When Anahi Quintero started appearing in pageants, she never thought that one day she’d grace the cover of a magazine.

For one thing, the 15-year-old Mantecan, according to her mother Ana, was dealing with self-esteem issues that stemmed from being slightly overweight. Appearing onstage, she thought, seemed foreign and that she somehow didn’t measure up to the rest of the girls.

But when she stood on the red carpet last weekend and posed for pictures in Modesto – clutching the copy of Quinceneara Magazine with her picture on the cover – all of those past memories went straight out the window.

Quintero’s rise to fame wasn’t a quick one. She had to put her time and her effort into the pageants that served as a launch pad for magazines geared at advertising to young Latina women.

And according to her mother, she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to have a Quinceanera. It wasn’t until she learned more about her culture and history from her family and saw the impact it had on families through the pageants that Quintero changed her tune.

“At first it was something that she didn’t want, and when I started talking to her about the culture and the heritage, she finally said that it was something she was willing to do,” Ana Quintero said. “I think that’s a testament to the pageants that show that the beauty is on the inside and not on the outside, and it helps give girls that confidence that they need.

“A lot of girls are insecure and worried about stepping out there on stage, and Anahi showed that you can do anything.”

Last weekend the production and marketing company for Quinceanera Magazine held an unveiling in Modesto where Quintero was able to appear as the magazine’s newest cover girl. The magazines are extremely popular with young Hispanic women preparing for their own 15th birthday celebrations.

“It’s a great accomplishment and we’re proud to see that she did something that she set her mind to,” Quintero said. “She’s grown immensely as a human being, and that’s something that comes as a result of her commitment to herself.”