AEM Miss Massachusetts Goes From Westwood to AEM Nationals!

In September, I spoke with America's Elite Miss’ (AEM) Miss Massachusetts, Abigail Shisslak.

At that time, she mentioned that she would be attending AEM’s Nationals in January. I had the chance to interview her about life in Westwood, Nationals, and invisible disabilities.

Patch: When we spoke in September, you mentioned had just moved to Westwood. How have you been finding Westwood--I saw on your Facebook page that you attended the town's tree lighting event?
Shisslak: I love Westwood so far! I did attend the tree lighting and had a lot of fun. I got my face painted and asked Santa for good grades on my final exams. He came through and I ended my semester with all As for Christmas.

Patch: Over the past few months, have you gained any sponsors? Any new charity work?
Shisslak: I have not gained any new sponsors, unfortunately. With my first college semester, I really tried to focus on school. I have still been getting out to events though and got to do some walks and events. I especially liked attending [Avon/The American Cancer Society] Making Strides for Breast Cancer with my mom for the 5th time. She’s my favorite survivor.

Patch: Nationals are coming up in Atlanta in a few weeks. Hoes does Miss Massachusetts AEM prepare for them?
Shisslak: Miss Massachusetts is refining her speeches and walk patterns. I have purchased and received my dress which I’m so excited about. America’s Elite Miss’ theme for the year is superheroes and superpowers and so in my personal introduction, I get to talk about what my superpower is. I feel that being able to excel and succeed in life despite my illnesses and disabilities is a superpower and it didn’t come without its fair share of challenges.

Patch: Are you given the opening number choreography ahead of time or do you learn it there? What does your opening number dress look like?
Shisslak: I do not get to know what my choreography is ahead of time. I will be surprised when I get there. As for the dress, this system is a bit like USA state pageants where all the girls are given the color they need to wear and are allowed to pick any cocktail dress they like. This year, my cocktail dress is white and we have to wear red shoes and red accessories.

Patch: What sort of questions are delegates asked during the interview round? How do you prepare for them?
Shisslak: So we are asked questions ahead of time for a bio that is submitted to the judges. The questions will typically come from those but they can also ask us anything about ourselves. The goal of interview is to get a feel for the contestant and everyone agrees that it’s largely where the pageant is won. It’s the portion where you’re face to face with the judges and they get to know you personally. I’ve been asked about my goals, what I do in my free time, and what I’d do if I were stranded on an island.

Patch: Do you participate in any of the optional competitions for delegates? If so, tell me about them!
Shisslak: I am competing in spokesmodel this year. It’s by far my favorite optional. I’ve always placed highly and in one case, won my division. Spokesmodel is where you talk about what you’re most passionate about and in the past, my winning speech was about discrimination in handicap parking. It really impacted the judges because I stood up there and asked them if they, personally, would harass or assault me simply because I didn’t look disabled enough to have a handicap parking placard in my car. This has happened to people I know and it makes me so angry so I had to speak about it. I plan to speak about my passions again this year and do my best to impact at least one person in the audience. Even if I don’t win this year, if I can affect one person, it’ll be worth it.

Patch: Do you communicate with any of the AEM delegates from other states? If so, what's that like?
Shisslak: I do, actually. I brought in a personal friend of mine, Victoria - who’s Miss Texas, into the system. She’s absolutely lovely and we talk constantly. We competed together in the past and both decided to try out AEM together. In pageantry, you find your girls and you just end up having one or two girls you go to competition with. Tori might even be rooming with me this year. I miss her so much. Seeing her will be the highlight of the competition by far.

Patch: I saw on the AEM website that one of their perks of attending Nationals is a custom crown case. What does yours look like?
Shisslak: One word: heavy. This is the first system I’ve been with that will give its appointed titleholders cases. Typically you have to win a title for the system to give you a case. All my other crowns were carried around in this canvas makeup case from Caboodles (amazing case, it holds everything and is waterproof) with a harder, acrylic case inside it for crown protection. Now, I have this massive, custom, handmade, acrylic case. It was designed for AEM specifically and it’s simply beautiful. [See photo] The designer can be found at this Instagram: @crowncouturecollection and massive thank you to my mom for holding the case up while I took pictures of it.

We wish our hometown Miss Massachusetts AEM luck next month. Shisslak does have a GoFundMe if you are interested.