Melissa Payne:
Much More than Just a Pretty
Face
Did you know that Miss Springfield 2003 is one of marketing’s own? Meet Melissa Payne – a December ’03 advertising and promotion major.
One of Miss Springfield’s
duties is to compete at the state level for Miss Missouri, and in October
2003, Payne placed as second runner-up. “I was very excited to place so
high,” said Payne. “This was my second opportunity to compete at the state
level. It’s always a combination of fun and hard work.”
But Payne is more than a pretty face on campus – she has been a dedicated marketing major since coming to SMSU. A native of St. Louis, Payne arrived in Springfield in the fall of 1999. When asked why she selected SMSU as her university of choice she says, “I knew I wanted to have the complete college experience – on my own and away from home. I also wanted to remain in state. After investigating, SMSU was the obvious choice. The reputation of the business school was the decisive factor in my selection.”
The SMSU marketing department has been a beneficiary of her decision. Payne has been a student worker in the department’s front office for four years. And, according to some professors, she’s one of the best. “It was a delight when Melissa worked the front office,“ explains lecturer Mary Chin. “She greeted everyone with a smile and things would get done on time. I never even realized she was a ‘beauty queen’ until her last semester. School always came first with her.”
Payne knew she wanted to be a marketing major early on. She says, “I had a wonderful marketing teacher in high school. She was very dedicated and encouraged my pursuit of marketing. I was involved in DECA, a high school marketing club, and placed first in the annual marketing competition. That ignited my interest. Not only was my major decided, but it was also important to me to work in the marketing department when I started college. I wanted to know as many professors as possible.”
But the marketing major has also applied her major to the ‘real world.’ Payne seized the opportunity to further explore her interests and major when the Disney Corporation offered her an internship during her sophomore year. She spent eight months with the Grand Floridian Resort and Spa in Orlando. Payne explains, “This was a fabulous experience. I interned with the concierge office for private floors. Essentially, I catered to visiting celebrities and special guests. My responsibilities varied with each guest. For example, a celebrity would have a certain color preference for his or her room and I would be in charge of making sure there was enough ‘yellow’ in the suite, or sometimes removing a specific color – whatever the request. Some guests wanted fresh flowers daily, or special foods available. Other times I would arrange for on-site make-up artists and hair stylists. I was even involved in planning bridal parties.”
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Evidently Payne mastered making dreams come true for her spa guests, as she received the “Guest Service Excellence Award” and graduated from the Elite Disney College Program.
During her final semester in college, Payne interned with Springfield’s 417 Magazine as a sales coordinator. Now that she’s graduated, she hopes to bankroll her advertising and promotion major into the event-planning arena. This is a direct result of her Disney internship and her extensive involvement with several charities.
Despite her busy schedule of balancing school, work, and pageant preparation, Payne has also been active with the American Cancer Society (ACS). For the past two years, she’s chaired ASC’s “Relay for Life” committee. In addition to fundraising for ASC, she created and planned the 2002 “Fun and Games” event and attended ASC’s leadership conference in Dallas.
Another charity she takes a special interest in is the Learning Disability Association of America, where she participates in the “Mentoring for Success” program by assisting learning-disabled children. Payne has also volunteered for the Adopt-A-School program, spending time tutoring first graders with reading disabilities.
It’s no coincidence that Melissa Payne’s pageant history complements her marketing interests. Payne became involved with beauty pageants at age two – quite by accident. Initially her interest was in dance. As fate would have it, her dance teacher was a former Miss Missouri. The pageants were actually a means for maintaining her dance skills between recitals and her pageant interest grew from that. “Besides gaining poise and interview skills, you develop a sense of self – more than just self-confidence,” Payne explains. “The Miss Missouri pageant adheres to the Miss America guidelines as far as judging goes. First, a panel of judges interviews you and their questions span a variety of topics – politics, current events, or personal interests. The evening gown session is where we are evaluated on poise and public speaking ability, not just beauty. In the swimsuit competition, we are actually judged on physical fitness and conveying a healthy lifestyle. You can’t hide anything – this is on stage in front of an audience.”
One of the more positive aspects of pageantry, says Payne, and one often overlooked, is the fact that each contestant embraces a cause or issue she feels strongly about. “My platform is the Learning Disability Association of America, which explains my involvement with the local Springfield chapter,” she says. “It is important children learn at an early age to turn a disability into an advantage. Their self-confidence builds and they become motivated to succeed at many levels. It is quite rewarding to be involved.”
Perhaps that explains our own Miss Springfield’s success – understanding that there’s much more to beauty than a pretty face.