Fair pageant. That’s what sparked it. She asked, wanted to compete. We told her we’d make it work. So I put the blame a little bit on myself.”

Shaylee has collected several titles in recent years, including the Miss Teen Breckinridge County (2021) and Miss Teen McLean County (2022) sashes through county fairs. She also was Miss Owensboro Teen (2023) under the Miss Kentucky Teen organization, and she’s the current Miss Teen Kentucky County Fair (2023) and Miss Teen Edmonson County, as well as the 2024 Miss Heart of the Commonwealth’s Teen.

She will be competing in the Miss Kentucky’s Teen/Miss Kentucky organization’s Miss Kentucky Teen pageant June 11-15 at SkyPAC in Bowling Green.

“I’m most definitely excited,” Shaylee said of the state competition. “I competed in this pageant last year, so I’m excited to go back and learn new things and see the girls again and spend the week with them. It’s so much fun.”

Laura Leonard said much work is involved to be prepared for the competition.

“She puts in a lot of hard work; a lot of hours ... practicing interviews, they do mock interviews, or something as simple as the evening gown practice walk, dress shopping,” Leonard said. “Making sure she has everything for her talent. It’s a lot of work. She usually practices twice a week with Barry (Lanham). It’s a lot of hard work and dedication on her end to have fun.”

Shaylee, 15, said she’s been having fun the past year getting instruction from Lanham to learn clogging. She was inspired by a fellow contestant.

“I heard (about clogging) from one of the girls that was Miss Kentucky 2018, and I just decided it would be something fun to try,” Shaylee said. “It became my talent for this year.”

Lanham said Shaylee is “full of energy and enthusiasm, and I am excited for her.”

Shaylee’s pageant work includes having a Community Service Initiative. Hers is “Brace Yourself for a Cure,” which raises money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“That’s my platform for the pageants,” Shaylee said. “In 2018, I volunteered with the WBKR St. Jude radio-a-thon. I decided that I wanted to help even more, so I came up with the bracelets to raise money and awareness” for childhood cancer.

Shaylee sells two types of bracelets, silicon and hand-beaded. The initiative has raised a little more than $1,700 in the last two years.

Regardless whether Shaylee adds the state title next month, she’s thankful for the pageant experience.

“I love learning new skills and meeting new people,” she said.