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337-Erin Mohr: She Entered Her First Pageant at 50 · Stuck No More Voices

• 0:00
  Theresa: So you're in midlife.
• 0:02
  Theresa: Can you take a leap and enter a beauty pageant just because you wanna inspire women in midlife to step out and do bold things?
• 0:13
  Theresa: Our guest is gonna show you how.
• 0:16
  Theresa: Welcome to the Stuck No More Voices Podcast.
• 0:18
  Theresa: So glad you're here.
• 0:20
  Theresa: I'm Theresa Croft.
• 0:21
  Theresa: I am a voice and visibility strategist.
• 0:25
  Theresa: I help Christian women be able to take their calling, go from their calling to their story to a message for their ideal audience.
• 0:33
  Theresa: Hey, let me say, ask you something.
• 0:35
  Theresa: If you're on YouTube, would you subscribe?
• 0:38
  Theresa: And this may be the one episode you wanna share with your friend.
• 0:43
  Theresa: So this episode is a special feature of the Stuck No More Voices Podcast, The Calling Table Sessions.
• 0:50
  Theresa: It's a seat I keep for Christian women whose stories deserve to be handled with care and whose voice is ready to be heard.
• 0:57
  Theresa: So pull up a chair.
• 0:59
  Theresa: Let me introduce you to our guest today, Erin Moore.
• 1:03
  Theresa: She's an events manager, but just this past weekend competed in her first beauty pageant at the age of 50.
• 1:10
  Theresa: Erin is, uh, here to inspire women in midlife to step out and do bold things.
• 1:17
  Theresa: Erin, it's so great to have you on our show.
• 1:20
  Theresa: Thank you.
• 1:21
  Erin: Thanks so much for having me.
• 1:23
  Theresa: So why don't you tell me, just real quick, take me through that story.
• 1:28
  Theresa: When did you So the beauty pageant.
• 1:30
  Theresa: So how did that all come about?
• 1:32
  Theresa: That's a story in itself.
• 1:35
  Erin: Yeah.
• 1:35
  Erin: So we're looking at exactly a year ago,'cause August 28th of this year, 2026, I've just turned 51.
• 1:42
  Theresa: Okay.
• 1:45
  Erin: So back to 2025, I turned 50.
• 1:46
  Theresa: Mm-hmm.
• 1:47
  Erin: And I have two daughters- Okay that are now 19 and 22.
• 1:51
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 1:52
  Erin: And I'm just at the time in life where I'm like,"I'm 50, like, what do I wanna do?
• 1:56
  Erin: What are some challenges and new ideas of things I've never done before?" I literally was like,"I wanna do a pageant." Like, I, I'm guessing it was a God idea.
• 2:06
  Erin: It was not anything I ever had on my grid before.
• 2:09
  Theresa: Okay.
• 2:10
  Erin: Found one.
• 2:12
  Erin: And yeah, it was funny'cause once I was accepted, when I did the application, um, I told my daughters once I was committed, and then they're like,"Mom, are you going through a midlife crisis?" Just because I had never talked about that, ever.
• 2:24
  Erin: So it's like,"Oh, mom's doing a beauty pageant." Like, where is this coming from?
• 2:28
  Erin: But I think it's just a new opportunity for me to grow.
• 2:31
  Erin: I made some amazing connections, and I think it's just for me to challenge myself.
• 2:36
  Erin: And then my why really was, well, if I can do this, anyone can do this.
• 2:39
  Erin: Oh.
• 2:39
  Erin: And it doesn't mean they have to do a beauty pageant, but they could do something else they wanna do with their life.
• 2:44
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 2:44
  Erin: I think that bigger and bolder and be more visible instead of diminishing and believing the narrative that as we age, we need to, like, shrink back.
• 2:52
  Erin: Yeah.
• 2:53
  Erin: I'm like, no, like shine brighter, and, uh, just put ourselves out there and see what we're capable of doing.
