Miss Amazing's first TN pageant celebrates abilities

Katie Harbison sat in the break room of a Brentwood Publix, joking with a coworker over a crispy chicken sandwich and chips.

"Oh my God! Someone donated!" she said as her iPhone pinged. She turned to Angel Lawler, her best friend. "Was it you?"

Lawler shrugged coyly.

"It was!" Harbison shrieked as the two broke into laughter. She gave Lawler a goofy side hug. "I love you."

Her strawberry blonde hair tugged into a tight ponytail, and sporting a green Publix apron, one might never have guessed that Harbison was a pageant queen, fundraising to head off to a national competition.

But the 26-year-old Nashville resident was doing just that — and Lawler was her first donor.

As Tennessee's first Miss Amazing Miss Queen, Harbison plans to represent the state in July in Los Angeles at the organization's national pageant for girls and women with disabilities.

In January, Harbison competed for the Tennessee title alongside 14 other young women and teens in five groups, ranging in age from 10 to 35.

Unlike in other pageants, though, Miss Amazing contestants also range in ability, said Spencer Petty, a 17-year-old junior at Christ Presbyterian Academy and founder of Tennessee's pageant.

So, Petty said, "we're comparing girls to themselves, not to other girls."

Story continues below the photo

It was at a recent pageant in which she was contestant that Petty first heard about Miss Amazing. She said other girls told her about working with girls competing in their home states.

"I looked it up online and I decided to bring it to Tennessee," she said, adding that she had come to enjoy helping kids with special needs after spending time with her cousin, who has Down syndrome.

The national pageant was founded in 2007.

Petty, a Franklin resident, started planning the Tennessee pageant about a year ago with the help of her mom, Gail Petty.

The event, held at the Embassy Suites hotel in Cool Springs on Jan. 3 and 4, drew a crowd of about 150 — many more than national organizers had told her to expect, Gail Petty said.

Petty said the event went well, but it was a difficult first foray into the organization side of things.

"It wasn't until I got to the actual pageant that everything kind of paid off — to see how much fun all the girls were having," she said.

Laura Fairbrother, a pediatric genetic counselor, said she had never been involved in a pageant before, but she often works with special needs kids. When she saw a flier at work asking for judges, she thought it'd be a fun way to get involved in the community.

Parents first filled out questionnaires about their daughters' abilities or challenges, Fairbrother explained. Then, she said, she was asked to judge based on whether the participants exceeded their typical level of ability.

For example, she said, if a participant would often struggle to make eye contact while speaking, according to her parents, Fairbrother would evaluate how often she was able to lock eyes with that participant during the interview portion of the contest.

She said the experience was rewarding.

"I think a lot of times, when people think of individuals with disabilities, they focus on what they can't do," she said. "This is a time where contestants can show what they can do — whether it's walk on the stage in front of 20 people, or just be there at all."

Lawler said she was in the audience as Harbison took the stage to sing Chris Tomlin's, "We Raise Our White Flag" for the talent portion.

"She owned it," she said. "It was powerful."

Harbison's sister, Laura Harbison, said Katie has always been confident and outgoing.

"She knows everyone, whether or not she's met them before," Laura Harbison said as her sister greeted Publix employees.

Although it was a bit of a surprise that Katie had decided to join the contest, she said it's been fun.

"She sort of came home and was like, 'I want to be Miss Amazing,' and we were like, 'OK!' " Laura Harbison said.

Harbison said she wanted to "learn how to make myself stand out better" — and she was thrilled to have won.

She added that it was important to her to pay for the trip to California herself, rather than rely on her parents.

"I feel like I'm independent," she said.

Reach Jill Cowan at 615-664-2150 and on Twitter @jillcowan.

MISS AMAZING

•For more information about the Miss Amazing pageant, go to missamazingpageant.com.

•To donate to the Tennessee Miss Amazing pageant, go to missamazingpageant.com/donations.

•If you'd like to donate to Katie Harbison's trip via GoFundMe, her page is here: http://www.gofundme.com/m73rck