Today we’d like to introduce you to Sophia Ortiz.
Hi Sophia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My journey into the public eye began unexpectedly. In the year 2017, I was diagnosed with leukemia and everything changed for me. I was spending my weekends in and out of doctors’ offices while my friends were in SAT and ACT prep classes getting ready for applying to college. Meanwhile, I was thinking if I would even get the opportunity to experience college. My mother’s side of the family has an extensive history of cancer-related deaths and thus, the question of death was racing through my mind. My dad carries himself as a strong and fortified man, but even he would spend nights crying about the “what-ifs?” given my condition. I knew I had to be strong and brave and continue to fight against leukemia which was challenging because my family was devastated by the news they had been given. Having faith for the best and staying strong via prayer helped me feel at ease.
My mom is a big proponent of holistic remedies versus big pharma alternatives and I began keeping up with a variety of holistic herbs and natural medications which helped my body feel better. However, my condition was not getting significantly better and my doctors began to become worrisome about my fight against leukemia. At that time, my doctors were ruling that I may have developed a rare form of leukemia and my family decided to reach out to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital for help. Their help and the help of Texas Children’s Hospital started my journey to health. On one of my visits to Texas Children’s Hospital, I was scheduled for a blood transfusion and bone marrow withdrawal, but it took an unexpected turn. When the nurses took some blood samples along with my vitals for my specialist to review before both procedures, I was given the great news by my specialist that somehow I was getting better and it would not be necessary for me to have a blood transfusion or bone marrow withdrawal. I was in a state of shock and disbelief and the look on my parents’ faces showed they were too. We sat perplexed in silence as my specialist explained he had never in his multitude of years practicing medicine seen a case like mine, much less a recovery like mine. I kept up with follow-up visits and holistic remedies and completely beat leukemia. I now only have a variety of blood disorders which means I must be eating healthy and continue to care for my mind and body.
In the midst of my fight against leukemia, I was drained of my energy and thirst for life and my mom was told by one of my nurses that she should consider enrolling me in a local pageant so I could distract myself and make new friends, hoping to revive my hope for life. My mom pondered on it for a while and then brought up the idea to me. For background, I spent my childhood watching the Miss Universe pageant every year with my mom and grandma. I had hoped to one day have the honor of gracing the Miss Universe stage so I was excited when my mom brought up the possibility of competing. I ended up enrolling to compete in my first ever pageant, Miss Texas Global United States, not being the slightest bit knowledgeable that I was about to experience a completely different world. Nonetheless, I was there to share my story and life experience in hope that a young girl or boy out there in the world would see me as someone to be inspired by. When competition day came, I was excited to get on stage and truly was not thinking of winning, but to my shock I did! I was crowned Miss Teen Texas Global United States in October of 2017 and from that day the rest was history. I fell in love with pageants and the friendships that came with the journey and went on to compete at a national and international level in the Teen division. The best part of competing in pageants for me is by far the voice of importance that it gives me, since being a pageant titleholder I have been able to give speeches at City Hall alongside Houston mayor, Sylvester Turner, among many other notable events such as the International Women’s Day Conference, White Cane Safety Day, Go Red for Women by the American Heart Association. When I won the title of Miss Teen Texas Global United States, I knew I wanted to be able to give back to St. Jude’s because I was ever so grateful for the help they gave to me and my family. I started annual pizza sales at my high school, Saint Thomas’ Episcopal School, to fundraise money for St. Jude’s. When the St. Jude’s team in Houston became aware of my fundraising efforts and were made aware of my story they were touched and bestowed me the honor of being their first ever National Youth Leadership Ambassador. Upon graduating high school in 2019, the annual tradition of holding a pizza fundraiser was continued by my underclassmen peers.
I have now aged out of the Teen division and have just recently started my journey competing in the Miss division. I am preparing to compete in Miss Texas USA this coming July on the 1st and 2nd. My goal is to continue my efforts of being an active member of my community, providing aid, help, and encouragement in any way I can via my foundation, Life is Precious.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
It has not always been a smooth road to get to where I am today. Initially, I faced lots of hesitation from my dad to let his “little girl” be exposed to a world where critique is inevitable. However, once he saw how much I enjoy competing, he warmed up to my participation in pageants and is now in support of it. It was also challenging to enter the world of pageants in itself. For example, I had to learn how to do my own professional makeup and hair and had to spend time taking lessons with expert hair and makeup artists in Houston to learn said skills. Covid and Quarantine was also a challenging time because it interrupted the passing on of my national title at the time, Miss Teen Americas USA, and it was a special moment I had been looking forward to. In addition, many charity events which I had planned to attend as my reign was nearing its end were canceled due to safety concerns. It was rather unfortunate that Covid got in the way of plans I had in terms of being a public figure, but quarantine challenged me as a person to become more insightful of myself as a person. Quarantine gave me a lot of time to do some self-reflection and learn about myself and how I wanted to change and/or see progress in my development.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
The side of myself that is in the eye of the public can be portrayed as being very glamorous however, my goal is to focus on the humanitarian side of pageants. I feel that as a whole we should be striving to find ways to help people in any way that is needed. I feel that many times people misconstrue me when I tell them about my involvement in pageants until they take the time to hear what my intention is. I created my non-profit foundation, Life is Precious, to help people with mental and/or physical health disorders. The Life is Precious foundation, is about valuing every aspect of the beautiful things life has to offer. From helping others and working to do better, the Life is Precious Foundation strives to make a lasting mark for finding ways to help make the lives of others precious. Academically, I am studying to be a doctor on a pre-dental track at Baylor University and my career goal is to help people feel like the most confident version of themselves by creating their perfect smiles. I am most proud of the passion and kindheartedness I put into everything I do.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
My advice for finding a mentor is to find someone who challenges you to be the best version of yourself. I have known my mentor since about age 9 and she is actually a patient at my parents’ dental office, Ortiz Dental. Her name is Cinnamone Phillips and she was a former pageant girl for 15 years, and it has been so great to talk to someone who has been through pageant systems and knows how that world works, and can offer insight and support. My recommendation for anyone looking to get into the world of pageants would be to seek out a mentor that has been previously involved in pageants or is currently involved in pageants. I am actually in the midst of starting my own coaching business for women looking to model, participate in pageants, refine public speaking skills, and learn makeup application, and etiquette classes. I would encourage people to seek me out individually as I now offer private sessions for anyone interested in refining their skills or building their skills for the first time. The best way to reach out to me would be by emailing me from the link on my Instagram page.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lifeisprecious.live/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/itssophiaortiz/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/itssophiaortiz/
Image Credits
Al Torres Photography
Mary Sarmiento
