Model and Beauty Queen Arzell Roulette – Motivated by the Struggle

By meg hale brunton

While model and beauty queen Arzell Roulette enjoys participating in pageants and fashion weeks, her beauty is far from her defining quality. “I don’t like people thinking of me as a ‘pageant girl,’” she explains. “I’m a queen.” Arzell loves working directly with people and making a difference in their lives. She is currently putting together a plan to use her notoriety as a pageant queen to inform the public on two issues that are very close to her heart: depression and suicide.

Arzell grew up in Columbus, Ohio among a large, religious family. “Growing up, I was always in church,” she recalls. Her mother is a pastor, and her brother became a deacon in the church. Arzell married her high school sweetheart when she was 21, and was divorced by the time she was 25.

At 22, Arzell began working in a local nursing home, a job which she adored. “It was a lot of work, but I just loved it,” she says. “Getting to see their faces and to know that I made them happy, that is just very rewarding. It’s not for everybody, but it’s definitely for me.” She went on to work in hospital emergency rooms and even psych wards. She remembers on her first night working the front desk in the psych ward, she was attacked by a patient and sustained a concussion. “It was scary,” she says, adding that when she told her dad about the incident, he told her not to go back to work. Arzell did return and stayed with the job for three years. 

In 2018, she decided to make a huge career change and pursue her dream of becoming a professional model, a move that was fraught with turmoil. “It was so hard for me because I was with an agency and they took all my money, and I thought, ‘Well, this isn’t cool,’” Arzell explains. “Then I ended up doing a fashion show, and I thought, ‘Well, this is cool. I need to do more of this!’” 

During the four years she spent modeling, she had done gigs in Atlanta. She began networking and traveling there for shows to establish herself. She planned to move there in 2020, but then things took a turn for the worse. “I went through a dark storm. I was very discouraged,” she says of that period. “I was ready to go and then, someone stole all of my money out of my bank account. They left me $25 out of $2500, and I was like, ‘At least I can get gas.’”

Then, her car was broken into. In 2019, she was sexually assaulted, leaving her traumatized and suffering from PTSD. She thought of reporting it to the police, but was afraid to take any action that would negatively affect her modeling career. “I was just starting to make a name for myself,” she says. 

In 2020, Arzell found herself broke and homeless, living out of her car and couchsurfing at friends’ homes for around ten months. She started attending church again. She was also severely depressed and began having suicidal thoughts. Arzell says that the thought of taking her own life was what woke her up. “I thought, ‘I have to go, I have to get out of here,’” she recalls. “‘That’s the only way I’m going to survive.’” That February, when Arzell finally got her car back, she packed it and left Ohio for Atlanta. 

Once in Atlanta, Arzell began taking steps to get her life back on track. She befriended the pastor at a church she started attending, who helped her find counseling. She also started working on reconnecting with her family. She had been harboring resentment toward them for not being there for her when she was homeless and depressed. “We’re all trying to get back together,” she says of the experience. She also got a life coach, and met her best friend and roommate, Dejuan. 

She found that continuing her work as a model was helpful with her depression, but wanted to try something new. So, she tried pageantry.

Arzell’s first pageant was the 2021 Today’s International World (TIW) pageant in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. “I remember being very, very scared,” she recalls, adding that the other contestants were so beautiful. “I came model-prepared; I didn’t come pageant-prepared. Now, I know those are two different things.” She loved the energy though, and made friends with many of the other contestants. Despite her inexperience, Arzell was given very high scores by the judges and even won Miss Congeniality. 

In addition to Miss Congeniality, Arzell was made TIW’s Top Model for 2021, as well as their Brand Ambassador. While she is thrilled with both roles, Arzell says she can’t fight the desire to give pageantry another try. “I just want to see if I can bring that crown home,” she says. She is now working with a pageantry coach to learn more about what pageants entail. In 2023, Arzell will be competing to be the new Miss Ohio in the Mrs. Cosmos International Pageant, which she is already preparing for by focusing on working out, and trying to eat and sleep better.

Arzell is also hoping to use her platform to bring attention to mental illness, depression and suicide. “I see myself being an influencer; I want to talk, reach people, be the face of suicide awareness,”” she explains, adding that it really hit home for her when Former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst killed herself last year. “Mental illness is real, and you never know what a person is going through. I just want to reach out to people to let them know you don’t have to go through it alone.” Arzell also wants to travel to schools and hospitals to conduct seminars on depression and talk to young people about issues like bullying.

Arzell also continues to work in the assisted living field, which she finds incredibly fulfilling. “I’m excited to go to work,” she says. “It’s like a reward for me, taking care of people, making sure people are happy.” Arzell is also currently attending classes to get her phlebotomy license and has recently completed her (currently unnamed) autobiography, which she hopes will hit the shelves later this year. She also plans to release her first perfume, Pretty, sometime this year.

Arzell admits she still grapples with depression and is still learning to love herself. She feels, however, that she has been given a second chance and is finally walking in her purpose. “What motivates me is the struggle. I’ve been through a lot, and when I look back on it all, I’m unstoppable. God has gotten me through every situation. I refuse to be back in that dark space.”