Sidney's Cole vies for Mrs. Nebraska title

Sidney's Ylani Cole is representing Cheyenne County in the 2018 Mrs. Nebraska Pageant in April.

A native of Klerksdorp, South Africa, Cole has lived in Sidney since 2012 and serves as a change management lead at Cabela's.

Living in Pretoria, South Africa's capital city, brought Cole to Sidney.

"I was a safari coordinator there and that's how I met my husband," she said. "He worked for Cabela's Outdoor Adventures."

Pageantry has always been an important part of Cole's life.

"Back home, it is a huge deal. South Africa has been four or five times Miss Universe," she said. "We have it in smaller scales as well. You can be Miss Klerksdorp or Miss South Africa."

Moving to Sidney, though, Cole wasn't immediately able to return to pageantry.

"When I moved here, I didn't have a work visa or anything like that," she said. "I looked at the Mrs. Nebraska pageant and their requirement is that I need to be a citizen, which I wasn't. Now that I'm a citizen, I want to get back into it."

Cole never gave up on her dreams, emboldened by her friends.

"I have some friends who influenced me," she said. "My one friend is Mrs. Cape Town, in South Africa, and my other friend is a finalist in the upcoming Mrs. South Africa. She's in the top 10 finalists. I have a lot of friends that push me toward that and spark my interest."

Cole is ready for the change from a Miss to a Mrs. pageant.

"I've grown as a woman, professionally and emotionally. I've traveled more," she said. "I've been to 11 countries. In the states, in the past five years, I've visited 22 states. My passion is traveling. I literally work in order just to pay for my traveling."

With the pageant, Cole and her fellow contestants serve as a role model for all married women.

"There's a ton of ambitious ladies out there that they think now they're married now they just have to bare children and be a housewife. It doesn't have to be that," she said. "You can be so much more, even when you're married. There's so much more opportunity out there."

Cole with be participating in community events throughout the year, with the endorsement of Cheyenne County Area Chamber of Commerce.

She said she's excited.

"It's a lot coming up but I can add to that," she said. "There's so much more that I can do."