Episode 25 - A Conversation with Veronica

This episode features Veronica DeLaHarpe, your 2025 Miss American Coed for the Miss American Coed Pageant system! On this episode, Veronica shares about her background, her experiences in both pageantry as well as being a Graduate School Student, and we talk about the importance of shining as your true authentic self.

To connect with Veronica DeLaHarpe, please feel free to reach out to her via her social media platforms, and/or via email:

Personal Instagrams: @miss.veronica.delaharpe | @veronica.delaharpe

Title/Queen Instagram: @themissamericancoed

Email: vdelahar@emich.edu

If you are interested in learning more about the Miss American Coed Pageant system, then please check out their website as well: missamericancoed.com

Listen to full episode :

Here is a transcription of Episode 25:

0:17: 0:17: Hello and welcome to the Broke PhD Podcast where we build relationships or kindle emotions with every episode! I'm your host. Dr. G!

0:26: On this episode of Broke PhD Podcast, I talk with Veronica DeLaHarpe, your reigning 2025 Miss American Coed for the Miss American Coed pageant system. During our conversation, Veronica shares about her background, her experiences in both pageantry as well as being a Graduate School Student, and we talk about the importance of shining as your true authentic self.

0:48: [Dr. G] I'm so excited for this episode as I have Veronica DeLaHarpe who is also your Miss American Coed for the Miss American Coed Pageant system on as a guest today! So welcome, Veronica!

0:59: [Veronica] Hi, I'm so excited to be here.

1:01: [Dr. G] So I'm so glad to have you. And Veronica, can you just share a little bit about your background so the listeners can get to know you a little bit more?

1:08: [Veronica] Yes! So right now my biggest thing in my life is being a student. I am a Clinical Mental Health Counseling Master’s Student, right now. I have an undergraduate degree in psychology. I have been involved in pageants since I was about 8 years old and that's my main hobby, but I also have a performance background in musical theatre. I am classically trained. I also do a lot of dance and ballet’s my favorite. I'm a big sister. I'm really proud of my little sister and how I've sort of helped to guide her in my big sister slash motherly role, so I like to say. Yeah, that's a little bit about me.

1:43: [Dr. G] Ohh. Thank you so much for sharing, there's so much exciting things and I'm going to start with the education background just so that we can talk about that and learn about that more. So you are doing clinical health?

1:55: [Veronica] Yes! So I'm doing clinical mental health. So essentially what that means is at the end of this program, I will be a licensed counselor. So I will be able to provide counseling in different settings. I will be able to do psychotherapy as well, so I’ll be pretty open to working with clients in that setting.

2:16: [Dr. G.] Ohh, that's so exciting! And thank you for going into that field because it's such a needed area and also so, so difficult to kind of navigate through because there's a lot of emotions and a lot that you as a clinician will have to take on. And so I just appreciate you so much and can you just share a little bit about why you wanted to go into that field and that area?

2:36: [Veronica] Yeah. So I actually started out undergrad as a neuroscience major. I had planned on going to medical school to be a psychiatrist, and along that journey, I found more interest in the holistic model versus the medical model of treatment. So I wanted to switch to counseling because we focus on people as a whole. We focus on the system internal, external. We focus on the environment. We focus on living situations. And as a psychiatrist they used to, but now, they have gone to pretty much just med management because there's such a shortage of psychiatrists. That's really what they do now. And I didn't see myself doing that.

3:21: [Dr. G] Love that. So I love that you wanted to go into it to kind of focus on the holistic perspective and the holistic being of humans because that is definitely so important and such a needed area. And you said right now you're doing your master’s program?

3:33: [Veronica] Yes!

3:34: [Dr. G] Perfect! Do you want to continue after that? Do you have goals of maybe doing a PhD later or do you wanna just kind of jump right into the field?

3:42: [Veronica] A little bit of both. So I do eventually plan on going on to get a PhD. I haven't quite narrowed down yet if that would be something like a counseling psychology degree or counseling education degree, but I know that I want to at some point be a professor and I want to help shape future counselors. And with that I would also be working in the field. So the experience that I get with my personal clients I could then share with other students who are just learning. So that's always been something that's really interested me. But what's good about being a counselor is that you can do both. So almost every one of my professors also has their own practice or sees clients a couple days a week, and I really want to be able to continue to see clients while also being able to teach.

