Miss Mexico, Jimena Navarrete, recently won the Miss Universe Pageant. A young woman from Oakland is now preparing to compete for the title of Miss California, which could lead to Miss USA and Miss Universe.

Ashley Stuteville, 19, is preparing her mind and body for the Miss California Beauty Pageant to be held November 19-21. “I am Miss Piedmont USA, but I am representing all of Oakland, which is where I was born,” she says.

“I have received tremendous support from Oakland and the Montclair Village businesses.”

Miss California will be the first pageant for Ashley, who never planned to compete in such contests. Her mother, Theodora Ramirez, or Teddy, used to dress Ashley like a model sometimes when she was a child.

“People thought I was a child model,” she says. The response led the girl to attend modeling school and she is now under contract with one of the top modeling agencies in San Francisco.

Ashley is currently a full time second-year college student studying Visual Communications at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in San Francisco. “I would like to design TV sets, runway stages, and to produce fashion shows,” she says. “On weekends, I am either auditioning for casting calls, working booked modeling  jobs, or taking advanced modeling or acting classes.”

Despite her busy schedule and preparing for the pageant, Ashley still devotes time for family and community. She has long been focused on the protection of animals and she currently volunteers to find homes for homeless animals. She also wants to work with other teenagers. “One cause would be to show teens that it is rewarding to work with senior citizens,” she says. “I have had experience helping with my grandmother and grandfather who are senior stroke victims. When my grandfather was alive in a rehabilitation facility, I made sure to visit as many patients as possible in that visit. Seniors enjoy having young people speak to them. It makes them feel good and many thanked me for giving them some of my time.”

Ashley also finds time to work with her family’s property management business. “I help assist my 92 year-old disabled grandmother who suffered a stroke but still works full time in the business.”

Ashley’s balanced interests should serve her well in the eyes of pageant judges, who look for than just physical beauty. Her spirit of community service also extends to kids, specifically orphans in Mexico. “I like kids and want to be able to help them, encourage them.”

Ashley has ten bags of donated clothes in her bedroom for a trip to orphanages in Mexico this December. She hopes to be making the trip as Miss California, but it’s clear that the title is not her most important wish.