70-Year-Old Contestant Wins Brooklyn’s First All-Ages and All-Genders Beauty Pageant: ‘I Got a Standing Ovation‘

Mar. 15, 2025

Makala Hardy

A 70-year-old playwright won Brooklyn’s first all-ages and all-genders beauty pageant!

Denise “Mistah” Coles was crowned the winner of the Feb. 27 event in Brooklyn, N.Y., per pageant organizers Simone Tetteh and Thomas Tomczak.

In an exclusive chat with PEOPLE, Tetteh and Tomczak explained that they were tasked with planning a fundraising event for theBrooklyn Community Kitchen, a soup kitchen that helps feed local residents, and they wanted to plan something that wasn’t just your “standard” fundraiser.

When Tomczak suggested a beauty pageant, they instantly knew it would be an all-ages and all-genders event

“It was important for us to do something that reflected our community and the culture of the kitchen that we volunteer at —  the volunteers as well asthe greater Brooklyn area. We wanted to do something that felt really inclusive and of course really fun,” Tetteh explained.

They put out an open call for contestants — including talking about it on the local news podcast1010Wins— which is ultimately how Coles found out about it.

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“She was everything,” Tetteh said when recalling their first meeting with Coles at the show’s first rehearsal. “She got a standing ovation [at the show] and […] I saw some people tearing up.”

While speaking toThe New York Postabout the experience, Coles said that the win came as a surprise.

“I knew it was going to be a ball, that we were going to have fun. I really did not expect to be winning anything, but I did,” Coles, who has written four off-Broadway plays, told the outlet.

“Being a person of an older age, we have to be understood. We’re not being put out to pasture because we’re a little bit older. I have a lot to offer,” Coles continued.

According toThe Post, Coles took the stage in drag, singing and performing in a masculine outfit and fake beard. She sang, “I Know Where I’ve Been,” a song about racial equality fromthe musicalHairspray.

“I’ve been singing it for years and will continue to sing it until I don’t have to sing it anymore,” Coles told the outlet.

“And I got a standing ovation, believe it or not,” she added.

“The community really came through,” Tetteh continued, while also praising all of the show’s 11 contestants. “We felt so lucky that these people were just like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do this thing,’ and they also happened to be super charismatic, hilarious, interesting, heartwarming  — the whole thing.”

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Brooklyn Community Kitchen is a Brooklyn-based nonprofit dedicated to nourishing unhoused people and people in need. Their meals are often cooked from scratch using donated “produce and surplus ingredients from local restaurants and food organizations,”per their website.

You can donate to the Brooklyn Community Kitchen and help provide essential services to their neighborshere.

source: people.com