A Boots pharmacy manager has won a pageantry competition after returning to competing since becoming a mother.

Samantha Grant, 35, told C+D “it was hard to put the emotion into words” after winning Ms Great Britain Glasgow on May 8.

“I became a mum, so getting back up and running, there is so much immense pride in myself for going back up after so many years of stopping,” she said.

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Grant spent eight years away from pageantry before competing this year but loves the lasting friendships she made from her first time in pageantry.

“It’s the people. I would never in a million years have thought that 12 years ago when I started, those girls would still be with me.

“Three of my best friends I met through pageantry, and it just shows what you can get from it. A lot of people don’t really understand that.”

Grant has worked in the Boots pharmacy team for six years, before becoming the pharmacy manager last year at the Lesmahagow branch, a town south of Glasgow.

Read more: ‘No one else in pageantry does healthcare advocacy like I do’

She said even though her team didn’t know about pageants, they were “so supportive” and “wanted to know about it”.

Grant said there a lot of misconceptions about pageantry, such as that it’s “exactly the same as what it used to be years ago”.

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It includes fundraising for different causes, with Grant raising £256 for Cancer Research UK.

“I was lucky to get offered sponsorship for the pageant,” she said.

“The lady that sponsored me for the pageant to help with the fees, she was going through the treatment herself for cancer, so it made it really important to raise awareness.”

Grant will now be competing in Leicester on October 17 in the national finals.

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It comes after C+D spoke to a pharmacist who won the Miss Great Britain pageant in 2024.

The pageant-winning pharmacist Emily Bond competed again last year, following her winning GP or PCN Pharmacist of the Year at the 2025 C+D Awards.