4:34: [Dr. G] Ohh, I love that! Thank you for sharing! And I wanted to get that out there to you and have you share a little bit about that because some of the listeners, you know, may want to follow and go along the same path or maybe considering what they want to do. So it's important to share all different paths of career aspects in life. So thank you for sharing that. Now we're going to pivot into what kind of connected us and that was our love for pageantry. And so can you share a little bit about your background in pageants. You said you started when you were eight?

5:04: [Veronica] Yes! So I competed in my first pageant when I was eight. It was sort of a suggestion by my mom. I had given up doing soccer which was my activity at the time and my mom told me you can't just sit in the house all day, you have to pick something else. And out of the options that she gave, one was horseback riding, one was pageantry. I did one horseback lesson and I loved it. I was like, Oh my gosh, it's going to be so cool. I'm going to ride horses. And then at the end of the lesson they said, OK, now twice a week you have to come muck the stalls. All of the people that are learning have to also learn how to take care of the animal. And I said no, thank you. So after that, she enrolled me in my first pageant, which was a sort of combination style. We had a short interview, but most of it was like on stage performance and I loved it. I loved every aspect of it. Immediately I was like, I wanna do a million of these and that pretty much started my journey. And then I ended up doing Miss American Coed because I was a dance teacher in a very small town and one of the little girls that I taught was a Coed Queen and I overheard her mom talking about it and I was like ohh, my gosh, I do pageants too. I don't know anyone else near me that does pageants. So we connected there. I sort of helped them out and observed her first year going to nationals and everything. And after that I was like, you know what, I'll give this a try.

6:32: [Dr. G] Ohh, I love that! And I love that you found Miss American Coed because of someone near you who's kind of like family, right? And I think that's what we say in Miss American Coed is that it's our family, the Coed Fam, the Coed Family. And so I love that story of that you found Coed because of someone who is considered family who was one of your girls that you were teaching that you were dance teacher for and so I, I just love that!

6:55: [Veronica] And it really truly is a family in every sense. I mean, not just with her now I'm at a point with her that I call her my sister like in real life. And I've, you know, been around for like the last ten years of her growing up. But even girls that I've met in my age division, I would consider to be like sisters with. You know, I'm very close with a lot of my like co-competitors. I'm really close with some of the former Queens and it not only is a friendship, but because we have the same goals, it's a very collaborative and supportive environment that I don't get in a friendship from a college friend or a high school friend.

7:36: [Dr. G] Yeah, I definitely think that when you go through pageants, you definitely go through an experience that unless somebody else has gone through it, they may not always definitely understand or always kind of know, wait, what is that and so I love you just sharing that, it's like a sisterhood that becomes that connection that brings each other together even though you guys are technically competing. But you're not really competing against each other, you're competing against yourself is what I always say and I think others say too, is that you're just trying to do better than what you did before and you're just trying to grow as an individual. And so along that limelight for pageants, what have pageants brought to your life and what have they done for you?

8:15: [Veronica] So I know a lot of the main talking points are public speaking skills and stage presence and confidence, and I definitely gathered all of those from pageants. But for me, I also sort of had the challenge of learning new things and especially when it comes to my role now as a title holder, I'm having to learn social media, I'm having to learn how to market myself, I'm having to learn how to create a brand, and all of that is very new to me. Before I did a little bit here and there as a state title holder, if I did some volunteer service, I would share that, but it's now a part of the job that I have so sort of delve into an area that I'm not familiar with and learn a skill that will be beneficial ongoing. As a theater performer, I did already have some of the stage presence sort of skills, so that to me is comfortable. Being on stage is comfortable, but getting out of the comfort zone in the real world with social media, with interacting, with sort of bringing out an extroverted side of me, that I'm very much an introvert. So all of these communications and person to person skills, I feel like have been really beneficial and it's been a big growth area for me as a title holder.

9:34: [Dr. G] Ohh, I love that and thank you for sharing that! Yeah, sometimes when you are embarking on a hobby that you like, for example, we like pageantry, so that's what we're talking about. That it's gonna push you past your comfort level and you'll have to learn some new skills in order to continue to pursue or to be active in that hobby and with you being a current title holder, before you became the title holder, you didn't recognize, ohh, wait, I'm gonna need to know these like interpersonal and these social media marketing skills that I didn't have before. And so I love that you are using this journey and this experience to kind of push yourself outside of your comfort zone to learn new skills because those are very important that you can carry in other aspects, especially when you do become a counselor and you have your own, if you have your own practice or if you're working somebody else, that could be something you can use to connect with future clients or connect with a larger population of people. And so I love that through this experience of being a title holder that you're using it to push yourself outside of your comfort zone and develop new skills. And I just wanna ask you with your experience of being a title holder, what has been your most fun moment or your most fun experience or something you've done that has just been so much fun this reign so far?

