It's Where I Am with Zandra Polard

Unknown Speaker 0:00
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Zandra Polard 0:45
Good morning Las Vegas, it's Zondra polearm. It's where I am. Today, we want to make sure that we give a special special shout out to slugging the magazine, who is our sponsor for today's show. Now, let's get into business. We have a wonderful guest here today who is wearing a tiara. It can't see here. Please make sure you go to it's where I am.com and you can check out the visual. Thank you. So I want to welcome Ashley to sorrow. Hello, thank you for coming in studio today. She is Mrs. Universe. Yes, man.

Unknown Speaker 1:32
Got that. Right.

Zandra Polard 1:33
You have so many titles. Right? There's four. There's Mrs. Universe. There's Mrs. Nevada America, Mrs. Nevada International. and Mrs. Nevada universe. Yes. So you are the first to have four consecutive

Unknown Speaker 1:52
titles. I do have a wife. I'm currently the reigning Mrs. Universe. Okay. And I have had multiple other titles. I've been in pageants for a very long time. Blessed with like a really good run. And so yes, I was three times Mrs. Nevada and three different pageant systems. I'm a three time national competitor. I am the current international national title holder. And I have another actually special announcement with something like new coming up. Oh, all right. Title coming up. Okay. Yes. Which I'd love to announce here today for you. So yeah, it's been a really great journey. I'm really blessed to be here on this journey. You know

Zandra Polard 2:34
what? Well, this is a profession now for sure. I mean, you can tell us everything about pageants, right? Yes, yes. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. So when did you start?

Unknown Speaker 2:42
Well, I actually started at the age of six. So I actually have multiple titles from when I was a child as well. In addition to my adult titles. I was you know, sweet little girl in San Diego, California. loved being on the stage. My mom put me in my first beauty pageant at age six. I was crowned multiple times Little Miss California. I went to Little Miss America contest. At that point, I did get discovered by an LA agent and manager and I was a soap opera actress for many years. Yes, soap opera. Were you so I was on the boat in the beautiful. Okay, CBS. Okay, I know that one. Yes. And I've done I guess eight movies, multiple modeling campaign commercials. And say like, oh, yeah, I can't forget Saved by the Bell. I'm sure there's gotta be some Saved by the Bell fans. All right. The new. The new class?

Zandra Polard 3:32
Yes. Okay. Yes. And then Highway to Heaven. Was

Unknown Speaker 3:36
it? So I did a 777. Yes. So that's a it was an Aaron Spelling show. So I did seven seven. Like I said, a lot of different movies so young.

Zandra Polard 3:47
I mean, when did you start acting? Well, I,

Unknown Speaker 3:49
well, I probably look younger than I am. So I appreciate the compliment. But I did start all my entertainment endeavors at the age of six. Oh, so I've been going for a really long time. And then I did get married. I had children took a little break, went to college. Got a psychology and communications degree. Yes, girl. And then I actually recently just got my teaching credential. So I'll be able to teach kindergarten through 12th grade here in Nevada. Me too. Yes, we have a lot in common. And I'm a public speaker. So I've tried to really branch out I love entertainment. You know, it's such an incredible art, various art forms within the entertainment umbrella, but I've also done a lot of academic things and public speaking and I'm a nonprofit executive. Okay. So and then I decided, you know, I got asked to be a judge at a pageant for little girls, okay. And I got rediscovered for pageants there and 20 1901 of the directors of the Mrs. Nevada pageant here, discovered me and said, Oh, I'm so glad you're a judge for me, but how come you're not competing for Mrs. Nevada, you need to be competing and I said, Well, I have No idea that married women's pageants even exists or no? Okay? Yes. And she just kind of schooled me on the whole thing. I went in my first try in one, okay. There was a lot of women that I think were disappointed because they had been coming back and trying for multiple years. And I just kind of stepped in there and was like, Hey, this is my thing. My my time. My lane I, my year I'm going to do it. And I think I had going for me the fact that I was already a nonprofit executive doing a lot of extensive charity work. And I knew the stage very well, which you have to have both of those things to be a very successful, strong pageant competitor. Thank you. Yeah. And so that's, I think, what led me to the success and then I've just really been doing well with it.

