3 Amazing Beauty Pageant Winners

by Gabriella Dotson

Beauty Pageants are more than just pretty women with grace and confidence. Many of these women are doctors, lawyers, and employed in many other well-respected fields. These women are judged not only on physical appearance but their talents. Once they have won the pageant winners become ambassadors for the pageant and do humanitarian work.

1. Cheslie Kryst was crowned Miss USA in 2019. Outside of pageantry, Mrs. Kryst worked as a lawyer. She was an employment attorney and advocate for criminal justice reform. During the final round of Miss Universe, Ms.Kryst took the opportunity to speak on the Me too movement. She spoke about how she believed that workplaces should be more inclusive and safe in the US. She continued her advocacy for women's rights in the workplace in her law firm. Cheslie Kryst tragically passed away at the age of 30 on January 30, 2022.

2. Nia Imani Franklin was crowned Miss America in 2019. Outside of Pageantry, Mrs. Franklin is a classical composer and opera singer. She is an advocate for the arts and founder of Compose Her. She speaks at schools and continues to compose music. Ms. Franklin recently released a piece called Chrysalis Extended for orchestra. Her music has been played by professional orchestras across the US including the Dallas Symphony.

3. Angela Ponce was crowned Miss Spain in 2018. She made history as being the first transgender woman to be crowned Miss Spain. She is a major advocate for LGBTQ rights across the world. Ms. Ponce also supports the ‘Daniela Foundation’ which is dedicated to raising awareness about trans rights. She has also appeared on many magazine covers including Vogue Spain.

Women In American Politics

by Kasidi Jordan

Background

For majority of women’s time in America, they were not allowed a voice. Jobs weren’t handed to them, they weren’t seen as important, and they had no impact on what could happen to the country. It wasn’t until 1920 when the 19th amendment was passed giving women their right to vote, giving them their voice in the country. Since then, women have had the opportunity to make major decisions in this country, have a seat on the supreme court, serve in congress, and become the vice president.

Early American Women

One of the earliest figures who pushed for women’s power is Abigail Adams (1776), wife to John Adams. John Adams being a member of the Continental Congress and the 2nd United States President, Abigail took it upon herself to write letters to not only her husband but other men in power to push them to include women in being able to handle power, and not all of it reside to the husband. Since then organizations were formed in the early years of America to push for women’s power. In 1848, the Seneca Falls Convention took place where 300 women signed the Declaration of Sentiments to model the Declaration of Independence to show their demands as women citizens. Following up, in 1869, Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association to fight for all women’s rights. Soon after the association was formed women went straight in to positions of power with Julia Addington being the first woman elected to public office as a superintendent of Mitchell County schools (1869), Susanna Salter became the first woman to serve as a mayor in the U.S. in the city of Argonia, Kansas (1887), and in 1892 Laura Eisenhuth became the first elected to a statewide executive office as the superintendent of public construction. Right before the passing of the 19th amendment, granting women suffrage, in 1916 Jeanette Rankin became the first to be elected to congress.

Following The 19th Amendment

After the passing of the 19th amendment, the name of a woman became much more popular in higher positions of power through state and federal government. In 1933, during a very challenging time for America in it’s post-war Great Depression, a woman named Frances Perkins took the cabinet position of secretary of labor. Appointed by president Franklin D. Roosevelt, Ms. Perkins was very influential in writing the New Deal and monumental programs to restore the American economy and workforce. In a more recent time, 1992 is deemed the “Year of the Woman” due to it being the first year two woman served on the senate at the same time, with the addition of four more by the end of the year. Nancy Pelosi became speaker of the house, not once but twice, her first time being in 2007 and then coming back in 2019. Previously in 1984, Geraldine Ferraro was the first woman picked as a candidate to be vice president with running official Walter Mondale, in 2021, Kamala Harris was not only the first woman, but woman of color to be elected into the White House as the Vice President of the United States.

Closure

From simply writing letters to the Continental Congress, to sitting alongside the President, women have moved up in the chain of power before their voices were even allowed to be heard. All types of women have stepped up to the plate to change history by taking on power that before them was only held by men. Local positions as simple as a school county superintendent to the major voice of a Supreme Court justice, women have fought long and hard to make a change in every aspect of life. We now hold jobs that used to be only for men, and our strength as countless examples throughout society. What women do you know have influenced the power we show? How could you help fight for women today?

6 Dynamic Women in Music

by Blair Thomas

1. Halsey

Halsey was born Ashley Frangipane on September 29, 1994, in Clark, New Jersey. Her stage name is a rearrangement of her first name, Ashley. She is known in the music industry as a biracial, bisexual, alternative singer who is not afraid to be bold. Her career began during her college days, when she was so broke that music was what kept food on the table. She posted one of her first songs, “Ghost”, to SoundCloud, where it gained a lot of popularity in 2014. She went on to release her first album, Badlands in 2015, and promoted it by doing interviews on late night talk shows. Following the success of that, she released 3 more albums – hopeless fountain kingdom, Manic, and If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power – that have all been on the Billboard Top 100 Charts. She has earned awards from MTV, Billboard, and People Choice Awards and her success only continues to grow.

