04/13/2026
VAGroomshow 2026: take the W and run 🏃♀️
special thanks to my boss tsebaot for coming out to support me, for your encouragement + finding teddie for me, and teddies pawrents for letting me use her! and of course my wife for showing up for me no matter how early it is lol 💕
thank you to the Virginia Groom Show, + Anne Francis and Shannon Tupes for a great critique!
long caption ramble warning ⚠️
i have big mixed feelings about my work here 🥲. i made a series of mistakes and i learned from it. from trying to translate a strip to a clip while keeping show proportions, and not fully understanding how to use products correctly.. on top of running between vans bc technical issues, meaning less time to prep... well i wasnt starting off good. already nervous, i had to do the whole groom on my knees bc the table was too short and i didnt know about bringing bed risers LOL. my groom was by no means stellar lets just say. i mean yall got eyes lol. during critique, they went over my work- i really thought i was cooked. i was already convinced i had failed before even receiving my score - i had no interest in placement (competition anxiety) but i was there to test for NCMG.
i left feeling defeated. i had no idea when / if i could try again because in this industry no one talks about the glaring paywall to hands on education. its a privilege to be able to take time off work, travel, pay for classes- not many can afford that routinely. with prices for everything skyrocketing, i (and others) are limited to local opportunities. im lucky to have this. so i was sad thinking itd take another year to try again.
but a few weeks later i found out i passed with my highest score so far (91). i know its not perfect by any means but i passed and someone more qualified thinks its good. its hard for me to post my work bc i see all the flaws in it. but im doing it anyways bc im proud that i even tried. if i took a shot for the amount of times ive been told to quit or im not good enough would put me in a grave so im pourin one out for this instead.
keep trying 💕
and bring risers lol