Zandra Polard 5:40
Okay. Well, thank you for all of that background. Now. I want to get into it in terms of the mental health piece. Yes. Let's do that. Okay. So being a child, yes. Starting out in pageants. A lot of times we hear that parents are living vicariously through their children. Yes. Was that something you feel like your mom was doing? Trying to start you out in the pageants or?

Unknown Speaker 6:07
Well, I think that my mother definitely had a dream for me for pageants. And the aspect is, you know, she was a beauty queen, okay, want a title. She was in the newspaper. And then she chose to be a full time mother and to be in the home. And she's like, amazing with that caring for her children her home. And she didn't pursue beyond that timeframe when she was a teenager, the pageants. My dad is a doctor, she helped him get through school, and she decided to dedicate to helping him into raising her family. So I have no doubt that she probably has some aspirations that she wanted to achieve. But she gave up a lot of those dreams and sacrifice for her family, which I greatly respect. And she gave me the opportunity to kind of pick up where she left off. And because I really loved it, it worked out because I would tell her, I mean, she put me in my first pageant, but once she did, I was gung ho. And I just couldn't I wanted to be on the stage. But absolutely, from a mental health perspective, once you get deep into the industry, you know, I was, as a young child very deeply into the entertainment industry. I did very well, I was successful. And there's a lot of things that come along with that. I mean, oh, sure. I definitely experienced I mean, from pageants, sadness, to loneliness, some childhood emotions, that you go through things, you know, it's a very harsh industry.

Zandra Polard 7:23
You know, I have a lot of friends who are entertainers and you know, there was always the feeling of not feeling good enough, right, because you're auditioning for a thing. Yeah. And you feel like, maybe you've done your very best, and you're not chosen, you know, and you don't know why. Oh,

Unknown Speaker 7:40
100%. Yeah, I mean, you know, you're I was 12 years old, and being given notes back from casting directors, oh, put your padded bra on your daughter, she doesn't look mature enough. Or oh, she, you know, her hair colors to this or she's to that. There's all these things. And so that definitely plays a role in how you feel about your spouse, yourself, especially being impressionable, and being young. And in those years, they're very, like, formidable years where you're trying to find who you are.

Zandra Polard 8:06
Yes. And I'm glad you mentioned that because of those the body image issue of comparing, yes. One another. Yes. Right. So what is that, like? When you see someone that maybe as a hair type you like, or different body types you like and trying to match up to that? Well, in that to me as

Unknown Speaker 8:29
a child, it was for me always feeling very too skinny. So I was always told, yes, yes, you have no breasts? Yes, you're very skinny. You know, I was like, skinny. And there's obviously nothing wrong with that. But I wasn't developed at a young age. Obviously, I grew into myself. I've learned to be very comfortable in my skin. I'm very happy to share that I've gone on this journey there, though. How did you get there? So well, one of the things that I one of the ways that I got there, number one was I took a step out of the industry. So there was a time period in my life when I met my husband at his Bible study in LA. And he had a charity organization. He was very young, we were very young. I was 18. And he was very early 20s. And I decided, Oh, I think I need a mental health break. And sometimes you can't heal when you're staying in something that's toxic. So I had to at a very young age, like 1920 years old 18 to 20 transition out of Hollywood for a time and rediscover who I was outside of the Hollywood actress, girl model, whatever. And that's when I decided, you know, to go on the self discovery journey, go to college, it was very difficult. I also turned to my faith. So I you know, I'm a Christian, and that helped me not necessarily being religious, per se and not necessarily having to go to church more but actually finding God's presence inside of me. So that gave me internal peace and connecting with God on that one on one level and recognizing that I'm unique and I'm The only one of my kind, loving, and he broke the mold when he made me. And when I had that revelation, I grew into my strength as a woman, and realized because I was bullied a lot, too. So when I was younger, I was bullied a lot, I think because I was really nice and try to make people like me because I was on TV, and I didn't want them to think I was stuck up. I didn't want them to think I was privileged stuck up girl. So I just would overly be friendly with people, even when they were rude to me. And then I realized I can be nice and be kind, but I don't have to take abuse. I don't have to take bully behavior. I've earned space in this world. God gave me life. And I earn my space. And nobody gets to like take advantage of that. Yeah, and I don't step on people's toes, and they don't get to step on my toes. And I've become really strong in that. And I have created for myself strong boundaries and with strong boundaries comes self peace and respect. Yes.