2. Alanis Morrissette

Alanis Morrissette was born June 1, 1974, in Ottawa, Canada. In the music world, she is known for her alternative-rock arrangements and her lyricism. Alanis has been interested in music for majority of her life, as she started playing piano when she was 5 and began composing when she was 7. At age 14, she signed a record deal after previously working with Nickelodeon. She released 2 dance-pop albums with them in 1991 and 1992, which earned her a few awards. However, her breakout album, Jagged Little Pill, with an emotionally raw, rock sound. This album proceeded to win Morrissette 4 Grammy awards. Each of her albums after that explored different types of sounds, like Eastern musicals, Spiritual music, and more. She is still well-loved and continues to amaze us today.

3. Lauryn Hill

Even though Lauryn Hill has only released one solo album, she was and is still a very influential and prominent singer, especially in the black community. Hill was born on May 26, 1975, in East Orange, New Jersey. She was fascinated in music from a young age and at the age of 13, she began performing at Harlem’s Apollo Theater. Soon after that, she met Pras Michel, and his cousin Wyclef Jean and they created a group called The Fugees. They went on to release 2 albums, with the second, The Score, being a smash hit and selling over 17 million copies. This made them the best-selling rap group of all time and earned them 2 Grammy Awards. Shortly after this, she released her one and only solo album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, making her an established artist and selling over 19 million copies. The album was and still is highly favored because of its neo soul sound with splashes of reggae. It garnered her worldwide success, winning 5 Grammys, 3 AMA’s, a Billboard Award, a Soul Train Award, and an MTV Music Award. Even though she only released one album, she still achieved great success.

4. Victoria Monet

You may not know Victoria Monet’s name, but you definitely know some of her work. Monet was born May 1, 1993, and she was interested in music at a young age. Victoria participated in the youth choir at her church, as well as participating in the city dance team. She mostly works in the pop music scene, writing for Ariana Grande, Coco Jones, Nas, Chris Brown, T.I, and more. Her passion for songwriting began with poetry as she exchanged it with her older cousin. While exploring this passion, she also began exploring the world of production and the behind the scenes of music. After her girl group never got off the ground, songwriting became her main source of income. Victoria would use her own voice on demo tracks in the hopes that someone would want to sign her, and that is exactly what happened. The CEO of Atlantic Records offered her a deal and she signed it that day. When it comes to her own music, she focuses more on a pop-R&B sound. Her debut EP, Nightmares & Lullabies – Part 1 was released back in 2014, along with the follow up EP, Nightmares & Lullabies – Part 2. For about 3 years, Monet spent her time touring and opening for acts such as Fifth Harmony and Little Mix. In 2020, Victoria Monet released her debut album Jaguar, and her career is building slowly but steadily and gracefully.

5. Lindsey Stirling

Lindsey Stirling does not sing like the rest of these women. She is an instrumentalist, specifically a violinist, and was born on September 21, 1986. Her specific focus combines all of her specialties, because when she performs it is a choreographed violin performance. She does a wide range of music styles, from classical to pop to EDM etc. When she isn’t doing original songs, she performs covers on YouTube, which accounts for a major part of her success. Her music video of the song “Crystallize” was the eighth most watched video in 2012, and her cover of “Radioactive” with Pentatonix won the Response of the Year reward at the first YouTube music awards back in 2013. Stirling managed to sell her first million records worldwide in 2014 and her career has been heightened ever since. Stirling was featured in Forbes’ 30 under 30 back in 2015. Her second album was number 2 on the Top 100 charts and she has over 9 million subscribers on YouTube. In 2017, Lindsey released a holiday album called “Warmer in the Winter”. All in the same year, she also competed on the 25th season of “Dancing with the Stars” and announced her fifth studio album, “Artemis”. Her career continues to grow more and more as her audience continues to grow.

6. Whitney Houston

The final dynamic woman on our list is the late and great Whitney Houston. Whitney was born August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. It seemed to her that it was her destiny to sing as her mom and cousin were well known figures in American Gospel. She started out young, singing in the choir at her church. By the time Whitney turned 15, she was performing with her mother in the hopes of getting a record deal of her own. She was soon scouted by a photographer and became a very popular teen model, becoming one of the first black women to appear on the cove Seventeen magazine. However, music was still what she wanted to do the most. In 1985, Whitney released her debut album, Whitney Houston, which stayed at the top of the Hot 100 charts for 14 nonconsecutive weeks. She won a Grammy Award for the song “Saving All my Love for You” off of the album and it was presented to her by her cousin, Dionne Warwick. There was continued success with her sophomore album, “Whitney”. The record went platinum multiple times and also won a Grammy for the song, “I Wanna Dance with Somebody”.

As her career continued, Houston segued into acting. She often participated in the making of the soundtracks, which helped with the success of the movies. This was the trend for The Bodyguard, Waiting to Exhale, and The Preacher’s Wife. She went on to make more albums, such as My Love is Your Love, which also won a Grammy. She was acknowledged as the most awarded of all time in 2006 by the Guinness Book of World Records. The last album she released was one that provided healing for her after her struggles with drug addiction. Houston died of an accidental drowning on February 11, 2012. She was an angel and her light shined bright. She will always be greatly missed.