Tia Nicholson is the first contestant in the Miss Rotorua pageant who has Down syndrome. She is excited to compete and stand up for people living with disabilities.
Tia Nicholson says being crowned Miss Rotorua would show that people with disabilities can achieve their dreams.
The 24-year-old is the first person with Down syndrome to compete in the pageant.
She said winning would be “an awesome experience because I’ve never had something like that before”.
“I’ll be actually telling everybody that I made it - that there are actual dreams for people that have disabilities.”
Miss Rotorua launched on Sunday night at the Prince’s Gate Hotel with 22 new contestants embarking on a 10-week programme of training and charity work. The pageant was the subject of a documentary television series in 2021 and 2022, with season 2 of Gowns and Geysers airing now on Whakaata Māori.
“It’s the only thing I talk about,” she said with a laugh.
Tia Nicholson is the first contestant to participate in the Miss Rotorua pageant who has Down syndrome. Photo / Andrew Warner
Nicholson said she wanted to fundraise for the SPCA because she liked animals and wanted to see them go to good homes.
She and her partner had lived in emergency housing in Rotorua for three-and-a-half years and had rescued a cat called Midnight.
She planned to do a “good old sausage sizzle” to fundraise.
Nicholson said she hoped she could use her pageant experience to be a role model to other people with disabilities.
She said she thought of her disability as “a trouble on a mountain”.
“At the end of the day, everybody has troubles but mine is just a little bit harder than others.”
Tia Nicholson is looking forward to “becoming Miss Rotorua”. Photo / Andrew Warner
She said she had Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism. She described people with Asperger’s as “special people”.
“And people make fun of us because we’re special. And plus, I’ve been bullied my whole life with these disabilities. I’ve kind of learned to not give a ****.”
She wanted people to be kind and to be themselves.
“Because at the end of the day, people don’t know what people are going through.”
Nicholson said she was born in Masterton, raised in Pukehina and moved to Rotorua when she was 21. She has been unemployed for a year after previously working in the kiwifruit industry.
She said her work broker was helping her to get some work experience and then to find a part-time job. She described herself as “hands-on” and wanted to work with animals.
Nicholson said she was looking forward to “becoming Miss Rotorua”.
Miss Rotorua pageant director Kharl WiRepa. Photo / Andrew Warner
WiRepa said the launch of the 2023 pageant was a “massive success”, with more than 100 people attending. The contestants ranged in age from 15 to 77.
WiRepa said the crowning night would be held on September 16 at the Sir Howard Morrison Centre with 950 people, making it their “biggest audience yet”.
“From what we saw at [Sunday night’s] event and after meeting the contestants, we are very excited as we can guarantee that this is our best group yet, which means it will be our best pageant festival thus far.”
Nineteen of the 22 contestants competing in the Miss Rotorua pageant this year. Photo / David Rowe Photography
For the next 10 weeks, the contestants would be on a journey of “self-discovery, self-improvement and self-development,” he said.
They would learn how to “walk like a model”, speak in public, take hair and makeup masterclasses and learn about “poise and elegance,” he said.
WiRepa said the contestants would also attend his show at New Zealand Fashion Week on September 2 in Auckland.
He said the contestants included women from the Philippines, Sri Lanka, India, the Pacific Islands, of European descent and Māori.
“Most importantly, the women will be fundraising in our community … for the charitable causes that help uplift other women in Rotorua and help families living in deprivation, living in emergency housing, people that are struggling through unemployment.
“The Miss Rotorua Foundation and our contestants are all about charity work and that will be our big focus this year and we look forward to making that a part of the Miss Rotorua journey.”
Megan Wilson is a health and general news reporter for the Bay of Plenty Times and Rotorua Daily Post. She has been a journalist since 2021.
