Amber was crowned Miss Teen Galaxy International last month (credit: Family photo)
Amber Hood flew to Orlando for the final in August where she was crowned Miss Teen Galaxy International.
The 17-year-old, who’s previously raised £40,000 for different charities since the start of lockdown, competed against 8 countries.
On the road to the finals, Amber was crowned Miss Teen Galaxy 2023 at the Mecure Piccadilly, Manchester Hotel at the national contest on Saturday, 25 March.
Five months later, Amber was given the international title, where she won a custom made Crown – worth 1000 dollars. She’s the fourth UK queen to have taken this title.
Amber said: “It was incredible. It was something I’d been working for, for six years now and I felt like just being there, I’d won.
“Just meeting all the girls from Australia, Canada, America, the Bahamas. Just being able to talk to them, make friends and even just being able to be on stage and have that week in Orlando was amazing. But winning was obviously the cherry on top!
“I think people think pageants are very outdated but they don’t actually see what goes on behind the scenes. So girls typically spend a year or even years doing loads of charity work, fundraising or volunteering in their area.”
Recognising contributions and charity work is an important part of the contest.
“They spent more times talking to the judges about themselves and what they’ve done, and what they want to do rather than being on stage. And when you are on stage, they don’t even judge you by your physical appearance. They judge you on your confidence, and how you light up a room, say do you have a good stage presence?!
“For the next year, I really want to focus on my charity work. I want to be able to raise more for charity, promote DKMS UK and encourage people between the age of 17 to 55 to sign up to see if they’re a possible stem cell match for anyone suffering with blood cancer.”
Amber will be heading back over to Orlando in August next year to hand over the title to the next winner.
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