Angel Simmons

The notebook came first. As a young girl Angel Simmons watched pageants on network television and sketched the gowns she liked best. As a teenager she modeled in annual fashion shows, then gave it up when singing and dance choreography took over her schedule.

She returned to modeling in her thirties, and the first audition she walked into was for a charity fashion show supporting suicide prevention and anti-bullying. She was asked about her connection to the cause. "That was the first time I publicly told the story of losing a friend to suicide in high school," she says. She had just become a Field Advocate for the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Six months later the charity behind that fashion show crowned her its Illinois Ambassador, and she went on to hold two USA titles with them. A first local title with Northern Illinois Royalty followed, then Ms. Illinois Elite in the United America pageant system. In the Chicago fashion world she was using the runway as a vehicle — empowering women of color, she says, to embrace their curves and trust their natural beauty at any age, height, size or skin tone.

International pageantry was a harder room. By her account it had a reputation for being toxic and nowhere near as inclusive as the fashion culture she had thrived in, and she made a deliberate choice about what to do with that.

I knew the only way it would ever change was from the inside.

So she went to work inside it. She served as pageant coordinator and head coach for Miss Royalty International before becoming National Coordinator for the Ultimate Universe Pageant System. She is a Certified Pageant Coach through Pageant Planet with a Professional Diploma in Mental Health Coaching, and holds — by her count — more than a hundred professional certifications across coaching, mental health and suicide prevention. Her work with young people runs on a longer thread still: youth minister in her teens, Early Childhood Education instruction in college, and more recently Site Manager and Membership Coordinator for the Boys & Girls Club of Chicago, with another hundred-plus certifications in youth development, social emotional learning and trauma-informed care. "This work, all of it, is my passion," she says.

Angel found Revolutionary Pageants through a social media post — photographs from the system's time on Capitol Hill in Washington, advocating for people living with chronic illness and mental health conditions. She looked further, decided the system aligned with what she believed pageantry needed to change, and competed as Ms. Midwest Revolutionary Purpose. In February she won the highest title in her division: Ms. Revolutionary Purpose World. In April, at the Global Beauty Awards in Seattle, she was given the Kerry Damiano Faith in Action Award. Angel credits her faith as the anchor for her entire life. She says, "I begin and end each day with the Word of God, and I am very clear on the meaning of my name: I ALWAYS carry a powerful and critical message everywhere that I go."

What she is hired for today is the rest of it. Through The Message Media LLC she coaches contestants on interview technique, image consulting, platform development, public relations and social media content, and she helps them find appearance and service opportunities that actually match the mission they claim. Since 2020, by her count, she has coached more than ten international, two national and one local division winner, all of whom took the highest crown or placed in a top ten. What a client gets, in her words, is "a customized service that is detailed and specific to your life passions, personal goals, and the legacy you want to leave in this world." When she's not coaching or working, Angel also serves as the National Coordinator for Ultimate Universe Pageants, assisting reigning royalty and incoming delegates along their journey.

Away from all of it, she cherishes her alone time: a spa appointment, or the couch with crochet in hand and a Hallmark movie running, or writing after hours to lo-fi music. From October to May her closest friends get birthday cakes and sweet treats out of her kitchen, and breakfast can be found cooking there at any hour of the day. There are trail rides when the seasons turn, Pilates and Zumba and long walks in the park — "I never take for granted the luxury of movement, and I listen when my body tells me to rest." She relaxes by watching her pets with fins in her aquarium. When she needs healing purrs, she volunteers at the PAWS Chicago Medical Center as a Level 1 Cat Care worker with recovering felines; for canine cuddles, she borrows her friends' dogs. "If you don't take care of your emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual wellness, you can't take care of what you've been assigned to do here on earth. Being a light to a dark world requires you to THRIVE — not just survive."