Ruiz says plastic surgery is more common among contestants than some will admit, though she’s focused on opening up the conversation about cosmetic surgery in the pageantry world
Angel Ruiz is no stranger to the thrill of walking across a pageant stage. By the time she won her first crown, she had participated in five previous Miss Illinois USA pageants. Ruiz knew how to talk to judges in interviews and, for the most part, she could confidently hit her mark, but deep down, she knew one insecurity was holding her back from a title win.
At age 25, Ruiz made a major change in her life as she dreamed of competing in the Miss USA national pageant. The Chicago-based contestant underwent a rhinoplasty, a surgery she’d long considered and researched.
Ruiz got her start in the pageant world at age 15, but her feelings about her appearance — namely, her awareness of her nose — date back even further.
“Getting my nose done with something that I knew I always wanted to get done from very early on, ever since I could even conceptualize image,” the now-28-year-old tells PEOPLE. “In the process of everything, I didn’t let anyone know I was doing it … I was confident in my decision. I just went for it and just popped out with a new nose.”
On the other side of her nose job, which was completed by double board-certified facial plastic surgeon Dr. Anil Shah, Ruiz carried herself with a new strength. Given how subjective pageant judging is, Ruiz admits it’s hard to determine what the “end-all, be-all reason” was for her eventual Miss Illinois USA win after years of competing. But she does believe her rhinoplasty set her up with a different kind of self-assurance.
“I’ve always been very headstrong. Although I did have an insecurity, I didn’t allow it to hinder me or my performance in terms of being on the stage,” she explains. “However, I did know that it was something that I did want to improve on and that would allow me to express myself and put my best foot forward if I did get it done.”
In May 2022, three months after getting her cosmetic surgery, Ruiz was crowned Miss Illinois USA. Later that year, she finally represented the midwestern state in the Miss USA pageant. Looking back, she tells PEOPLE that “there wasn’t any shadow of a doubt in my mind” that she completely deserved the Illinois crown.
“I felt very empowered. I knew that now that I had got this big title and that I was ready to go onto the big leagues and compete for Miss USA,” says Ruiz. “I knew I had made the right decision.”
Pageantry is rooted in judgement, as Ruiz notes, “You’re literally opening up yourself for people to judge you.” Sometimes that judgement takes place on the stage or in the interview round, but Ruiz isn’t oblivious to the less public judgement she received off stage, too.
“All the girls in the dressing room, you’re looking at each individual. You’re in a competition, you’re looking at each other’s bodies, you’re looking at everything,” she shares. “There were comments like, ‘Oh, she looks too fake, and it’s plastic or unnatural,’ and that comes with the territory, unfortunately.”
Despite the fact that plenty of contestants undergo plastic surgeries of their own, Ruiz says it’s hardly discussed in the open, honest way she decided to talk about her nose job. She opted for transparency in the interest of setting a good example and not misleading others to believe her enhanced image is “unattainable.”
Now, Ruiz is doing her part to make cosmetic operations a normalized part of the pageantry conversation. As a former contestant and winner, she has returned to the competition as a judge, and in the interview round, Ruiz makes sure to ask, “What are your views on cosmetic enhancements?”
It’s actually a big question in pageant interviews, according to Ruiz. Naturally, she conceived the perfect answer for the plastic surgery prompt.
“I always say three very simple things … Do it for yourself, do it with a professional, and make sure you do your research and your homework because this is ultimately something that you can’t go back from,” she tells PEOPLE. “You have to want to do it for yourself and not for anybody else.”
