MANY moons ago – close to four decades – when Pamela Dillon was returning home from the United States, she wanted to start a small business. Being on a budget, though, she thought she’d put the cosmetology training she’d received in the States to good use. So with the few things in her suitcase necessary to start up, she opened a nail salon.

It couldn’t be a full-service salon initially, but that is just what it eventually turned into after some years. In fact, it became so trendy that once a major event was happening in town, that’s where everyone would be.

Dillon had no idea that her little salon would lead her to something so much bigger that 40 years later, she’d be helping the girls, only in a different capacity – teaching cosmetology, pageant coaching, and producing pageant shows.

“My experience with pageantry came as a side benefit to being a cosmetologist. At about 38 years old, I found myself with a nail salon in Guyana, and it was trending, so a lot of people ended up coming to the salon. If there was anything major happening in town, they all came to have nails done. Pageantry was no exception. People who were entering pageants had to get nails and facials and there I was,” Dillon recalled in an interview with Pepperpot Magazine.

Being able to help the girls in this way made her feel that she could definitely play a bigger role in the beauty business. “I thought I could make a contribution, and I came up with Miss Guyana Talented Teen pageant in 2000,” she shared.

While running the ‘Fantasy Nails’ salon some 40 years ago, Dillon started her pageant business under the name ‘Simpli Royal’, which is quite popular around the Caribbean. Having sent out 23 girls to compete and represent Guyana overseas, Simpli Royal brought six crowns home.

According to Dillon, her path has always been to help girls be beautiful, and to express beauty in the way they put themselves together and showcase. And it is always a rewarding experience to see the results that come from helping them.

“Rewards come when you look at a young lady that has evolved, that represents and that has been a success in her career path. When you think of who they were when they came in and how much work you had to do, and how they have grown; that’s very rewarding.”

Dillon also does private pageant coaching and aims to help persons individually. To her, it’s a matter of “looking at personalities in front of you.” She observed that there’s no perfect beauty queen, “but you can help a young lady be her best based on what she’s bringing to the table and your honesty and expertise.”

She recalls working with a young lady who was shy and introverted even though she had all of the outward features needed for a beauty queen. “I coached her and she was able to go out and represent us. That is the key to being a good pageant coach: working with one personality at a time.”

Dillon observed that Guyanese women are fortunate to come from a multi-cultured society. “We have six beautiful races. We have so much to boast and so much to talk about. We will always make for an interesting ambassador. What we have to do is prepare relentlessly; we have to be competitive,” she advised.

When she started the ‘Talented Teen’ pageant, Dillon said that was the only teen pageant at the time. Today, though, there are many other pageants that persons can participate in. “Now is the best time,” she urged.

Just recently, Simpli Royal produced the 2023 edition of the ‘Miss Mash Queen Guyana’, which has been around intermittently for almost three decades.