Jena Sims Is Creating a More Inclusive Future With Pageant of Hope

Pay It Forward is a column where we highlight women, brands, and organizations pushing for progress and affecting change within their respective industries. As part of our Pay With Change initiative, features are nominated by SI Swimsuit models, editors and community members. This month, we highlight the 501(c)3 non-profit organization Pageant of Hope, founded by 2024 SI Swimsuit rookie Jena Sims.

Though you’d never suspect it today based on her bubbly and outgoing personality, Jena Sims describes herself as a “painfully shy” child. One of the things that brought her out of her shell and equipped her with confidence as a young woman was competing in beauty pageants.

As the founder and president of HBBQs (Has Been Beauty Queens), Inc., Sims launched Pageant of Hope, the most inclusive beauty pageant in the world, in 2005 in order to give children in challenging environments and those with intellectual and developmental disabilities that very same boost of confidence. Since its inception nearly 20 years ago, Pageant of Hope has held events all over the world, from the U.S. to Africa to Cuba to Guatemala to Ukraine, all with one mission at the forefront: allowing children to be celebrated for who they are.

The pageant, which is free to participate in, requires no prior experience and children are encouraged to come as they are. The entire experience, Sims stresses, is incredibly positive, inclusive and welcoming.

“The most important part is, we teach the importance of inner beauty and self-confidence,” Sims says of Pageant of Hope. “And it’s the most inclusive pageant in the world. What’s so special about it is that every participant leaves a winner. We do little mini makeovers, they come in and we do their hair, nails, makeup. We teach them the pageant walk, we do an interview and carry out the entire pageant, and at the end of the day, everyone leaves with a unique title.”

The most rewarding part of her work with Pageant of Hope, Sims says, is the instant transformation she sees in the boys and girls who participate. While it took her years to cultivate confidence, communication skills and stage presence through pageantry, the former Miss Georgia Teen USA sees an instant change in the children who participate.

“Once they go through the entire process of the pageant, by the end of the day, they’re completely transformed and they’re out of their shell,” Sims shares. “They’re prancing across the stage. They’re posing with their hips out and they’re blowing kisses. I get letters and I get messages after the pageant saying like, ‘Oh my gosh, my daughter wore her crown to school and was teaching all of her friends the pageant walk.’”

Sims expresses that motherhood (she and husband Brooks Koepka welcomed son Crew in July of 2023) has really opened her eyes to the impact Pageant of Hope has not only on the participants, but their parents, as well. Today, Sims is still impacted by a young girl with a rare form of cancer whom she worked with in Pageant of Hope’s early days, who ended up dying shortly after the event.

“She asked her mom to be buried with her Pageant of Hope crown,” Sims shares. “ ... Her mom said that I gave her one of her last good memories.”

While there’s not a date set yet for the Pageant of Hope event in Jupiter, Fla., in 2025, Sims plans to make it “bigger than ever” in honor of the non-profit’s 20th anniversary year. Keep an eye on Pageant of Hope’s official website and Instagram for announcements, and learn how you can help support the non-profit’s mission here.