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2 October 23, 2015
BEACON
THE
Volume 80, Number 42
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She took a less-traveled career path
by George A. Smith
AFN Broadcast Center
An actress in Magic Mike, an anchor with
had the same coach in common: Kim Antos.
“What I did is to help them become the best
version of themselves, rather than what some-
one else thought they should be,” said Antos.
Antos taught young women life skills at
beauty pageants in Florida. That was before
the 30-something-year-old public affairs spe-
cialist joined the American Forces Network
(AFN) Broadcast Center, this year in River-
side, California.
Young women came to Antos because she
got results. In eight years of coaching she
had nine state winners, 14 runners-up and 22
semi-finalists in the Miss Florida USA, Miss
Florida Teen USA and Miss Earth Florida
competitions. She coached one woman who
went on to win Miss Nebraska USA and the
Miss Earth Florida, winner, Nicole Kelley,
went on to win Miss Earth United States.
Antos personally competed in Miss Flori-
da Teen USA at the age of 17, but lost.
to look up what that means … but I do know
“I was all right. I learned a lot. Before, I
could never have a one-on-one conversation
with somebody,” she said. “But after com-
peting I became comfortable in my own skin
and was able to communicate much more ef-
ficiently and effectively.”
The pageant experience stuck with her
won Miss Photogenic, but didn’t even place.”
with what she called all the “well-spoken
overachievers” that she volunteered to help at
the local Miss America pageant. She did so
well that at the age of 18, the Miss America
board asked her to become the pageant’s ex-
ecutive director at Daytona Beach, Volusia
County, Florida.
“All of a sudden I was in charge of a non-
profit organization, running a budget, plan-
ning events, hiring vendors and motivating a
staff of 100 non-paid volunteers,” Antos said
as she laughed. “I had to inspire them with
the passion I felt for the organization.”
But serving as director wasn’t enough. She
decided to dive back into pageant pressure
one more time, as a Miss Florida USA con-
testant. This time she was second runner-up,
Army boots.
“I was interested in becoming a veterinar-
ian,” she explained. “Then I was exposed to
the world of television and event planning
and I had to rethink my life direction. That’s
broadcast journalist.”
After four years, that included a stint as a
disc jockey in Wuerzburg, Germany, she left
the Army for a video production specialist po-
sition with Central Command in Tampa, Flor-
ida. Once again one challenge wasn’t enough,
so she started moonlighting by coaching
facebook.com/TeamMarch
Miss Florida USA 2010 Megan Clementi and Kim Antos.
beauty pageant women for $125 an hour.
Antos worked with them on everything
from communication, leadership and net-
working to hair, make-up, the right walk and
physical fitness. The key communication con-
cepts she taught included extemporaneous
speaking and how to be clear and concise.
“You have no more than 20 seconds to
answer a question in a pageant,” said Antos.
“You have to trust yourself 100 percent, vi-
sualize the question, then come up with an
answer that is what you truly feel, and not use
your parents’ or someone else’s answer.
One of the reasons Antos said she left pag-
eant coaching was that the game changed. A
woman’s ability to communicate was no lon-
ger as critical as looking good. Beauty pag-
eant bloopers went viral, such as a contestant
who received a question about making eutha-
nasia a legal practice, only to respond, “I need be damaging to self-esteem and they really
haven’t figured out who they are yet. I worked
that’s a vaccine.”
“In one pageant, organizers selected
nine out of 15 semi-finalists independent of
the judges,” Antos said. “One of the girls I
coached, Emily Kucher, now the wife of Los
Angeles Dodgers pitcher Zack Greinke, is an
intelligent, well-spoken, beautiful girl. She
teenagers, Antos is all in.
Kucher recommended her good friend,
Micaela Johnson, work with Antos. John-
son went on to become Miss Nebraska USA
and was in the movie Magic Mike and TV’s
Modern Family.
Many other Antos “graduates” went on
to make a big splash in life. Jessica Rafa-
lowski appeared in a GoDaddy.com Super
Bowl commercial and is an accomplished
model. Kristen Ledlow is the host of NBA
Inside Stuff. Erin McKinnon was chosen for
a feature in Maxim magazine. Three Antos
“grads” became doctors, two psychologists
and four attorneys. Some went on to public
relations or marketing positions with Porsche
Photo courtesy Kim Antos
and other international firms.
Antos is proud her coaching helped con-
tribute to the young women winning, and
responds with habanero-fiery passion to de-
tractors who say the women are doing well in
life just because they are pretty. She points out
while there are plenty of attractive women, it
takes someone special to have the courage,
self-confidence and skill to win a pageant.
“You are about five times more likely to
have your son selected in the NFL draft as you
are to have your daughter take the stage in the
Miss America pageant,” she said.
But while Antos sees the positive side of
pageants, she’s no fan of “Toddlers and Tiar-
as” parents who push girls to compete.
“I would never work with little girl pag-
eants, ever,” she emphasized. “They can
with women who were doing it because they
wanted to, not because they were forced into
it by their parents.”
Today, Antos, herself a parent along with
husband James, have two daughters: three-
month-old Alyssa and 15-month-old Scarlett.
But if they want to compete when they’re
“I said I wanted to be Miss America when
I was five,” Antos said. “My mom told me
maybe I could when I was older, but that Miss
America listened (to her mother), got good
grades and had a talent. Miss America was
my role model,” she said.
Antos now uses her communication and
coaching skills to collaborate with peers on
how to best serve the American military serv-
ing overseas with quality radio and television
news and entertainment. Her team responds
to more than 2,500 different audience ques-
tions every year from Airmen, Sailors, Sol-
diers, Marines and family members. One
thing you’ll notice when she answers: it’s
clear and concise!