Balancing TC and pageants
A Leicester-based trainee solicitor has been shortlisted for the final of the Miss Universe Great Britain.
Rookie Chloe Lake will join around 30 other shortlisted contestants to compete for the title at a three-day final in Cardiff this July. The winner will get the chance to represent Great Britain in Miss Universe in El Salvador at the end of the year.
The 25-year-old holds a first-class honours degree in law from De Montfort University and this month she started her training contract at Northamptonshire firm Wilson Browne Solicitors, where she previously worked as a paralegal.
Lake started her pageant journey as a teenager but briefly put aside her hobby to focus on her legal studies. She returned to pageants with the encouragement of her colleagues and has even secured sponsorship from her firm.
Fundraising is a common part of the competition and Lake will be fundraising for A-Sisterhood, an organisation which supports the advancement of women worldwide.
Lake is determined to use her platform to champion women’s mental health, an issue which she is keen to support having had her own issues with it in the past. Last month she completed the London marathon whilst raising money for the mental health charity, Mind.
On top of this, she is the founder of an interview coaching business, published a book titled Not Just a Pretty Face which focuses on improving the interview skills of women and girls, and hosts an Instagram Live programme where professional women discuss their life experiences.
On how the firm has supported her journey so far, Lake told Legal Cheek:
“It was my Training Principal, who said that the firm would support me if I ever wanted to compete again. I hadn’t really given it much thought but I remember thinking how awesome this was. I know that pageantry can be a little like marmite, unless you know someone competing, you often don’t get to see how transformative it can be.
When I eventually entered and approached the firm for sponsorship, the response was a resounding yes. My colleagues at Wilson Browne have been nothing but supportive — even before I was formally announced as a finalist, I had people talking about how exciting it was.
My head of team, and my first team leader will both be at the finals in July supporting me.”
Lake isn’t the first lawyer to hit the pageant circuit. Birmingham law graduate Dee-Ann Kentish-Roger hit headlines in 2018 after becoming first black woman to be crowned Miss Universe Great Britain in 66 years. Kentish-Roger has since gone on to become the Minister for Education and Social Development in Anguilla.
