Dreisa Jordan Sherrill began her career in the field of education. First earning a Bachelor of Arts in chemistry and commerce from Catawba College, she went on to achieve a Master of Arts in educational leadership and administration from Appalachian State University and completed doctoral-level coursework in educational leadership and cultural foundations at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. Her tenure in education lasted from 1986 to 2014, when she retired as a school administrator with the Iredell-Statesville School District. Concurrent with this work in education, Ms. Sherrill contributed her skills as a volunteer for beauty pageants, and once she retired, she decided to make this her full-time career.
In 2015, Ms. Sherrill joined The Foxy Lady, where she served as a pageant consultant and wardrobe stylist until she established her own consulting business, Queen D Consulting LLC. With Queen D Consulting, she continues to involve herself in pageantry while also branching out into fashion and interior design consulting. She offers wardrobe personalization for people who are looking to redefine their styles, which includes assistance in doing a closet clean-out and living space redesigns to help people feel more comfortable in their homes. In addition to consulting, Ms. Sherrill has also spent time as a pageant director, judge, entertainer and choreographer.
Furthermore, Ms. Sherrill is herself a competitor in beauty pageants, though she doesn’t compete terribly often. Early on, she was named Miss Salisbury-Rowan in 1979 and Miss Western Piedmont in 1982, and she continues to compete in senior age brackets today. She has been involved with the Ms. Senior America LLC Pageant since 2020 and went on to be recognized as Ms. Senior World 60s in 2021 and Ms. South Carolina Senior America in 2022. Also in 2022, Ms. Sherrill was named the Global Beauty Awards’ Best Rookie Contestant, something she cites among the highlights of her career as it was the first award she has received in recognition of her work.
Over the 40 years that she has spent in the pageant industry, Ms. Sherrill considers her greatest professional achievement to be the number of opportunities she has had to impact the lives of others. She particularly recalls the period following the suicide of a good friend, which made her realize how people could be struggling silently with their mental health and caused her to reevaluate how she approached mental preparation with the pageant girls she worked with, since pageants can be quite high-pressure environments. Ms. Sherrill notes that this period was an incredibly pivotal time in her life within the world of pageantry.
Ms. Sherrill’s motivation stems from her internal drive and her desire to stand out by bringing a unique and personal flair to everything she does. She loves to see people feel confident about expressing themselves, and she takes particular joy in her work as a pageant judge for this reason. As a judge, she gets to see girls present themselves with confidence and hear them talk about themselves and their passions. She has always been fascinated by listening to other people’s stories and finds getting to meet and network with new people who come from a diverse array of backgrounds, but come together for a common interest in pageantry, to be incredibly rewarding.
Ms. Sherrill would advise girls who want to get involved in the world of pageantry that they need to have someone to guide and support them in the various different elements of the competitions. Having support and guidance is crucial to feeling confident when it comes time to walk across the stage. Additionally, she strongly encourages girls and parents to research the pageant organizations that they are considering getting involved with. On a more personal note, she encourages girls never to sell themselves short or limit themselves. Above everything, Ms. Sherrill hopes to leave a legacy as someone who is authentic, sincere, intuitive, and who does her utmost to relate to and help people to bring out their individuality.
