The next Miss Washington could be a local.

Tiana Tamara Townsell, 21, earned the Miss Whidbey Island title in August and this weekend will travel to Burien to compete against nearly 100 other women for the title of Miss Washington.

Inspired since the sixth grade to pursue a career in acting, she researched the careers of famous actresses to find out what led them to success. Pageants were one common factor. Actresses like Vanessa Williams and Halle Berry rose to stardom after winning pageants, and Townsell thought it seemed like a worthy effort.

The Miss Whidbey competition was Townsell’s first. She competed against about five other girls to win the title.

Her duties as Miss Whidbey Island are to represent the island and serve my community with the highest integrity, honorable conduct, and possitive attitude as possible

This weekend, Nov. 11 to Nov. 13, she’ll use that integrity and character as she competes for the title of Miss Washington at Burien’s Highline Performing Arts Center. She said recent pageant workshops have prepared her for the three-day event.

“You practice your runway walks and interview questions the judges will ask you,” she said. “There are questions like ‘What would you do if you won?’ and ‘Why do you want to be Miss Washington?’ In addition to the interview portion, the Miss Washington pageant will include swimsuit and evening gown competitions.

Though she hasn’t yet competed for the Miss Washington title, Townsell has already been noticed by the editors of West Coast-based Naptural Roots magazine, which focuses on natural hairstyles for black women. Townsell will be the cover model and also have a feature story about her in the December edition of the magazine.

“I was so excited,” she said about discovering she would be featured in the magazine. “I was here on the Island, and it was a cell phone call. I was so happy, I was screaming.

“How I got involved in [the magazine] was when I was looking for pagent sponsors,” she said. “There’s a certain amount you have to get sponsored through community, family and friends.”

The $895 sponsorship amount was picked up in part by Naptural Roots magazine, as well as several businesses on Whidbey Island and in Bellingham. Whidbey business include Creative Gardens, Inc., Elgen Lathan of Web site calisuperstar.com, as well as the chambers of commerce from Coupeville, Langley and Oak Harbor.

The chambers, along with NAS Whidbey, sponsored her by donating items she will put up for silent auction at the Miss Washington competition.

Though she’s a first-time pageant winner, Townsell is no stranger to the camera.

“I do modeling now,” she said. “I did it when I was young, from about 14 to 16, and then I started again ever since my junior year in college.” She currently works with the Andersom-Ross, Emerald City Model and Talent, and various other Seattle-based modeling companies, and has also started her own sole-proprietorship company Tiana Tamara Enterprises.

Townsell said she researched and found out that models who promote themselves through a company generally earn higher profits and get more work through other agencies. She’s also in the process of creating a Web site for her business that will sell photos and posters, as well as t-shirts, hats, and other items to market herself. As a model, she’s done mostly commercial print work, as well as stock photo shoots and some promotional photos for Chevrolet. She hopes to eventually expand her business into fashion designing.

Townsell is currently a senior at Western Washington University in Bellingham where she is majoring in business with an emphasis in advertising. She is also a theater minor.

“After I graduate from college, I’m trying to get into magazine advertising,” she said.

She hopes to work for such publications as Jet or Ebony, but for now would like to intern with Naptural Roots magazine to gain experience.

Townsell is a 2002 graduate of Coupeville High School.

For more information about the Miss Washington competition, visit www.misswashingtonusa.com.