A young woman from Daventry is heading off to Grantham this July as a Miss Voluptuous England finalist. And she’s doing it with a strong message for online trolls.
Justyna Tobiasiewicz entered the Miss Voluptuous last year after hearing about it online. Since then, she has grown her platform by combatting unhealthy images and comments of women’s beauty online.
Originally from Poland, Justyna has lived in Daventry for seven years. She is completing her final year at university and already works as a makeup artist for photoshoots and Film Northants, not to mention she has her own prosthetics shop.
The Miss Voluptuous Pageant began six years ago. It welcomes any woman aged 18-plus and size 14-plus and, unlike Miss World, entrants can be any age, married, and have children. The Miss Voluptuous England finalists will compete against their other home nation winners at the UK Grand Final held at the Guildhall Arts Centre, Grantham on July 16 to be crowned Miss Voluptuous UK.
They then fly over to Pittsburg, Pennsylvania for the International pageant next April for the chance to become Miss Voluptuous International. Women from across America and as far as Australia take part. Justyna discovered Miss Voluptuous after Googling it in May, 2021. “I was at my lowest and I needed something to change something. I was looking for something to gain more confidence.
“”So I thought I’d enter a beauty pageant. I’ve met amazing women from all ages and I have a great connection with them”
Like Miss World, every entry needs a platform or campaign they want to address. Justyna’s is women’s mental health in social media. It is something Justyna has had personal problems with in the past.
She told Northants Live: “I got into this trap that I might not be good enough. There were too many filters and it’s time to change it.
“Platform is the most important part. It’s to show you’re not just beautiful and you have something in your brain.”
Candidates are selected based on their pictures but more emphasis is placed on their response to the questions in the forms.
“It’s not like you just sit and do the form, you need a lot of time to do it. There’s plenty of things you have to think about within your platform.”
At the two-day pageant itself, over 50% of an entry’s score is her response to an interview about her platform. The rest is decided during a pageant on the first day.
The Miss Voluptuous Pageant is all about embracing female beauty in all its forms. This theme of inclusivity and friendship means that competition takes a back seat.
“I feel a really close connection with Rosie who is also representing England”, said Justyna. “We should be in competition but we’re really not, we both love harry potter”
“It’s really fun and we all have a great connection. I talk to them on a daily basis, we’re going on a beach holiday in June.”
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