Unlike Honey Boo Boo, the star of TLC’s reality television hit, Miss Teen Malibu Toneata Martocchio Morgan did not grow up with dreams of tiaras and proper runway protocol. Her pageant career came from another type of inspiration.
“When I was 15, my mom started looking at college scholarships,” Morgan said. “There are some amazing prize packages with pageants, but I had never done anything like that before.”
A couple years later, the local teenager’s hard work is paying off.
On her third attempt at the crown for Miss Teen California USA, Morgan was honored as third runner-up at the competition, held Saturday in Manhattan Beach.
The 17-year-old flirted with the top honor the past three years—she was second runner-up in 2012 and in the Top 10 in 2013.
“Just to be in the top five is an incredible honor,” Morgan said. “I’m happy with what we accomplished.”
Toneata (pronounced Toneeta) likened her plunge into the pageant world as a sink or swim moment. Before her first crack at Miss Teen California, she had no idea what to expect. She studied YouTube videos to learn how to walk correctly. She looked up questions asked of contestants in onstage interviews from past contests, and boned up on current events. And she worked out at the gym every day to ensure a fetching swimsuit presentation.
In all the preparation, Morgan learned a lot about herself.
“It’s crazy to think how far I’ve come with public speaking and how to present myself professionally,” Morgan said. “Whatever happens with my pageant career, I’m going to be better at whatever I do in the future, just because I trained for these competitions.”
Though she had no experience with pageants herself, Morgan’s mother, Toni Morgan, a construction defect attorney, has supported her daughter’s attempts for crowns and the accompanying scholarships. Toneata’s father, Joe Morgan, a Purple Heart-decorated Korean War veteran, passed away when she was only a year old, leaving Toni and Toneata with a particularly close relationship.
“One of Toneata’s favorite nonprofit organizations is Wounded Warriors, which she helps as a way to honor her dad,” Toni said. “I raised Toneata alone and she’s been a godsend to me. People think pageants are just ‘Toddlers and Tiaras,’ but it’s hard work.”
Toni sees her daughter’s pageant career as effective training for a professional life and a valuable networking source. Morgan sees herself working in Public Relations and Communications someday and has applied to local universities—UCLA, USC, Pepperdine—for after she graduates Agoura High School.
“In today’s world, you need to brand yourself,” Morgan said. “I would like to work in television, maybe as a news anchor, or launch my own clothing line. But I’m going to stay here in L.A. The business is all here.”
Morgan is considering a fourth attempt at the Miss Teen California crown. She said she would love to win the title and go on to compete in the Miss Teen USA contest (“It takes place in the Bahamas, which would be really fun!”). It would be a feed-in to the Miss USA competition (owned by reality TV/entrepreneur Donald Trump) and, thereafter, Miss Universe.
But her schedule is already packed. Besides school (where studies would increase exponentially when she enters college next fall), she is a volunteer with the City of Malibu’s CERT training events and works with Wounded Warrior’s charity fundraisers.
She also spends four or five days a week on her modeling/acting career, and has been the face of Invisalign Teen and MUD (Make-Up Designory). And when she has extra time, she helps her mom prepare depositions.
“Politics is definitely something I’m interested in for the future,” Morgan said.
Morgan also recently won a district competition for an audio essay to be read as part of a project for Voice of Democracy, a scholarship program sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars. The subject title was “Why I am optimistic about America.” If she wins the state competition, she’ll compete nationally in Washington D.C.
In its prompt, the essay competition was similar to a pageant, which demands its contestants answer broad questions.
When asked what she considers to be the greatest challenge of her generation, Morgan reflected as seriously as she would had she been asked on a pageant stage in front of thousands of people.
“It seems that there is a weaker moral character and less respect for tradition,” Morgan said. “It’s tricky, because I’m all for people having their own voice and ideas. You have to learn how to get your ideas across responsibly.”
