“I don’t care whether I place... I’m proud to be doing it for my area and myself and my babies. I plan to go out there and just give everything I’ve got.”
Schutt said her sons had been more than supportive.
“They’re like you’ve got this, Mum.”
Every Saturday for the next six weeks participants will take part in make-up workshops and the like, plus dance rehearsals to ready themselves for the pre-pageant which leads to the grand finale for the top two finishers. The candidates will be judged on six sections - among them a fashion walk and two minute presentation on women’s rights.
Most important to Schutt is the time they dedicate to helping a chosen charity - hers being Te Puna O Te Aroha, a refuge for Māori women and their whānau affected by family violence.
“Me and some of my siblings have been through a situation where we had to use them. I’m touched by what they do,” she said.
Schutt wanted to collect donations of food, and clothes for women and children, plus undertake a secondhand sports gear drive - all destined for those at the refuge.
“They go in there with nothing,” she said. “By doing this we can give them the chance to be themselves.”
She was also looking for donations for a one-off raffle as part of a charity event in the pipeline.
Two years ago Schutt began modelling as a way to reclaim her self-esteem and exit the dark place she had found herself in.
Despite transforming her confidence, she remained dubious that her application for the pageant would make the cut.
“I was like really, a solo mum with five boys. I don’t think so.”
But a week later, she was accepted.
“It’s a new experience for me - a very much once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Schutt said.
However, she found the journey was been made easier by the life-long friendships she was forming with the other contestants who she said were “beautiful inside and out”.
