World Class woman lives in Valley View

Fri, May 16 2008

— The reigning Mrs. North America — also a Cooke County resident — said she hopes to be a champion for abused girls locally as well as a winner on stage with beautiful women from around the world.
Anna Leigh London, a horse trainer and resident of Babcock Ranch, was crowned Mrs. North America 2008 in a contest hosted by the Mrs. Globe pageant, and became the oldest woman to win a title in the pageant system.
London, 50, who was raised in Southern California, has lived in the Valley View area since December.
Unlike an average beauty contest winner, she has three grown children and four grandchildren, and is in the midst of starting over after moving from California.
The Mrs. North America competition, part of the Mrs. Globe pageant system, is not an ordinary contest. London is eligible to compete for Mrs. Globe in Rancho Mirage, Calif. in August — the annual finale of a contest which has been held since 1996.
Internet users, London explained, voted her in as Mrs. North America on the Mrs. Globe Web site, though the board of directors of the WIN Foundation choose the global finalist in traditional beauty-style fashion, as well as at other levels of competition.
WIN, an acronym for Women In Need, has charities in the U.S., Greece and New Zealand, and purports helping women who have been the victims of emotional, physical and/or sexual abuse chart courses of recovery and career advancement. Funds are raised through charging users of the Web site to vote and through entry fees for contestants, according to MrsGlobe.com, as well as through fund raising activities.
The Mrs. Globe pageant titles can be given to any woman, regardless of age or marital status. Though the pageant system may not have the notoriety of, say, Miss USA or Miss America, being named a finalist in the contest is a chance for the winner to speak out as an advocate against abuse of many varieties and to raise funds for charity.
London said she is a big believer in the WIN Foundation, and philanthropy has been London’s overriding motivation in seeking the crown.
“Though I’m very glad to have four grandchildren and still able to strut my stuff on the runway!” she said, with a gentle laugh.
In the last few years, London said, she raised about $2.4 million for charities such as the American Cancer Society, including several thousand for the WIN Foundation.
London said she hopes her title will assist her to put her decades of horse training expertise to good use locally in helping women who need a little life coaching and a lot of encouragement.
“I’m a horse person. I raise quarter horses, paints, reiners and cow horses ... I’m a riding instructor, and I’ve trained many celebrities,” London said. “But here I am at 50 years old, and I have to ask myself what’s really meaningful? Am I making a difference?”
Her 35 years of experience as a horse trainer — which includes training several championship riders and celebrities such as Angelina Jolie — can be used for something beneficial to the world around her, she said. A teacher-training relationship, she said, gives ample opportunity for people to connect and share life experiences.
“A riding instructor is a role model, just as a beauty queen is a role model,” she said.
That’s why she’s working with the WIN Foundation’s Right Living Program to establish a non-profit equestrian training center for young abused women in Cooke County. Her vision for the training center includes a pink barn surrounded by many potted flowers — a whimsical environment, she said — for young ladies not only to learn horse riding skills and how to properly care for horses, but also to learn how to manage their own lives.
“The goal is to give girls a road map to their dream,” London said, “so they can be champions in life, rather than just in the show ring.”
There are certain skills necessary to succeed in life and business that many girls do not receive, she said, and any women are not taught how to select a marriage partner, to eat healthy, to manage their money wisely, pursue a career effectively, etc. If a woman would prefer to be a homemaker and be a full-time wife and mother, London said she would like to help them feel good about their decision to do so and not feel ashamed.
London said anyone interested in helping to start the local center may contact her via the Mrs. Globe organization.
“Hurting women,” she said, “are encouraged to read about the Right Living Program and learn more. There are classes online that can help.”
On the Net:
The WIN Foundation may be contacted at www.womeninneed.org
Information on the Mrs. Globe Pageant may be found at www.mrsglobe.com
Reporter Andy Hogue may be contacted at andyhoguegdr@ntin.net

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.