The Motivation Behind Jena Sims’s Pageant of Hope Where Everyone Leaves a Winner

Jena Sims was photographed by Yu Tsai in Mexico / Yu Tsai/Sports Illustrated

Jena Sims’s SI Swimsuit rookie debut has been a long time coming. The model and Swim Search alumna, who applied to the open casting call three times, was named a finalist and co-winner in 2023. This May, she’ll make her mark in the special 60th anniversary issue. 

The entrepreneur, mom of one and swimwear designer founded her non-profit, HBBQs, Inc. (Has Been Beauty Queens) in 2005. The 35-year-old serves as CEO of the organization, best known for putting on the Pageant of Hope™. The international event is recognized as the most inclusive pageant in the world, and is focused on building confidence, self-esteem and self-love in children and teens in difficult environments.

Creating the Pageant of Hope

As someone who came from the pageant world herself, the Belmont University alumna wanted to pass on the empowering feeling of looking and feeling your best to others. She also recognized the challenging, mixed emotions that come with the rejection aspect of beauty pageants, as well as the life lessons that can be picked up from setbacks.

“I did pageants myself, and it freaking sucks losing a pageant. Rejection is so real. So I wanted to create the most inclusive pageant in the world...much like SI [Swimsuit] is probably the most inclusive magazine in the world. We have some parallels there,” she explains while on location in Mexico. “Every single person, every single participant leaves a winner in the Pageant of Hope. We work with kids, teens, boys and girls with disabilities and terminal illnesses.”

The Jupiter, Fla., resident adds that the organization is in the process of branching out to single mothers and women who are victims of domestic abuse. She’s passionate about giving back to her community and offering help and mentorship in any way she can.

The impact of the event

While getting dressed up and walking in the pageant makes participants feel “beautiful for a day,” the empowering feeling that comes afterward is “lifelong” Sims says.

“We do a little mini makeover. We paint their nails, do their hair, do makeup, but the big transformation is when they walk across the stage,” she shares. “You see them come in and they’re so shy and then they walk across our stage and they’re practicing all their poses and they start waving to the crowd and working with the crowd and taking all these pictures. Then we have the coronation at the very end. [When we] place that crown on their heads, they light up.”

Sims adds that she often gets letters from kids and parents who share how grateful they are for the Pageant of Hope. 

“I know that [the positive impacts are] definitely everlasting,” she continues. “I think because I am so much more than my outer beauty, I [wanted] to create this pageant where we celebrate inner beauty and not just have one winner.”

Life lessons from the pageant world

Sims’s personal takeaways from the world of pageantry include communication, stage presence and discipline. Participating in pageants has also taught her to accept that rejection is just a part of life. Once she reached this mindset and began fearlessly chasing her dreams, everything fell into place.

“I think you can learn so much with rejection,” she says. “I’m a Capricorn. I’m very stubborn. So if I have a goal, I’m gonna go after it. I’m big on making the first move.” 

Her favorite first move success story is when she messaged now husband Brooks Koepka on Instagram. Today, the two are happily married and share an 8-month-old son, Crew.

“In today’s day and age, women are sort of crippled by this imposter syndrome and I just don’t subscribe to that,” Sims says. “I don’t believe in that at all. I believe in going for anything that you want. I went for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. I went for so many different jobs that I’ve booked, and [landed] dream brands that I’ve worked with because I made the first move.”

Read more about Jena Sims’s 2024 SI Swimsuit photo shoot here.