10:48: [Veronica] Outside of crowning moment, because that, to me, was absolutely crazy. I've been competing in MAC (Miss American Coed) for so many years. I had attempted to reach this goal for so many years, and when I finally was up there and they finally called my name, I went into shock. I felt like I was gonna throw up. I was frozen. I couldn't move. Kylie put the sash on me and I just kept like touching the sash. I was like totally not checked out but like I was fully in shock and you can see in like my crowning moment that I was completely shocked but other than that, I really have enjoyed the traveling that I've done because MAC is based in Orlando it kind of works out because I am a Disney adult, self-proclaimed. So that has been really fun to get to sort of combine my two interests of pageants and Disney. But specifically I went down to shoot with Carlos Velez in October and that experience was just so much fun. I did so many different looks. I did four looks. I had on my crown and my sash and Ali Lee did my glam, who also did my glam when I won. So it was a very exciting, fun, comforting experience. And that for me was a moment of like, ohh, my gosh, this is it. Like this is me. I am the Miss American Coed now and it made it very real in a way.

12:10: [Dr. G] Ohh, that's so cool! That's so exciting. And I love you're able to have those experiences, and I'm just so excited for you. And yeah, I luckily was there in the audience watching you get crowned. I was like, yes, get it, girl. There you go. I'm like, get it, get it. And that's the part and this is where we're gonna like put out the plug of the beautiful and the good parts of pageantry, that it is just a sisterhood and it's just women who are just trying to grow as individuals, trying to do better for themselves and also cheer one another on. I would say that a lot of us pageant women and girls are like the biggest hype people you'll ever meet that were like, yes, get it. We're just cheering you on. We're just like, yes, you better walk. You better show them than you are. You better do your personal introduction. And yeah, it's just a lot of just cheering one another on and just pushing ourselves outside of our comfort zones. You have to kind of step into that performer, that extrovert side where there's a lot of us that are more introverted than it seems. But then put them on stage and you would not know it, right?

13:21: [Veronica] Yes, definitely! I'm totally one of those people. You’d never know how shy and how introverted I am if you just saw me on the stage and a lot of the time when I tell people that I do pageants, they don't even believe me because they're like, how did she, how do you do that? You don't seem like you would do that or be able to. So it's I call it like my lore like when I kind of add that in.

13:46: [Dr. G] Yes, I liken it to what, like Beyoncé and Sasha Fierce!

[Veronica] Yes, 100%

[Dr. G] It's like off stage you're like one person on stage like okay, we're turning this on. We're getting our Sasha Fierce on.

13:58: [Veronica] Yes! I think, too, like the sisterhood and the encouragement of one another. It's hard to explain until you're a part of it. I actually had this conversation with my partner and he was telling me, I don't know how you do it. I don't know how you get up there and see somebody else win and see someone else achieve what you've been working a year to do and not be upset. He's like, I couldn't stand up there and smile and not be upset. And I said, well, you don't understand the dynamic. When someone else wins, even though that was your goal, that was your friend. That's somebody that you've been spending the last week, the last month, the last year getting to know and like, encouraging and supporting. So I am just as happy to see one of my friends win and one of them achieve the goal that they also set out to do as I am for myself. It really, truly is a friendship and a sisterhood.

