Mrs. Tennessee America, Amy Rottero, is on a mission to make other women feel beautiful, too. “Queen's Closet was born out of the idea of boosting young women's self-esteem by giving them a sense of who they are and what they're about and instilling confidence so that they don't make decisions that lead them down the wrong path,” she says.
Amy and her pageant director, Bernadette McCann, and her Tennessee pageant team, are working in tandem with a national platform called Victoria's Voice, which is all about drug use prevention. Queen’s Closet’s main focus, though, will be providing beautiful gowns, accessories and makeup for proms, homecomings and other events.
“We live here in Brentwood and my daughters went to Brentwood High and even here, there are girls that wouldn't be able to have access to these items," she reflects.
The organization also wants to provide tickets to attend special events, and will coordinate with local schools to connect with young women in need.
“Right now, we're in the process of building Queen's Closet from the ground up,” says Amy. The gowns are going to be donated from previous pageant competitors and from places such as The Clothes Tree, as well as from designers. “It's been incredible how willing everyone is to be a part of it,” she adds. The nonprofit also will be in need of funds, makeup artists and venue space.
Amy won her pageant title in April. “I competed in my first pageant when I was 35,” she says. “My kids had finally reached a point where I felt like they were pretty self-sufficient and after supporting my husband with building his career, I had a moment where I was like, ‘Okay, now what?’”
Winning, she says, was wonderful. “The beautiful part was that I just fell in love with every single woman I competed with, so it was such an honor to have been chosen out of so many incredible women whom I really admire.”
In addition to setting up Queen’s Closet, and being a wife and mom, she and her husband, Adam Rottero, own Nashville Speed Shop. Amy also started Elysian Designs LLC last year.
To get involved with Queen’s Closet, send an email to Tenn.Pageants@gmail.com.
