Courtesy of Emmeline Soyars
About a month ago, women from across the Commonwealth convened at the Berglund Center for three days during the annual Miss Virginia competition. Our region’s own Miss Roanoke Valley shone bright as first runner-up to Miss Virginia, bringing awareness to autism in girls. Emmeline Soyars loves all sides of our region, from the big-City feel to the hometown charm, and especially our tight-knit community. She uses her platform to advocate for more research to be done for autism in girls.
Emmeline, thank you for chatting with us! Please tell us a little about you.
I am a recent graduate of Liberty University with a degree in Business Leadership and Communications. I am currently discovering what my next steps are. I sing and have been doing musical theatre since I was in third grade, which I love so much. I am waiting for the perfect time to audition for a show at one of the local theaters. I was diagnosed with autism at 18 and it's why I advocate for girls with autism. I started doing pageants also at 18 and had a community of people help me with the smaller pageants I began competing in.
Rick Myers Photography
Getting to see many other parts of the state, what makes Roanoke special?
Roanoke combines the slightly bigger city feel but has the small-town charm, which I think makes it unique. It’s definitely more big-city from where I grew up in Waynesboro, but it feels small-town with the Main Street and Downtown areas and local businesses that I have loved getting to know through pageant sponsorships and spending time in the region.
Roanoke has the people-y feel, Southern vibe, yet still has all the cool things you would want to do. There are so many museums, which are so fun. I have also gotten to meet a lot of amazing people in the community. The people are so nice and really what make up the community. I think Roanoke really combines all the great aspects that makes Virginia unique.
What is your favorite memory of your time in Roanoke?
Any of the parades I have gotten to do have been so cool. Roanoke goes all out for their parades with thousands of people watching. The turnout is crazy because I’ve done other parades with only a few hundred people watching. I like getting to see the kids smiling. It cracks me up seeing the people on the sidelines do the princess wave, but I’m not a princess waver. I’m a double-handed, “Hey, everybody!” waver. Whenever I see someone doing the princess wave though, I pause and do it back to acknowledge them.
Hosting the Miss Virginia competition in Roanoke is a big deal given we are outside of the state capital and outside of our rapidly-growing cities in Northern Virginia. What do you think having the competition here, annually, brings to the region?
I think it brings a deeper appreciation to the region because this is the “home” of Miss Virginia — her apartment is here and she is crowned here since this is where the competition is held. Roanoke has that legacy aspect to Miss Virginia because of all the years it has been the host of the competition, which I think is really neat. It definitely brings visitors, and I’m always letting my parents know what restaurants they need to eat at before the show.
In talking with some of the other women during the competition, or to your parents before the show, what were some things you told them they had to see and do or places/restaurants to visit?
Restaurant-wise, I really like Our Daily Bread. The museums downtown are fun. There is a running joke in the autism community that autistic people love trains. It stems from a stereotype but also is kind of true. I will admit — I love trains, so the Virginia Museum of Transportation, I think is so cool, and I tell people they need to go there. The Pinball Museum is also great, and downtown Roanoke as a whole has a lot of opportunities with the boutiques and shops.
You shared on Instagram “one of my proudest moments was standing on that stage and saying that I’m autistic, and that I stand here because of who I am and who I fight for.” That moment is so brave and empowers so many! Can you share a little bit about that moment?
My question in the Top Five was about how I would promote the Miss America / Miss Virginia brand, and I shared that I would be the first autistic Miss Virginia and only the second state-title holder with autism to go to Miss America. My goal through pageantry is to breakdown some of those barriers so there can be a younger girl later down the line who said “Emmeline was autistic and she was Miss Virginia, so I can do it too.” As first runner-up, I’m still showing them that they can do something that they may not have thought they could do before.
What does your platform, Girls Like Me, mean to you and our region?
Girls Like Me is the platform I created, roughly, three years ago. It’s called “Girls Like Me” because that is who I am fighting for — the girls who are autistic and/or aren’t diagnosed until later or don’t know something about themselves that they will figure out. The whole purpose is to advocate for research and education about autism in girls. The past few years competing in pageants, I have been able to speak at about 14 elementary schools with over 1,400 students. In each of those 70 classrooms, I give teachers resources that have information about autism in girls that if we had that list when I was younger, I could have been diagnosed earlier. We didn’t know I had autism until I was older because it presents differently in girls.
Overall, I want people to know that autism presents itself differently in everyone and people struggle with different things. One thing I run into a lot is people going “Well, you don’t look autistic,” or “You don’t act autistic.” Autism is a spectrum, and a lot of my struggles are internal, and you won’t see them, but they are there. You can’t judge someone’s experiences by what you’re seeing on the outside because you don’t know what’s going on inside.
Can you talk about how your platform as Miss Roanoke Valley and within the Miss Virginia competition helps amplify this message and bring awareness for young girls and families with young girls?
It is very common for girls not to be diagnosed with autism until later unless there is some kind of learning difficulty present. My experience (growing up) was pretty common for girls with autism and was a big revelation when we found out. When I was younger, I just thought I was weird or bossy. I was bullied in middle school because of some of my special interests, which present differently in boys versus girls.
There are a few things that go into why girls are diagnosed later and one of those is research. That is why I advocate so heavily for research now. When research first started, it was entirely based on boys and until very recently, it’s still based on boys because that’s the “standard,” but in reality it isn’t because they are only half the population.
Aside from being able to amplify your platform, what is your favorite memory from the weeklong competition?
There were a lot of fun things we did… It's hard to narrow down, but I would say Finals Night when I was called into the Top 13 and Top Five. I was called first both times which was absolutely crazy. The order you’re called in has no bearing on your place, but the moment when you’re standing up there waiting, and it’s like “oh wow, I was called already.”
I didn’t expect being called in the Top Five. My whole thing with pageants is that what is going to happen, will happen. I am a very strong Christian and believe God has a plan for my life and that He will do what He is going to do. In this case it was me being in Top Five and I was so grateful for that because I know what I do isn’t just me and that there is a greater power behind me.
The prayer I always have for pageants and life in general is, “If it isn’t of you or from you, I don’t want it.” When you want a title in pageants so badly, you can be blinded, so that prayer really helps me step back and realize if this is the plan God has in my life, that is amazing, but if not, then that’s okay too. I felt God’s voice so heavy on my heart when it was just Madison (the Miss Virginia winner) and me standing there and I spent those few seconds before they officially crowned Madison to pray for her and her year.