Winston Salem Times

Brittany Neely, Ms. Full-Figured North Carolina 2022, was in Winston-Salem this week helping a soup kitchen serve food to the needy.

Neely had competed in beauty pageants as a child growing up in Greenville. However she hadn’t thought much about entering a pageant as an adult -- mostly because she lacks the typical model’s measurements -- but she’s happy to be an example of beauty being about more than size.

“With the pageant… our motto is ‘size has no barrier on beauty,’ because it doesn’t,” Neely, who won the crown in May, told 10 WAVY.com. “We are all beautiful regardless of the size, and I feel like as women have to love our body through pregnancy, weight loss, gain. It’s just a lot of areas that we go through with our bodies, and we have to love every part.” 

The Greenville woman’s platform is all about self-love and body positivity to encourage women and youth.

“It starts when you’re young,” Neely told 10 WAVY.com. “It’s these babies. We’ve got to raise them up to let them know to love themselves. I have a son. I tell him all the time, ‘You’re handsome’ because they need that. Kids need that.”

Community service and outreach are big parts of the pageant’s mission, so Neely expects to have a full year holding the title.

“I feel like I’m going to get a lot out of this,” she said, according to 10 WAVY.com.  “Learning just about myself, just being more confident, walking in my purpose.” 

She will also have the opportunity to compete in the Ms. Full-Figured USA pageant in Atlanta in November.