Leslie Quezada socially known as “Les Do Makeup” was born on January 3, 1994 in El Paso, Texas. She was born to her father whom is a business man and her mother who is a housewife, alongside her brother as well. Not much is known about her family or early life as she is also a very private person when it comes to her family and acknowledges/ respects their choice of staying away from the limelight. Initially her goals all throughout high school were to become a model. With her family’s support and encouragement she began sending pictures to modeling agencies around and at that same time she began her career on the internet. She was always know for being very attractive around her peers and was very well liked. Leslie Quezada was very active throughout high school in sports like volleyball and her school activities. Her internet career began after high school with posting pictures on her instagram. Later she became very well known throughout the instagram platform for her beauty and catchy captions  gaining millions of followers and likes. It wasn’t until April 4, 2012 she began her YouTube journey.

When her YouTube journey started  it was then that her life as an influencer began to evolve. She initiated with posting videos of her makeup looks and doing makeup tutorials and eventually evolved into vlogs as well.  Her audience was attracted to her simple techniques yet soft glam looks. As previously mentioned her creativity with her makeup techniques soon transitioned into  her audience getting a view of her everyday life with her vlogs. Within these vlogs she incorporated her boyfriend Vlex Galindo. The couple grew together both emotionally and on the internet. Making YouTube videos and eventually announcing their pregnancy with their first child  to the internet. She soon created two families,  her internet family and a family of her own. As years progressed she began incorporating her cake making videos alongside her beauty tutorials and her vlogs. The presentation of her cakes brought even more attention to her following due to their outstanding presentation and creativity. She even went on to make her very own cake for her own baby shower.

As of today Leslie Quezada has accomplished far more than what she set out to do. She has recently launched her own collaboration with Beauty Creations where she created her own makeup collection of lip kits, eyelashes, and more. Her following is at its highest it has ever been and portrays a sense she’s living a happy content life with her husband a child in the “Lone Star State” while checking off her accomplishments. An admirable aspect of Leslie herself is she is not just a beauty influencer who stuck to one category. Yes she does beauty and teaches others her techniques but she also expanded her platform by giving people a sense of her daily life showing the difficulties and process’ she encounters personally and business wise. She brought on her baking talent giving viewers another outlet if they aren’t interested in beauty or her mom life.

A true example of you can do it all and you can be who you want. I think a lot of influencers believe they have have to stick to one category because its what people known them best at. Being afraid of showing off their multiple qualities and talents. Leslie is able to appeal multiple different demographics through her content. Like any other influencer she has the platform to impact her audience but not all influencers have the power to impact their own community within their platforms.

Beauty is a way of expression that can be shown throughout many different ways for both men and women. Beauty is not just about makeup or fashion it can also be shown through physical beauty and personality traits. The history of beauty pageants and their impacts on the participants will be discussed. Beauty pageants are typically stereotyped in both negative and positive ways but many do not know the reasoning for its creation. Along with the historical impact it has left throughout the timeline of their commencement and present day.

      Beauty pageants have been around since Ancient Greek times. A myth said to be in contribution with the creation of beauty pageants is the greek god Alexandros was called to make the decision as to which greek goddess was the best looking. All of the goddess’ offered to bribe him and in the end he took Aphrodite’s offer of giving him Helen’s hand in marriage in exchange for Aphrodite being chosen the most beautiful of all. The start of  beauty pageants had very limited and strict requirements as to who was allowed to participate. For example only white women were allowed, only married women, good health, and age range from 17- 25. In the beginning beauty pageants were actually only pictures being displayed because it was seen as a respectful way for women to have their beauty judged. Soon it progressed to contestants actually being present and modeling bathing suits. It was not until the twentieth century that beach resorts began to regularly host beauty pageants as entertainment. The first Miss America pageant was held in 1921 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was intentionally made to bring about the issues of democracy and class, art and commerce, and gender and sex. It was not until1954 that the Miss America pageant began to be broadcasted on television for the first time which eventually made it into an international spectacle.

The concept of a beauty pageant was very intriguing to society and soon it began to spread throughout the country. High Schools and Colleges also began incorporating a sense of competition amongst their female students beauty with homecoming queen and May Day traditions. By early 1960’s beauty pageants were seen a as a form of “constructing feminine identity”.  The first international beauty pageant was held in the United Kingdom. It was not until the late 1960’s that black women had their own beauty pageant, before that they were not allowed to participate. The first black beauty pageant was named Miss Black America in 1968 and it was held the same day as Miss White America. As we moved to desegregation black women were allowed to participate and were given an equal opportunity to display their beauty.

Beauty pageants did cause a lot of trouble as well. Many women began to view and dislike the way they were portrayed as entertainment. A movement created by women sparked as  the Miss America Protest or the Bra Burning Protest. This movement was multiple women protesting society only valued them for their looks instead of other characteristics like intelligence and personality. The movement consisted of them burning feminine products like makeup, dresses, and hair products in trash cans. Today a beauty pageants ultimate goal is to view a contestants talents, passion, and ambitions. There still are a lot of controversies amongst beauty pageants in present day. It is difficult to say if these competitions impact in a positive or negative way. For example many women develop eating disorders, develop low self esteems, or are used to sexualize young women. A couple of positives are they develop the start of their careers, advocate for charity work, and for some girls it can cause self discovery and confidence. Overall I think beauty pageants have come a long way. Do you think beauty pageants have more of a positive or negative impact?