Zandra Polard 10:51
I love that. That is a great message for our youth. Yes, right. Can you give them something else? Something because that was one of my questions. But you know, you gave that already. Yeah. So is there anything special, you want to make sure you let our young listeners know?

Unknown Speaker 11:07
Well, just the message, you know, one of my message, one of my main messages in my platform as just a human being but also in my missus universe titles to say you're unique. And there isn't anybody else like you. So it sounds cliche, and it sounds this way in that way. But comparison is the root of complete despair, and frustration and self hatred. Because you're always gonna look at somebody else that you think the grass is greener on the other side as well. But you have to step into your strength and power as a as a young girl, young boy, a woman, whoever you are, and know that you're okay, just as you are. And to be your authentic self, you're not going to do well being somebody else. You got to be yourself. And at the end of the day, you know, you're not going to be everybody's flavor and who cares. There's a lot of people in the world go find your group.

Zandra Polard 11:59
So you do very well with the interview questions on stage. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 12:03
thanks. So hello, practice. Yeah. But you know, I think it resonates because it comes from a real place. There's a lot of women that are very gifted and pageantry, and they do very well. And if but when they're not authentic, it's not coming from a real place. It's like, oh, that's a really good like, well done, scripted answer. Yes. But that's like, when you get goosebumps. So when you feel it in your soul, and it's like something deeper, it's because you're being authentic. And it's a real it's coming from a place of like, I've been there like I've been I've been around the block, I've been through things, and you can look at me and think oh, wow, like she's been through nothing, right? But no, I've learned to dance in the rain. I've learned to be a whole woman in the midst of difficult times. I've learned to be better not bitter. I've learned to use the stumbling blocks as stepping stones. And those are really good one liners, but they're they're coming from a real place.

Zandra Polard 12:52
I love it. Yeah. So now with you now having How many children do you have three? Okay, yes. Yeah, three till three children. So what is uh, what are they doing? What are you hoping to see? For them? Your mom wanted you yes to try pageant she did. She What are you hoping for from

Unknown Speaker 13:14
yours? Well, I'm not going to lie. When I find gifts and my kids that are just like me, I love it. Yeah. Oh my gosh, that's just like Mommy, you know, like my little five year old, loves to model she loves to be in front of a camera. She loves makeup. And I love all those things. So I'm like, Oh, we really, you know, and she looks identical to my husband. And she's my personality. So it's fun. My older daughter is so beautiful. And she her personality is so opposite of me. She doesn't she likes nature. I not that I dislike nature, but it's like she just wants nature. She wants to wear her ripped jeans. She doesn't want to wear makeup, she doesn't want to dress. She is beautiful. And like gifted on stage. She's a beautiful dancer, she does dancing and everything. But if she can just be like with her hair and the breeze with nature, and just not having to be in front of the camera all the time, she's really happy. So I think learning to accept our children for who they are and recognize that we made these little human beings but they were given special gifts, talents and personalities from God that are going to be different sometimes and who we are Yeah, as a parent to them. And so accepting that and just love and I just want them to find peace and joy I want them to be safe. And I want them to find their passion like if they find their passion life and they live it I will be so happy I want them to be productive human beings like No parent wants to look into the future and see anything bad happening to their child or for their child and be a criminal or to enter in any anything bad so if they can be good wholesome human beings find their passion self sufficient self sufficient live their authentic life and self I'm good. I don't need them to be anything other than that. So

Zandra Polard 14:45
it sounds like two girls older younger and then is there a boy? Yes. So I

Unknown Speaker 14:50
have a 10 year old daughter who's my free spirited nature girl. And then my little five year old who's my little beauty queen, you know, loves all that frills. And then I have an eight year old son Who is super smart? He loves coding and computers. I don't understand any of it. And he loves sports too, which is interesting because he does like all of the brainiac stuff and the sports equally well. And yeah, I mean, they're very good humans.

