Five minutes with Miss World NSW Finalist Alison Mitchell

Posted on 4 July, 2017

The Canberra model, one of five Miss World New South Wales finalists, thought she was offering to help out at the Miss World event, not compete in it when she said she was interested.

Alison Mitchell was approached via social media to enter the competition but didn’t take it seriously.

“I doubted myself and their decision in their offer and decided against applying,” she said. “When my Sydney agent asked if I was interested in Miss World Australia I had presumed she meant to help work in events so I said I was free and interested.”

“The next day I was contacted by Miss World saying how thrilled they were to have me as a contestant. I was in shock but after speaking with my best friend and my family I figured opportunities like this don’t happen by chance so decided to go for it.”

Alison had just a week to prepare for her first pageant.

“I managed to pull together dresses, makeup, jewellery and get head shots down within the week. I was in the middle of moving house plus working full time whilst on break from uni so I guess the best way to describe the process is beautiful chaos,” she said.

“I thought I had absolutely no chance, but I had recently been to a catwalk workshop so I was looking forward to putting that into practice.”

It’s not the first time Alison has accepted a tough challenge.

Two years ago she started bodybuilding and thought at the time it was her biggest challenge and transformation, that resulted in moments of self-doubt.

“I loved it. I loved the results and had so many encouraging, supportive people getting me through the journey,” she said. “Training for a goal is mentally difficult. I achieved my goal and suddenly felt lost.”

“I found I was only booking work for beauty and got into the headspace that if I am only shooting head shots for makeup then maybe the fitness look isn’t enough to book jobs.

“It was an extremely hard battle to work out what I loved and what work loved me.”

That doubt turned to clarity.

“Signing on to a commercial agency and meeting more experienced models proved to me that you don’t have to categorise yourself and you can do it all if you are passionate,” she said.

“Moving into fashion and runway was hard because of my mental block, but with passionate mentors such as Tina Nikolovski, Director of Devojka Models, I am slowly breaking down that barrier and throwing myself into unfamiliar projects like beauty pageants.”

Alison has to be glad she did as she now has the opportunity to raise money for the Variety Children’s Charity, as part of her Miss World commitments.

“I’m from a large family and my siblings are starting to have families of their own. It’s comforting to know that there are charities such as Variety that tailor needs to all sorts of family circumstances and you never know when you might find yourself in need.”

The next step for Alison is to reach her goal of raising $10,000. Then next month she’ll compete against finalists from other States, hoping to be crowned Miss World Australia.

To donate, visit Alison’s Everyday Hero page.

Feature image: Supplied. Chrissie Hall Photography, courtesy of Devojka Models.