Even though pageantry is valued for the chances to earn money and build a career, they can mean so much more for the kids involved in them. Ever since Mari Wilensky was four years old she was a pageant queen, winning over 250 trophies in her hometown, Jacksonville. But these pageants were more than just a trophy, Mari tells the Huffington Post in 2014 that they were an outlet for her, giving her the ability to express herself that nothing else could. She eventually retired, and soon after, her life fell apart. She had developed intense self esteem issues and body dysmorphia, all while still in middle school, and Mari blames it on quitting pageants. With the chances to express herself gone, Mari was lost and didn't know how to handle it, so
