OHIO — Mrs. Columbus is set to take the stage in June for the Mrs. Ohio America pageant. While the journey to get there has required Monica Guidry to re-discover herself and evolve, she said it’s also been an opportunity to inspire other moms and wives to do the same. 

What You Need To Know

  • Guidry entered the pageant world to build her confidence and to encourage women to find their purpose and passion
  • She started a podcast during the pandemic to help women re-discover their identity 
  • The mom of four is an author, school crossing guard and music artist
  • Guidry will take the stage again in June for the Mrs. Ohio America pageant 

Guidry is a wife and mom of four.

Like many moms, she stays busy, but in 2020, she added a podcast to her plate to help other women and moms discover themselves outside of the titles of wife or mom. That is, after she started doing work on her own to find what she loved and who she was as a person again. She said that many times women, especially moms, lose themselves in their kids, in their careers, or even in their marriages.

That’s why Guidry said, “I do my very best to help women uncover those things that have overshadowed who they really were.”

Acknowledging that she’d had the same struggle, she wanted the podcast to be a space where those listening understood, “We’re not alone. Like, as moms, we really do struggle sometimes to show up for ourselves.”

Another one of her goals included giving women permission to acknowledge where they are and what they can give each day, in the best way they know how. That’s without feeling guilty or bad about their level of giving to people and things that routinely have their attention. For Guidry, that’s not only changed her perspective and how she approaches life, but it’s also helped others do the same. 

Since she started the podcast, it’s given her fuel to keep going and the courage to step into the pageant world. While she knew it would be challenging, she saw it as a way to build her confidence in areas where she hadn’t always been so sure of herself.

She said often times for women, the lack of “Confidence is a roadblock from getting from point A to point Z.”

Keeping that in mind, she decided it would also be a good way to face her imperfections while allowing others to see them on a stage. In doing so, she’s recognized she can do the hard things, which makes her grateful for the opportunity to inspire other women to do the same even if it means discovering or re-discovering their purpose and passion again.

Ultimately, Guidry’s message is this, “Whether it’s being a crossing guard, whether it’s being a CEO of a company, take up space. Whatever function that you want to function in, whatever capacity…take up space. Allow yourselves to show up the best way that you can for you.”