14:57: [Dr. G] Yes, and I think a lot of times too and others have probably heard this saying and phrase, but it's more than the crown that, yes, all of us are competing basically for the same kind of goal of, you know, we want to be whatever title that we're trying to attain. But sometimes it's more than the crowd that some individuals are just trying to, like you said, push themselves outside their comfort zone. And that might mean just getting on stage and working on being comfortable in front of a crowd because that's a skill in itself and others might be just trying to say hey, I don't feel good about XY and Z, I'm gonna prove myself wrong and you know, participate in this optional and do an actress skit or do a speech or you know, do a talent or focus on okay, last year I didn't do well in this area so let me try to just do a little bit better. That sometimes some individuals are up there, not always to get the big crown and that you're just trying to prove to yourself that you can do whatever little goals that you were trying to do. Again, most of us are probably up there because yes, we're trying to get the title and seek that. But for everyone listening, I just wanted to remind you that sometimes it's more than the crown, that sometimes you only get a year of that title holder. And once that year's over, you still are that individual. And so sometimes you got to think beyond that one year and how are you going to continue the lessons and continue the experience and the insights that you gained from going through that experience, so yeah. But I can totally see from others perspectives of like, how can you be so excited for somebody else? And that just might say something about the individual person, right? That we are such girls, girls or that we are, you know, able to see beyond ourselves and see, hey, somebody else is genuinely like, worked hard. They did their best too. And when it comes to pageantry, it is kind of subjective. And sometimes it's your moment and sometimes it's not. And I think that's the biggest take away is don't take it personal. For anyone listening out there, don't take it all personal. That sometimes you are the cup of tea that wants to be sipped and sometimes you're not, and that's just how life is. And I think with going through the pageant experience, it definitely helps you learn how to lose gracefully. I think that's a very hard lesson for people to develop and to understand and to take in is losing gracefully is not always the easiest thing to do, but through pageantry you can learn that skill.

17:22: [Veronica] Yes, that is so important! And I really like how you said thinking beyond the crown and thinking beyond your year. Like you said, you win, it's a year, but afterwards you still have to continue to grow and you still have to understand that this was a really cool experience, but now it may be time for you to move to a new journey or also to give back to the journey that got you to that point.

17:48: [Dr. G] I love that, and I love the giving back because there's so many at Coed specifically, we'll see former Queens and former contestants who have come back and volunteer, and you'll see them just helping out throughout the week that all of the staff at Coed are volunteers and the majority of them are the ones who were former contestants or Queens through the system. And so clearly, if they're still coming back years later, then clearly there's something right, right? And again, it's that family lore, that family aspect of it. So thank you for sharing!

18:17: [Veronica] Yes, of course!

18:19: [Dr. G] And I want to ask, is there any other aspect of life that you kind of want to talk about? I know we talked about education, we've talked about pageantry. Was there anything else that you want to share and that we can like dive into?

18:33: [Veronica] I want to talk about being a Skipper!

18:34: [Dr. G] I was gonna say we could talk about our love of Disney. So we have a common connection of Disney and I want to just hype up there that you did, you did the Disney college program. Can you share a little bit about that because, what, that's so cool!

18:49: [Veronica] Yes! So, I decided after my undergrad that I wanted to take a gap year and when I was looking at what I was going to do, what sort of internships were out there, I wanted to do something that was just gonna be fun, that was gonna be relaxing. I knew that I was looking at another three to ten years of school after I came back from this gap year. So I really wanted something that I was going to enjoy and the Disney College Program just seemed like the perfect fit for me. I applied, I wasn't sure if I was going to get in because I hear that not everyone gets in, especially not on their first application. But I got lucky, they accepted me and I ended up choosing a four month program. I honestly wish I would have done longer but I was down there for four months and I got placed in the role of a Jungle Cruise Skipper. So for those that may not be familiar, it's a attractions role at the Magic Kingdom Park where I was driving a boat and I was giving a comedic spiel about jungle animals and pointing out different animatronic animals, and making, you know, just clever jokes like dad joke style humor. And I absolutely loved it! I felt so at home. I think the theater experience that I had helped a lot. The pageant experience that I had helped a lot. Even just small things like how do you take care of your voice when you're speaking for twelve hours a day, came into good use when I was down there. I also was lucky that the guidance that I had and the trainers and the coordinators, everybody was so lovely! Everyone was so great! And they really emphasized developing you as an individual and including your individual personality and interests into what you were saying. And that surprised me at first because you think Disney, you know, they put so much importance on everyone, doing everything in a certain way. And then I had these trainers telling me, if you go out there and say what the person next to you is saying it's not going to be authentic. You need to bring in your authentic self, what you think is funny, what jokes make you happy. So for me, having sort of a, a science background, I was like, okay, I want to be the mad science skipper. So I included some chemistry jokes. I made a lot of nerdy sort of jokes, and at first I wasn't sure how it was going to play, but it was one of those things where every time I went around, there would be at least a couple people who also had like a science or chemistry background. And afterwards they come up to me and they're like, I love your chemistry jokes. I'm studying chemistry and I just thought they were so funny. And then even then you would have families or people who have no idea that still laugh, that still think it's funny because of the timing or the other jokes sprinkled into it. So that was a really cool experience. And I actually think that played into my performance at Nationals when I had won last year because I came in with the mindset of being myself. You know I didn't think that I had to be what I imagined a pageant girl to be I didn't think I had to conform myself to what a former queen did or looked like. And I also let a lot of that stress go. The stress to be perfect. And I learned letting that stress to be perfect go by being a Skipper because it was never going to be perfect. And that's kind of the point. As a Skipper, it's funnier if it's not perfect. It's more fun for you and for the guests if you are genuinely having a good time and if you make a mistake that you can laugh at yourself.

