Pageant star keen volunteer

From volunteering between shifts at her part-time job to representing Australia on the world stage in the US — Shaylah Brooks-Bowman was bound for success.

Shaylah is one of eight children living with her family on a big property just out of Bunbury in Wellesley.

“In Year 12 I moved to WA with my whole family for my dad’s work,” Shaylah said.

The 21 year-old began modelling at the age of 13 before she decided to take her career up a notch, competing in her first ever pageant in the UK in 2013.

“I started modelling in my early teens and just doing local classes,” Shaylah said.

“I slowly moved up in classes and did lots of different things, including dance.

“I entered my first pageant in the UK and I won the Miss Teen Charity for that because I raised the most amount of money for my category.

“From there I’ve done lots of pageants — Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Tasmania.

“I really enjoy doing them because I have gained a lot of confidence.”

Earlier this year, Shaylah was crowned Royal International Miss Australia, which earned her a trip of a lifetime to Orlando, Florida, to compete on the world stage.

Shaylah returned only a few weeks ago and did not come home empty-handed, placing fourth overall out of 30 girls.

“I also achieved top 16 for the overall section as there are two crowns you can win,” she said.

“I also placed second runner-up in volunteer service, so that is for my volunteer hours that I did for my time of International Miss Australia.

When we think of pageants, many think of the US TV show Toddlers & Tiaras, but Shaylah said it was nothing like that.

“We had an on-stage component where you have to do a one-minute speech about who you are, where you’re from, what you do for charity work,” Shaylah said. “I was backstage and I was reading it so many times and I thought ‘I’m just going to read this so many times I’m going to forget it’.

“I was walking on stage and I was like ‘I’ve forgotten it’ and then I grabbed the microphone and it all just came out and I didn’t stuff it once and it was just so awesome.”

Not only has Shaylah achieved success with her looks, she also has a passion for helping others by raising money for various organisations.

Throughout Shaylah’s latest pageant campaign, she completed more than 100 hours of community service.

“In my pageant campaign period I volunteered with the Salvation Army around my work and the soup van on a roster roughly once a month,” she said.

“That’s really cool.

“I enjoy doing that.

“Anything that pops up on Facebook that is a community event, I usually try and get in touch and offer to volunteer and get involved.”

Shaylah has travelled far and wide from a young age and has now decided to slow things down to see what life has in store.

“I would like to be a teacher or to get into childcare at TAFE or university down here in the South West,” she said.

“I’m not sure what is next for me with pageants, but I would like to do more, but I just want to take a little break, save up, buy a house, that type of thing.”