Zandra Polard 15:17
So tell us now about your nonprofit. So your husband is a businessman and a pastor.

Unknown Speaker 15:23
Yes, yes. And a stop man and a stuntman. Yes, martial artists. He's getting ready to be inducted into the martial arts Hall of Fame here in Las Vegas. July 20. Oh, super proud of

Zandra Polard 15:34
him. Yes. Wow. So a pastor who can kick your tail? Yes,

Unknown Speaker 15:39
he can kick me out spiritually, physically. He's pretty cool. No, yes.

Zandra Polard 15:43
So tell us about the nonprofit. So

Unknown Speaker 15:45
our nonprofit was founded actually, before my husband I even met he founded it, founded it in LA, California felt California at the age of 20. His father owns the largest institutional stock brokerage firm in the world. And he worked for his dad right out of high school and then decided that he wanted to help people. And so he started volunteering at his church in Malibu, California. He's a surfer boy, and California kid and fell in love with helping people started his own nonprofit started a Bible study. I was a Hollywood little, you know starlet on a soap opera was invited by a friend. His Bible study walked in the door, we became instant connection friends. I married him within a year, been married 22 years and join him in his nonprofit venture. And that is the Tesoro ministry foundation. So we are a 501 C three nonprofit. We have two parts to our ministry. So the first part is faith based. So my husband and you know, as a pastor, he's more like evangelistic in the standpoint that he never built a church he travels and he helps build churches and goes and UPS uplifts pat the other pastors, okay, but we don't call him like evangelists, Tony, nobody knows what that is. It's just Oh, he's Pastor Tony or Tony. But really, he's more evangelistic. So you know, he goes out, helps speaks uplifts the church. And we are faith based. So we're sharing God's love, okay, but we're very inclusive, not exclusive. So we but we welcome and really love all faiths, and all people of all faiths. So we do not discriminate against anybody, but we just tell them, this is our belief, and God loves you. And that's, that's, you know, if you want to know more, we share more, but we welcome all. And secondly, we have a charitable division. So we do charitable outreach in the US and around the world. And our main primary focus is basic necessities. So we believe that people need to be loved by God to know God's love, and they need to be given food and shelter and clothing. Because you can tell people, God loves them. And if they're starving, they're not going to hear you. So we do outreach to make sure that, you know, people get close to where it's needed, that people get fed that if people need housing, medical supplies, our ministry is partnered with other organizations that help bring those necessities to underprivileged people. Okay,

Zandra Polard 18:03
so then let's give that information to our listeners. Tell us about the foundation where they can find information. Yes,

Unknown Speaker 18:10
so our Yes, so our nonprofit website is to soro.cc It's very simple. Okay. Spelled Sorell E S. O R o.cc. And then our Instagram and Facebook for our ministry is actually called Life is for living TV

Zandra Polard 18:30
life is for living TV, because that is a

Unknown Speaker 18:33
wing of our ministry, where we do a podcast, and we do a web series. So you have your own podcast. Yes. Okay. In web series. We've been on hiatus though for about a year because we've been so busy and people are when are you bringing your web series back and but we

Zandra Polard 18:49
can still find it right? You

Unknown Speaker 18:51
can still find it. Okay, so

Zandra Polard 18:52
let's give them the name of that life

Unknown Speaker 18:53
is for living.tv and the YouTube for that is to Soro entertainment. Okay, so you can find everything on to soar entertainment YouTube, from our ministry show to my pageant endeavors to family videos. It's really just our family station. Okay. Yeah. Love it. Yes.

Zandra Polard 19:09
Nice. So this is actually to Sorrell are Mrs. Nevada

Unknown Speaker 19:16
and miss me. No, I missed this universe now. Okay. Former Mrs. Nevada

Zandra Polard 19:21
current or Miss Universe. Current miss. Yes. Okay, got it. Yes. Is there anything else you'd like our listeners to know?