• 2:59
  Theresa: That seems to be in your DNA,'cause y- you like to show people that they're more than what they think they are.
• 3:08
  Erin: 100%, yeah.
• 3:09
  Erin: I think that is something I carry at the core of who I am.
• 3:12
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 3:12
  Erin: Uh, I was a pastor for 20 years before I switched over into events, and so I think I was al-
• 3:17
  Theresa: Wait, what were you before events?
• 3:20
  Erin: A pastor.
• 3:20
  Theresa: You were a pastor, okay.
• 3:22
  Theresa: Fascinating.
• 3:23
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 3:23
  Theresa: Okay.
• 3:24
  Erin: Uh, I did youth.
• 3:25
  Erin: I ran the music ministry.
• 3:27
  Erin: Uh, and then I became the associate pastor.
• 3:30
  Erin: So in there, um, was interwoven always working with women of all ages, from young- Yeah teenagers all the way doing seniors Bible studies and hospital visitations.
• 3:41
  Erin: So I've always had the desire to work with women, influence women.
• 3:46
  Erin: I've done some traveling on missions where I've had the opportunity to speak with women in other countries and do conferences.
• 3:51
  Erin: So yeah, I You're right.
• 3:53
  Erin: When you say it's, like, in my DNA, it's something God just put in my blood.
• 3:57
  Erin: Um, but I find that I'm now wanting to do very different things.
• 4:00
  Erin: Like, a pageant, like I said, was never ever- I believe
• 4:03
  Theresa: it
• 4:04
  Erin: on my horizon, and now it is.
• 4:06
  Erin: Yeah.
• 4:06
  Erin: So.
• 4:07
  Theresa: I just l- That's just so great.
• 4:09
  Theresa: So now do you have, like, an offer for women to come into a program or to work with you?
• 4:15
  Theresa: How does that work?
• 4:17
  Erin: I am building some things out.
• 4:19
  Erin: Nice.
• 4:19
  Erin: I think there's been a lot of inspiration that l- has launched from this God idea of let's try this.
• 4:26
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 4:26
  Erin: So yeah, I am a certified life coach.
• 4:28
  Theresa: Nice.
• 4:29
  Erin: Uh, so I have done life coaching, uh, working with clients, helping them through things.
• 4:33
  Erin: Um, so I think I'm more accessible that way.
• 4:37
  Erin: I don't necessarily have a solid offer of, like,"Come do this and learn this in pageantry." Right.
• 4:41
  Erin: I'm really more about, like, let's connect.
• 4:44
  Erin: I think what my heart is is to connect with women in mid-life, going through empty nests, going through aging- Yeah going through divorce, going through whatever it is, career change.
• 4:55
  Erin: Um-
• 4:55
  Theresa: I
• 4:56
  Erin: love that and we can feel like we don't have community.
• 4:59
  Erin: I know what it's like to go through depression and feel isolated, so I really wanna surround women and help them feel like they have support- Mm-hmm and that can step into doing things they never dreamed is possible for them.
• 5:10
  Theresa: That's so good.
• 5:11
  Theresa: You know, I'm I have a midlife friend, really good friend.
• 5:16
  Theresa: I'm I think I'm past midlife.
• 5:18
  Theresa: I'm 63, but, um, there's just such a Like, you get to that point of 50 and up where you feel like,"Wait a minute.
• 5:26
  Theresa: Have I, have I lived my life to the fullest?" And I find it fascinating that you have such a background in serving and ministering, and now you're just, like, a natural.
• 5:38
  Theresa: You're You wanna connect with people, but it doesn't have to be connected to the church.
• 5:42
  Theresa: What i- what value is do you see in that for w- when you minister to women?
• 5:48
  Erin: And I think part of who I have always been is to not allow myself to be put on a pedestal or- Okay trying to break down the stereotype when I was a pastor of like, oh, Erin must be more spiritual or more this- Mm-hmm because she has this title.
• 6:05
  Erin: Right.
• 6:05
  Erin: And I've always been like, let's take the title away.
• 6:07
  Erin: Let's just see me as Erin.
• 6:09
  Erin: I hate, I, I just hate being inaccessible.
• 6:12
  Erin: So I think there's value in being able to connect with women so they just find me down to earth, relatable, and accessible.
• 6:19
  Erin: Mm-hmm.
• 6:21
  Erin: That's what
• 6:21
  Theresa: I want.
• 6:21
  Theresa: That was just a few minutes with you, I can tell that.
• 6:24
  Theresa: You kind of took me back that you were a pastor.
• 6:27
  Theresa: You don't have the drapings of control and religion, so it's, that's why I'm like, wait, did you say pastor?
• 6:34
  Theresa: So you talk about, I want to say you talk about, I like this phrase, building tools for a woman's toolbox.
• 6:43
  Theresa: Can you elaborate on that or tell me a story behind where that came from?
• 6:47
  Erin: For sure.
• 6:47
  Erin: So, um, when I transitioned out of pastoring, which ended up being right before COVID hit, I- Oh,
• 6:54
  Theresa: wow
• 6:55
  Erin: left my pastoring post of 20 years.
• 6:57
  Theresa: Mm.
• 6:57
  Theresa: Then
• 6:57
  Erin: COVID, so it was sort of this thing of pivoting and like, what am I gonna do?
• 7:02
  Erin: Um, it was a natural thing for me to want to become a licensed, um, certified, a certified, uh, life coach.
• 7:09
  Theresa: Yes.
• 7:10
  Erin: It was sort of, when I was looking at the way I was pastoring, I was like, oh, I sort of am already naturally a life coach.
• 7:15
  Theresa: Mm-hmm.
• 7:16
  Erin: Got a certification, started building out some businesses, and it really came down to, again, my why of me overcoming a lot of fear.
• 7:26
  Erin: And so I looked at like my history of like whatever it was, my 45 years at that time.
• 7:33
  Erin: Yeah.
• 7:34
  Erin: I was a few years younger when I started this.
• 7:36
  Erin: Um, and what did I do to overcome fear?
• 7:38
  Erin: How did I get to where I am today?
• 7:41
  Erin: And I really discovered some things about myself, so I built a whole program around it.
• 7:45
  Theresa: Nice.
• 7:45
  Erin: Um, I kind of have this motto of like fearless females kicking fear in the face- Uh-huh and just getting aggressive with it because to me, being fearless is not ever finding something where fear is absent.
• 7:57
  Erin: That's just not gonna exist.
• 7:58
  Theresa: No.
• 7:59
  Erin: It's how to do things afraid- Yeah and using fear as fuel to perpetuate you.
• 8:06
  Erin: So I help women build tools out, yeah, build an arsenal.
• 8:10
  Erin: Um, I'm really good at like just helping women find peace.
• 8:13
  Erin: Mm.
• 8:14
  Erin: We still can unravel and have things that rob us and distract us.
• 8:18
  Erin: We don't have peace, and I really help women get anchored in peace.
• 8:21
  Erin: Like, what does it look like to live in peace in today's life?
• 8:24
  Theresa: That's
• 8:24
  Erin: so
• 8:24
  Theresa: good.
• 8:25
  Erin: And this, this is pulling at us, and suddenly this unexpected life circumstance happened.
• 8:29
  Erin: You know, I've got stories for all of it because I've lived through it.
• 8:33
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 8:33
  Erin: So I've learned to have peace, how to- Figure out what's fact and what's fiction-
• 8:39
  Theresa: Okay
• 8:40
  Erin: how to navigate that, and that's, you know, learning how to stay grounded, and because we can feed ourselves narratives that don't even exist.
• 8:47
  Erin: Yes.
• 8:47
  Erin: We're just good at creating stories, and, um, I had to learn how to undo all that Yeah and see my life so I wasn't running ahead of things, feeding myself...
• 8:59
  Erin: It was like anxious energy.
• 9:01
  Erin: Yeah.
• 9:01
  Erin: So I couldn't ever feel, like, secure or grounded or at peace.
• 9:05
  Erin: So those are things I've learned, and I teach women how to do that for themselves.
• 9:08
  Erin: So good.
• 9:08
  Erin: And if they step out and do a freaking pageant, then I'm here to encourage them and help
• 9:13
  Theresa: That's just so awesome.
• 9:14
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 9:15
  Theresa: Well, I like how you called it, though, a toolbox, because I think we all need to reassess what's in our toolbox of life.
• 9:23
  Theresa: So, and the fact that you said slow down and peace, if there's ever anything we need in this century is to learn how to slow down and have peace.
• 9:33
  Theresa: Sure.
• 9:34
  Theresa: So what are, what are, what are the, um, well, what are the kind of people that reach out for you?
• 9:41
  Theresa: What's, what's their main need when they reach out to you?
• 9:45
  Erin: Um, I think it's the women that just feel stuck.
• 9:48
  Theresa: Mm.
• 9:49
  Erin: And so it's like, how do I get past this circumstance?
• 9:53
  Erin: So some of it's been women whose marriages have ended.
• 9:56
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 9:57
  Erin: I've gone through that myself, so I definitely have lived that experience.
• 10:01
  Theresa: Okay.
• 10:01
  Erin: Um, and it's learning how to keep your eyes on God in the middle of like,"This should never have happened to me." Yes.
• 10:07
  Erin: "I didn't see this coming." Um, so like I said, I've lived a lot of life experience.
• 10:12
  Erin: So some of it's been connecting with women going through those things.
• 10:15
  Erin: Some of it's just been women that are anxious,'cause I can relate to the whole thing of, like, having panic attacks and-
• 10:21
  Theresa: Yeah
• 10:21
  Erin: fear.
• 10:22
  Erin: Yeah.
• 10:22
  Erin: Living with uncertainty.
• 10:24
  Erin: Mm.
• 10:24
  Erin: So sh- I think women that just feel stuck and don't know how to get through what they're in the middle of or, or feel like there's hope.
• 10:32
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 10:32
  Theresa: Like,
• 10:32
  Erin: there's nothing worse than living in the middle of your story and feel like there's no hope for tomorrow.
• 10:36
  Theresa: That's really good.
• 10:38
  Theresa: That's why I have one of My brand is Stuck No More,'cause women just so get stuck.
• 10:44
  Theresa: So, um, you launched a book?
• 10:49
  Erin: Um, I, trying to think.
• 10:52
  Erin: I launched There was a series of books that I co-authored.
• 10:57
  Theresa: Okay.
• 10:57
  Erin: Um, they're like biblical devotionals.
• 11:00
  Theresa: Wonderful.
• 11:00
  Theresa: So, um,
• 11:01
  Erin: that was part of a collaboration I did, again, during COVID.
• 11:05
  Erin: Okay.
• 11:06
  Erin: I was looking for ways to just stay busy because I had left pastoring and I was building a new path for myself.
• 11:13
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 11:13
  Erin: And I love to write.
• 11:15
  Erin: Yeah.
• 11:15
  Erin: Um, some of those things are based on, like, just devotionals.
• 11:19
  Erin: One of them was how to find peace.
• 11:20
  Erin: Mm-hmm.
• 11:20
  Erin: Uh, one of them was how to keep worship at the center when you feel like anything but.
• 11:26
  Erin: Like, you don't wanna- Yeah worship.
• 11:27
  Erin: How to find the ability to be able to, like, worship God in the middle of, like, the mud and the circumstances.
• 11:33
  Theresa: So
• 11:33
  Erin: good.
• 11:33
  Erin: Um, think none of my own books are collaborations.
• 11:36
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 11:36
  Theresa: You have so much.
• 11:37
  Theresa: I just gotta ask this.
• 11:38
  Theresa: How many years have you been out of being a pastor?
• 11:41
  Theresa: How many years?
• 11:42
  Erin: Uh, we're looking at six and a half now.
• 11:45
  Theresa: So how do you feel your life's different now that you're not a pastor?
• 11:50
  Erin: The interesting thing is, is like if you would've told me eight years ago what I'd be doing today, I would've looked at you like you're square and been like- Oh"That's not where life is gonna go." I think the biggest thing that shaped it into who I am today,'cause I wouldn't have chosen this path-
• 12:09
  Theresa: Okay
• 12:10
  Erin: but I, I chose to stay the course with God, trusting that He's gonna get me through.
• 12:16
  Erin: And it still is a daily thing.
• 12:18
  Erin: Sure.
• 12:18
  Erin: Yeah.
• 12:18
  Erin: It's not like I've figured out.
• 12:20
  Erin: Yeah.
• 12:20
  Erin: There's still like emotion and different things I'm working through.
• 12:24
  Erin: Um, but yeah, my marriage ended, not by my choice.
• 12:28
  Erin: Um, my husband at that time chose to leave the marriage, and so that was sort of the thing that I guess launched me.
• 12:36
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 12:36
  Erin: Um, figuring out Like that's like honestly a whole nother story, a whole nother episode.
• 12:42
  Erin: But then from there it was making other choices of changing my life around me.
• 12:47
  Erin: And so I think one of the best things for me at the time, not related to the marriage at all, it just was purely related to circumstances of where I was in life at the time, to leave the church.
• 12:58
  Erin: Um, because I thought I would be there till the day I die.
• 13:01
  Erin: Sure.
• 13:01
  Erin: Like I'm loyal, I'm committed, I'm 100%, I'm all in and invested.
• 13:05
  Erin: I never saw myself outside of that.
• 13:08
  Erin: And to have the opportunity to have grown, to take my relationship with God to new depths, that, that came from the hard stuff.
• 13:17
  Theresa: Wow.
• 13:18
  Erin: That didn't Like being a pastor and showing up every Sunday morning.
• 13:21
  Erin: That came from me going,"Okay, God.
• 13:23
  Erin: My marriage wasn't supposed to end.
• 13:24
  Erin: This wasn't supposed to be my story." Right.
• 13:26
  Erin: "My dad wasn't supposed to die of cancer.
• 13:28
  Erin: I wasn't supposed to lose him this early." Like all of these things, and so in the middle of the mess and the uncertainty, I leaned into God and I just chose to say- Sure"I don't really understand what's going on.
• 13:41
  Erin: I don't even know who you are." So beautiful.
• 13:43
  Erin: "You're a different God than what I like You know- Yeah the Sunday school talks I had him in, like this is how God is and-
• 13:48
  Theresa: Yeah
• 13:48
  Erin: but this was real life.
• 13:50
  Erin: And so He invited me to go deeper in the middle of not knowing and not understanding.
• 13:54
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 13:55
  Erin: And I've really lived out a life now where I feel closer to God.
• 13:58
  Theresa: Oh, so good.
• 13:59
  Theresa: So
• 13:59
  Erin: that's what happened with church.
• 14:01
  Theresa: Did you say you, your husband divorced you then he got cancer?
• 14:06
  Erin: My dad So I, my marriage ended, and actually- Your dad.
• 14:11
  Erin: Oh, wow like my dad got cancer.
• 14:13
  Erin: Oh, okay.
• 14:13
  Erin: Yeah.
• 14:14
  Theresa: That's
• 14:15
  Erin: hard.
• 14:15
  Erin: So three years after.
• 14:16
  Erin: And the, this part of the story was like my ex left, um, so we're looking seven years ago now.
• 14:22
  Erin: Um, those three years I still hung on to wanting to be married.
• 14:25
  Erin: It wasn't like- Oh oh, here.
• 14:27
  Erin: Like I built a life with that man.
• 14:29
  Erin: We have kids together.
• 14:30
  Erin: We-
• 14:30
  Theresa: Yeah
• 14:32
  Erin: built our dream property.
• 14:32
  Erin: So I sat in that and I just, God challenged me to be like, what is it to be a wife when you're not wanted as a wife?
• 14:39
  Theresa: Mm.
• 14:40
  Erin: And I learned that, and um, a- anyways, a- Can't make somebody choose you when they don't want to.
• 14:47
  Erin: Yeah.
• 14:47
  Erin: So there was a lot of, like, deep life lessons that I learned in that, but then felt free to move on.
• 14:52
  Erin: So it was just at the point where I was starting to dream again.
• 14:55
  Erin: Yeah.
• 14:56
  Erin: Starting to, like, find hope and figure some new things, new plans out for my life, and then my dad got sick.
• 15:04
  Erin: Oh.
• 15:04
  Erin: Like, in a month, a month.
• 15:05
  Erin: He had cancer.
• 15:05
  Erin: We did- I'm sorry he's all stirred his body, and then he was gone a month later.
• 15:10
  Erin: So that one sent me backwards a little bit.
• 15:13
  Erin: Sure.
• 15:13
  Erin: Because my dad, I was close to him, and he really helped me.
• 15:18
  Erin: My parents were always there for me when I had my really down days.
• 15:21
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 15:23
  Erin: Yeah.
• 15:23
  Theresa: That's powerful.
• 15:24
  Theresa: I'm really sorry you lost your dad.
• 15:26
  Theresa: That's a tough one, I know.
• 15:27
  Theresa: Well, I gotta tell you, how would someone get in touch with you if they wanted to be- receive some of your- Mm-hmm coaching or life coaching, or do you have like a...
• 15:38
  Theresa: You don't have to have a program, but do you have something that you can, uh, minist- do you minister to women who come to you?
• 15:45
  Erin: Yeah.
• 15:45
  Erin: They can just connect with me.
• 15:46
  Erin: We just start a very organic conversation.
• 15:48
  Erin: Oh, good.
• 15:49
  Erin: That's where I'm at best.
• 15:50
  Erin: I've always been relational and connecting with women.
• 15:53
  Theresa: So good.
• 15:53
  Erin: So good.
• 15:53
  Erin: Still I'm doing that, so it's not anything out of the ordinary for somebody to connect- That's awesome for me to connect with them.
• 15:59
  Erin: Um, my-
• 15:59
  Theresa: What's
• 16:00
  Erin: the
• 16:00
  Theresa: best way?
• 16:01
  Erin: My Instagram page called The Elegant Erin, and it's the.elegant.erin.
• 16:10
  Erin: They can find me there and just send me a direct message.
• 16:13
  Theresa: Okay.
• 16:13
  Theresa: And it's E-R-I-N?
• 16:16
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 16:16
  Theresa: Isn't it, Erin?
• 16:17
  Theresa: The period elegant period dot Erin.
• 16:20
  Theresa: That's great.
• 16:20
  Theresa: I lo- I think Instagram is the best place.
• 16:22
  Theresa: Yeah.
• 16:23
  Theresa: That is awesome.
• 16:24
  Theresa: So, wow.
• 16:28
  Theresa: That's just a lot.
• 16:29
  Theresa: I could probably interview you another time and get amazing stories out.
• 16:33
  Theresa: I thank you so much for taking time and really being real.
• 16:37
  Theresa: You look sharp with your baseball cap.
• 16:39
  Theresa: I took her off guard.
• 16:40
  Theresa: Thank you.
• 16:40
  Theresa: She thought we were just gonna talk about it.
• 16:42
  Theresa: So listen, that's today's Calling Table session with Erin Moore.
• 16:47
  Theresa: If her story moved you, do two things.
• 16:50
  Theresa: Follow her at Instagram, say hey, and share this episode with the woman who came to mind while you were listening.
• 16:58
  Theresa: Some stories are not for scrolling past.
• 17:02
  Theresa: I'm Theresa Croft with the Stuck No More Voices podcast, and I am so glad you joined us.
• 17:07
  Theresa: I'll talk to you in the next episode.