Scarlett spent the first nine years of her life on the islands of Hawaii. Although the islands feature dozens of different ethnic backgrounds, Scarlett was well aware of her mixed heritage. Depending on which group she was being taunted by, she was either laughed at as a haole or derided as a poor Filipino. Undaunted by the teasing, Scarlett did well at school, her hard work and determination making up for what she lacked in natural talent. She was very active in all aspects of school life and signed up for many after-school activities.

In fact, the main reason why the young Scarlett was so loathe to leave school was her hours in the classroom were the only time she could avoid her mother Erma's iron hand. Erma ran her household like an Eastern European dictator. Erma picked out Scarlett's clothes, packed her lunch, and told her exactly when to leave the house and when to return. Scarlett constantly chafed at her mother's controlling tendencies and she did all she could to avoid them.

During her ninth year, Erma and Scarlett moved to Clarksdale, Mississippi. Erma had taken a position running an outreach program in the Delta. Once again, Scarlett was an outsider. This time, she was one of two non-African American students in the school. And as usual, Scarlett poured herself into school activities in an effort to avoid her mother's domination.

As Scarlett grew up, she turned into a lovely young woman. Her mother, Erma, began entering her into beauty pageants; Erma picked out all her costumes, designed her talent routines and wrote her speeches. Scarlett didn't necessarily enjoy the pageant circuit, but she enjoyed winning and began to see it as a way out of her mother's control. Scarlett realized that if she won enough pageants, she could win college scholarships, modeling jobs, and travel assignments. All of these things would enable her to escape her mother and begin to create a life of her own.

But although Scarlett was doing extremely well in her beauty pageants, she developed a dark secret around this time in her life. At dinner, Erma would tell Scarlett just what foods she had to eat. Erma would tell her just how much to eat. Erma would tell her what to drink and how much she was allowed to take. At dinner one evening, Scarlett boiled inside with resentment and anger as Erma kept telling her to eat one more ounce of chicken but not more than that. Scarlett ended up scarfing the food down just to finish the meal. She hardly chewed her food and just wanted the meal to be over as soon as possible. Shortly after she retreated to her room, Scarlett began feeling ill. She had eaten too quickly, had barely even chewed her food, and in short order she was in the bathroom, vomiting. She kept quiet and refused to tell her mother because Erma would certainly order her around some more. Scarlett turned on the shower to cover the noise and then she rinsed the toilet bowl, wiped her mouth, brushed her teeth, splashed cold water on her face and went back to her room. Her throat hurt from the acids, but for the first time in years, Scarlett actually felt good. She felt happy. Her mother had dominated and controlled every bite of food she took, but Scarlett had dispelled that from her body. Scarlett had taken some small measure of control back from Erma.

This began Scarlett's battle with bulimia. For her, it wasn't images of stick thin supermodels or the feeling that no one loved her that caused Scarlett to go to the bathroom after every meal. It was control. Erma might dictate the clothes she wore, the shade of make-up on her eyes, even her hair color. But in this one way, Scarlett could control her body.

Eventually, Erma moved to Oxford, Mississippi. She thought the more cultured city with the university and rich literary heritage would greatly benefit Scarlett and her pageant career. It was still close enough that Erma could travel into the Delta to continue her work. Even though Oxford was by far the most diverse and cultured place Scarlett had lived, she still hated it. It was still a small town in the poorest, most illiterate state in the nation. She longed to travel and experience more. And she ached for freedom from her domineering mother.

In Oxford, Scarlett met and befriended Barbara Dubois. Scarlett loved how Barbara seemed in charge of her own life. The two bonded, and Scarlett came to respect and admire Barbara. Friends and acquaintances alike noted that, although the two were competitors, they seemed more like sisters, encouraging each other through each pageant's trials. When Scarlett and Barbara exchanged glances it was if, others said, the two shared the knowledge that each had a secret too powerful or too painful to talk about.

Scarlett continued entering and doing well in beauty pageants. In the winter of 2003 and 2004, she was consumed with winning the Yoknapatawpha County Literature Festival Pageant and using that as a springboard to the Miss Mississippi competition. Friends said that Scarlett felt that if she could take the local literary pageant and then win the Miss Mississippi contest, she would have enough money saved, enough contacts established, and enough sponsors signed up, to finally leave the suffocating Oxford and Erma behind forever. They remarked how she said that she felt her whole future depended on the Yoknapatawpha pageant, how she felt it was time to take charge of her own life, and how she said she would do anything to win.