22:41: [Dr. G] Ohh I love that! Thank you for sharing! And I love just the message is just be yourself. Just always be your authentic self and your energy and your light will just shine through for others, right? That it helped you through being a skipper. It helped you through becoming Miss American Coed and I love that you're just unapologetically being your authentic self. So yes, yes! And also that sounds so cool! I love that you did the Disney college Program like that's just so cool!

23:11: [Veronica] I, I recommend it so much! I understand that different people are down different paths, but you can do a short program. I did only four months and I was down there and I had a great time. You know, I didn't major in hospitality. I didn't plan on working full time in, you know, a theme park industry. I just went to have a cool experience and I think it's OK to do things just because they're cool. I think a lot of people, especially students, get in their mind that they only should do something if it's beneficial for their education or for their career. Even pageants kind of can get that way of, ohh, I'm doing this because it's going to be a good preparation for me, or I'm having this experience because it's what I'm supposed to do. But I really have learned it's OK to do things just because you like them, just because they're fun. You don't have to have a financial benefit. You don't have to have a resume builder. Like just do things because you like to do things.

24:11: [Dr. G] Yes, I love that! And I think, yes, emphasize that more. Just if you hear that listeners do things because you like to do it and because you enjoy doing it and it's fun for you. That yeah, I think so much so, at least in today's world, we're so focused on ohh, OK, this has to help with this or this has to boost this or whether it's boosting your resume or boosting, you know, giving you extra networking or whatever the case may be. But sometimes you just want to do something that's fun that you like and if you're able to, then definitely do that.

24:43: [Veronica] Yes, there's so much of a hustle culture where everything that you enjoy has to be profitable in some way. And I only recently got out of that. You know, I was like sewing and crafting and every time I would show somebody something I've made, they'd say, ohh, you should open an Etsy shop or ohh, you should start taking custom orders or ohh, you should sell this or ohh, you should sell that. And for a while, I had so many people telling me that I was like well maybe I should like, maybe I have to, maybe that's just what the next thing to do is. And I had to sit back and, and think about it and be like, but I can just do it because it's fun. I can just do it because I enjoy it. I don't have to make money from it. I don't have to further my education because of it.

25:29: [Dr. G] Yes, I love that! okay, now that we're getting towards the end of our conversation, are there any takeaways or insights or words of wisdom that you want to share with the listeners?

25:39: [Veronica] I am a really big perfectionist and that in the beginning of my life was a good thing, but the older I get, the more difficult it becomes. And I would just like to share that you do not have to be perfect to be successful and to be happy and to have a good outcome. Everything you do just because you do it and you try and you attempt, is furthering who you are as a person and enriching your life. You don't have to do everything exactly how it needs to be. It does not have to be 100% all of the time to be valuable.

26:20: [Dr. G] Oh, oh, clearly I needed to hear that today. I love that, thank you for sharing!

[Veronica] Thank you!

26:30: [Dr. G] Ohh, well, thank you so much for being a guest on the show and I am so excited that you were here because again, you're an amazing individual and I'm excited to see you soon. We'll see each other soon, but thank you again for being here.

26:43: [Veronica] Thank you so much for having me and thank you for your time and helping me to get all this set up. I'm so glad that we got to have this experience because I know even before Nationals, I would see you on social media and I'm like, I know I would be best friends with her because she's, she's interested in all the same things as me. So I just want to thank you so much for having me.

27:03: [Dr. G] Of course and yes! I know like seeing you on social media at first I was like, yes, I need to connect with her. So yes! I'm glad we got to connect at Nationals. And again, thank you so much for being here!

27:13: [Veronica] Thank you!

27:14: Well, that concludes this episode, but I am so excited to go on this journey with you. And if you've loved this episode and you want to hear more episodes from Broke PhD Podcast, then please check out the website – brokephdpodcast.com – to continue to follow along. Wherever you are in your own journey I’m wishing you all the best and remember – YOU GOT THIS! Again, I'm your host Dr. G and I hope you have a wonderful day!