Interview with pageant winner, who is also an aspiring Bollywood dancer.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: At 17-year-old, Miss Washington Teen U.S.A. Priya Gopal-Walker has already had a rollercoaster ride of a life, with ecstatic highs and desolate lows.
A survivor of domestic violence, Gopal-Walker found the courage to speak out as a teenager and now acts as an outspoken advocate for eliminating domestic violence and being the voice for children who are unable to speak up for themselves.
After being forced into pageants as a child, Gopal-Walker discovered she had a true love for the circuit and the platform it afforded her when she tried it out on her own after absconding from her abusive mother.
Gopal-Walker, who is a junior at the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, spoke with the American Bazaar over the phone and delved into her varied experiences both on the pageant circuit and off.
What inspired you to start the pageant circuit?
Well, I was in pageants when I was younger. My mom actually put me into little baby pageants, so I did that for a little while. But I really started to get into it the summer after either sixth or seventh grade because I decided that I wanted to be a model and pageants would be a good way to get into the modeling-slash-entertainment industry. In ninth grade I ended up moving out of my mom’s house because I was being abused and it took me until then to finally speak up and advocate for myself. After that I took a little break from pageantry.
Then I ended up competing in a small, local pageant just to kind of test the waters and see if I like pageants for myself. I started doing pageants because I wanted to go into the entertainment industry but kept doing them mostly because it made her happy. When I competed in the small, local pageant on my own terms I really enjoyed it and I placed pretty highly. I also tied the top interview score, so that kind of got me thinking about pageantry a little more, and then I decided to compete for Miss Washington Teen U.S.A. and I figured that I enjoy pageantry and I enjoy meeting all the girls and I like competing, but with the title, I would have an amazing opportunity to spread awareness about my platform, which is domestic violence awareness.
Then I ended up competing for Miss Washington Teen U.S.A. and I won it which is still crazy! I still can’t believe that I’m a state title holder and then I got offered the opportunity to compete for Miss Teen U.S.A. which was another incredible experience.
That’s my pageantry history!
You touched on this a bit already, but a significant part of the outreach you do pertains to domestic abuse. Can you elaborate on what the issue means to you?
Absolutely. I was raised by my mother; my dad lives in California. Throughout my entire childhood, she was violent both emotionally and physically. I didn’t know how to get out of that situation. In school, of course, there’s little meetings that go, “If you’re being hurt at home, tell a teacher, tell a friend, tell someone.” And that’s it. That’s all I ever heard about it, and the issue is so much deeper than that. When you’re in that situation there’s no guidebook, there’s no one to tell you what to do step by step. That’s why I stayed silent for so long but as Miss Washington Teen U.S.A. I’ve been able to talk to a lot of people about exactly what to do about getting out of abusive situations.
I wish someone had someone to tell me, “It’s okay to speak up. I know it’s scary, but no matter what you do there are always going to be people there to support you.” There was this fear that I was going to end up alone, without anyone to support me, and that’s the complete opposite of what ended up happening. I have so many people who came together and rallied for me and I was never alone.
Switching gears a bit — you’re a trained dancer and have stated you’d like to continue pursue dancing in the future. What are your aspirations in that regard?
I’ve done Bollywood, jazz, lyrical, hip-hop, modern, all of that. But Bollywood is definitely my favorite. If I could have any job, if I didn’t have to worry about money or anything, I would definitely be a professional Bollywood dancer, dancing in Bollywood movies! That’s my passion.
You mentioned dancing in the hypothetical context of not having to worry about money. Does that mean dancing is not so viable a career path for you, personally?
Being a dancer so unpredictable it’s just not the wisest career path I guess. But I definitely don’t want to have a career driven solely by money. Switching gears for a minute — right now I’m in the middle of a college application and trying to pick a major and all that and right now I’m thinking about American Indian Studies, or at least minoring in American Indian Studies and then doing something with a nonprofit business. I definitely don’t want a career driven by money but of course it’s going to be some aspect of it.
Is it difficult balancing school, pageants, and your social life?
Yeah, definitely! I think it’s difficult for the average teenager to do that without factoring in pageantry. It was pretty hectic when I first got my title. But things have gotten a bit slower-going. School is still my biggest priority and then of course there’s trying to do as many appearances as I can as Miss Washington Teen U.S.A. Luckily I only scheduled appearances every few weekends or so, that way it wouldn’t interfere with my schooling. I still got to do a lot of things — I got to compete for Miss Teen U.S.A., I went and watched the Miss California pageant and that was so fun. I went and stayed with Miss Idaho U.S.A. It’s been really great getting to know all the girls and I think I found the right balance eventually.
How would you describe the atmosphere at a pageant?
A lot of people think of the stereotypical pageant girl and they think they’re going to be snobby or rude, but all of these girls are so amazing. Every single title holder at Miss Washington Teen U.S.A. was so incredibly sweet. I think that once you get to the national level everyone is just so grateful to have their state title that they go to the national competition to have fun and meet everyone. Of course everyone likes to win but it’s more about the experience than the title.
Have you ever run into any difficulties specifically because of your heritage?
No, never! Everyone’s been really supportive of my heritage, both my American Indian and my [South Asian] Indian heritage.
What is your favorite and least favorite aspect about participating in a pageant?
My favorite is definitely meeting all of these new people, whether it’s other state title holders, random people at appearances, and just getting to talk to them about my platform and getting to know everyone. It’s not very often that you get to know people from so many different walks of life.
I’ll tell you what used to be my least favorite part — I didn’t have my license until earlier this summer so it was so difficult trying to coordinate rides to the appearances that I wanted to do because both of my foster parents work and then there’s just my foster brother — so coordinating rides was awful!
There haven’t really been any downsides. Everyone’s been really supportive and I’ve had a really great year.
Is there a role model who inspires you?
My grandma passed away in January but she’s always been my role model. She came to the U.S. with her seven kids from Fiji not knowing any English and still succeeded. She and my grandpa both came here and she had six kids at the time, and then she adopted another kid. She’d always been such a loving person, so open-minded, and caring, — she cared about everyone. I wish I could be half the woman she was.
Do you have any advice for young women who want to compete in pageants, or for the victims of domestic abuse?
Whether it’s pageantry or applying to a school or getting out of an abusive situation my most important piece of advice is don’t let anyone — including yourself — hold you back. If you want to compete in a pageant, just do it. Don’t let your fears hold you back. Also, when I was getting out of my mom’s house I was so scared I didn’t know what to do. I think that I held myself back. I could have trusted myself to be okay and trusted that I would have people who would support me.
Don’t hold yourself back and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t do something; believe in yourself.