Maliyah Mason entered her first pageant in June with insecurity and uncertainty. Two months later, she proudly represents her city as 2017’s Miss Compton.
“I was nervous about doing this… the risk of losing and how heartbroken I would be,” Mason said. “I remember when I was in the third grade and I ran for [school] secretary; I lost and I cried, so I was just trying to protect myself,” Mason said.
A senior in film at Cal State Long Beach, Mason didn’t think about taking the stage as a pageant contestant until her mother encouraged her to enter.
“She is not one to want a lot of attention,” said Mason’s manager and mother Cleo Wilson. “So what Miss Compton has forced her to do is to step forward.”
Wilson saw the potential to embrace the spotlight within her daughter, and encouraged her to enter the pageant.
“I thought ‘this is an excellent opportunity to launch your face, your name, your love for your community as well as your love for classical music,’” Wilson added.
Mason grew up attracted to film and music while attending elementary and middle school in Compton. She watched Turner Classic Movies and learned to play instruments such as the trumpet, clarinet and piano, the last of which she learned to play without instruction. Before the pageant, Mason knew only a few of the contestants, but she found herself pleasantly surprised by the friendly atmosphere created by her fellow pageant hopefuls.
“I was really shocked by that. I was worried that it was going to be catty and [have] girl fights and catfights and stuff like that,” Mason said. “It was really friendly and we’d chit chat and we’d laugh and dance together, and encourage one another!”
In a statement from Miss Compton Pageant director Shanice McKinley Reed, she declares that the pageant is “a testament that we can be the change in the community that we want to see.” Mason wants to use film to be that change.
“Citizen Kane,” “The Silence of the Lambs” and “Sunset Boulevard” are influences on the stories she wants to tell — stories of people confronted with the truth of who they are when pushed to their limits. But at least one difference between these films and the stories she wants to tell are the inclusion of people of color, both in front and behind the camera.
“I think a lot of people focus too much on being in front of the camera and don’t really focus too much on what goes on behind the screen,” Mason said. “I really would like to bring more people from my community into that arena. I just want to make Hollywood be a little more colorful.”
Mason is seeing a wave of new filmmakers from diverse backgrounds stepping forward and sharing their stories on platforms like Netflix and YouTube, and she wants to elevate herself and others alongside them.
“It’s coming along slowly and I kind of just want to be a part of that to bring [representation] up more,” Mason said. “[To] make [Hollywood] as diverse as beautiful California definitely is.”
To accomplish these goals, she hopes to establish her own production company. However, she’s currently focusing on how she can use music and film to connect with her community. Mason views the arts as an avenue for children to explore alongside sports, which is why she wants to expose them to classical music and take them to a live performance by the Los Angeles Philharmonic.
“Or even the orchestra from here, if they would be willing to come down to Compton and do a little live performance down there too,” Mason said. “That would be really nice.”
Mason wants to hone her skills with film’s technical aspects so she can showcase a side of Compton that she sees which isn’t the “violence and drugs and gangs” people perceive.
“A side of hope. A side of innovation. Creativity. Change. Community-minded,” Mason said. “Everyone’s just supporting the youth and wanting to raise them up too.”
Though only two weeks have passed since she was crowned Miss Compton, the pageant experience has already taught Mason about herself. Before, she sought ways around failure, to avoid the disappointment that comes with it. Now she welcomes it as a learning opportunity.
“I’m definitely learning now that failure is part of living… I’ve been reminded of that — that I can be a leader and what I say matters. That I can invoke change,” Mason said. “That I can take charge and it’s not anything to be ashamed of. That there’s a way to be a leader that’s not abrasive and that I can still be kind but still get things done.”