Unknown Speaker 19:28
Well, so do you want me to do my announcement? Are we ready for that? Or do we have an announcement? That's right. Okay. Give it to us. I do. Okay. So I'm very excited to announce that I will be accepting the contract and the title of Mrs. Universe international 24 to 25 under the same umbrella of this current organization that I'm working with universe international organization. We are very excited. I am really thrilled to be receiving this new title and also an extension of my contract. And I was basically selected and awarded the title based off of my very stellar run this last year and all the things that I've been doing. And so I'm really excited when I was presented with the opportunity because I get to continue all my work uninterrupted, continue my reign, but just with a slightly different title. And we'll be holding our next pageant in Vegas in July of 2025. Okay, so I will not be passing my crown down to my successor until 2025. So I'm basically going to be with the organization for another year who's keeping the crown and it's great, yes, but we I will be receiving a different title, but basically with the same responsibilities and some

Zandra Polard 20:42
of the responsibilities you guys hold. I mean, what do you Yes. Okay. So,

Unknown Speaker 20:45
you know, you hear a beauty pageants and pageants. And you think, Okay, well, they're just cute girls that walk on stage and bathing suits and gowns, and then they get a crown. But from and I believe that in, in general, that's not true. Because all pageant women do a lot more work than that, do

Zandra Polard 21:00
they still wear the bathing suit? We do. Okay, we do. So we

Unknown Speaker 21:03
get in our competition, we get judged off of our charity work. So we have to have charitable endeavors, like you cannot not be a giver in your community or have a platform or cause and when it's just, you just can't Okay. Number two, we are judged on our interview. So there is a panel of judges, doctors, lawyers, models, you know, five to eight judges that have all different walks of life professors, and you have to sit and answer questions much like how I'm answering your questions. It's just not a radio interview. But it's, it's an interview about my life and my endeavors about my you know, what I want, what I will do if I get the title, and then we are judged off bathing suit, score, evening gown score. And these are kind of all put together to create your score and determine the winner. So when I won the title, I not only won the crown, but I also won the Community Service Award. Oh, which is a whole separate award. I love that. Yeah. So that's amazing things that you're doing in the community. So let me answer that question. So our responsibilities are charity. So we have as you know, women with a crown, we have a platform. So we have a main platform that we work with, right. So mine, of course, my main platform is my own ministry foundation, but I also work with battered women's shelters, I work you know, in the school system. I work with living Grace home, oh, live in grace homes, yes, and shade tree. And I also have a heart for feeding people. So I work with three square. I mean, I've worked with multiple other charities in the state of Nevada and outside of Nevada, and additionally, public appearances. So we're promoting our brand, we're promoting what we're doing. We're doing events. So you know, if there are charity events in the community, we show up, we support the cause we lend, you know, our voice to that cause. So we get to choose what we believe in and what we want to propel forward. So we're not in my pageant system. We're not dictated to what we have to do, but we have to do something. Okay. So it's like, you need to do something, but I'm not going to tell you what, because it's supposed to be authentic to yourself. So we do have, you know, requirements of, you know, if you're holding a title and you're not doing charity work, you're not going to keep that title. I know women that have been stripped of their title because they sign the contract and they just don't do any charity. And you can't do that. They don't show up to any events. They're not promoting their brand or not being involved in their community. So you can't get the crown and put it on the shelf. You have to do something with it.

Zandra Polard 23:24
I love that. Okay, I didn't know they were so active. Oh, we're active. Okay.

Unknown Speaker 23:29
I think married women's pageants. We are the most active in our community. So

Zandra Polard 23:34
well. Yeah. So as a mom, right? Yes. So if someone wanted to reach out to you and asked you to be a part of their cause, how do they do that? How would they reach you?

Unknown Speaker 23:44
So I am most active on Instagram. I do have Facebook, but I'm most active on Instagram. So all of my social media is my name. So it's at Ashley to sorrow. That's for Instagram. That's for Facebook. I think that those are my main two. And then of course, you can always send me an email through the website or ministry website.

Zandra Polard 24:06
Well, there you have it is Ashley to sorrow y'all. Thank you so much for coming on to the show. Wanted thanks slugging the magazine once again. And I am here. It's where I am. Every Saturday at 7:30am. Thanks for tuning in. Come back and tune in next week. I'll be here. Talk to you later. Bye.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai