Miss Czech-Slovak US 2023-2024
Destiny Hollingsworth
Destiny Hollingsworth
Destiny Hollingsworth is the daughter of Justin and Marianna Hollingsworth and was the proud representative of her home state of Texas at the 2023 Miss Czech-Slovak US Pageant. She is 18 years old and is native to and currently resides in San Antonio, Texas. Her Slovak heritage comes from her mother, who immigrated to the United States at the age of 23. Her mother was born in Štúrovo, Slovakia which is in the Nitra region of Southern, Slovakia and raised in her ancestral town of Doľany, Slovakia which is in the Trnava region of Western Slovakia.
Destiny currently attends Northwest Vista College in San Antonio, Texas. After she completes her prerequisite courses, she plans to attend the University of Texas Health-Science Center nursing school to attain a Bachelor of Science in Nursing, with the ultimate goal of becoming a Pediatrician.
Destiny attained her first Czech-Slovak Royalty title in 2022, as the Miss Bexar County Czech-Slovak Queen. She then represented Bexar County in the Miss Texas Czech-Slovak Pageant, where she won the title of the Miss Texas Czech-Slovak Queen 2022-23. Throughout her past two reigns, Destiny traveled over 23,000 miles, attending 40 Czech-Slovak events, meetings, and festivals throughout Texas, Nebraska, Czechia, and Slovakia. She has been able to make appearances at the Czech Center Museum in Houston, Texas, the Texas Czech Heritage and Cultural Center in La Grange, Texas, Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, and many, many more. With the goal of involving more youth in cultural celebrations and exciting people about their heritage especially with a focus on teaching the languages, Destiny created a Czech-Slovak bingo, trivia game, resources page, and 10 stop virtual tour on Facebook and Instagram throughout Czechia and Slovakia during her Texas reign.
Destiny has been active in her cultural celebrations since the age of 5. She began by singing and dancing with a Bexar County Chapter folk group her mother helped lead. She later began to assist at many heritage events, including participation in cleanup and setup, program development, emceeing, skit narration, singing the Czech,Slovak, and US National anthems with her 2022 Little Sister, and more. She has led youth outreach initiatives including singing and dancing activities at events such as the Bexar County CHS Christmas Party in 2022 . Destiny was blessed to grow up speaking Slovak with her mother. She has dual American and Slovakian citizenship, and has traveled to Slovakia and Czechia as often as she could, making for 8 trips total. In addition to speaking the Slovak language, she actively practices cultural traditions, including cooking and baking traditional Czech and Slovak foods such as buchty and langoše, eating vianočné oblátky and fried fish on Christmas Eve, learning Czech and Slovak songs, polka dancing, and regularly wearing kroje.
Destiny modeled an authentic Slovakian kroj, from the town of Doľany in the region of Trnava. All of the materials that make up the kroj were obtained in Trnava, where the kroj itself was constructed. Destiny had the joy of traveling to Slovakia to design the kroj. Many of the pieces on the kroj are authentic family heirlooms, including the blouse laces (ruákvce), apron (zástera), underskirt (spodnica), collar bow (mašla), and collar (golierec). Some of these pieces were adjusted by seamstress Marta Schwarcova, who created the skirt (suknica), blouse (rukavce), vest (lajblík), hair bow (mašla), and waist bow (mašla).
To honor her mother’s Slovak ancestry and her father’s Irish ancestry, Destiny’s talent consisted of singing in Slovak, playing violin, and dancing an original Irish Jig to a karaoke version of a modern Slovak song “Ta ne” by Kristína Peláková. She was proud to perform a song she loves while creating a fusion of all of the elements that make up her cultural roots.
Destiny is overjoyed to have won the title of this year’s Miss Czech-Slovak US, along with the kroj knowledge award, oratory award, and talent runner-up award. She is absolutely ecstatic to begin this journey, and has many exciting endeavors in mind for this coming year of spreading her love for her culture, involving youth, and traveling the United States. She is so grateful for the sponsors and donors who have helped her so tremendously along the way, especially the Czech Heritage Society of Texas. She is also extremely appreciative of her Texas Pageant Director, Kathy Podsednik, along with her family, friends, and supporters who have all aided her every step of the way. This opportunity has filled her with gratitude, and she is so excited for the upcoming year and opportunities that await her!