Kansas City, MO Promotional Weekend

Kansas City…woo-hoo!! :) Friday morning, I flew from Los Angeles to Atlanta to Kansas City, MO. Although the trip was a little rough, the weekend was well worth it. I was privileged to have met Miss Black Nevada, Kansas, Missouri, Arizona, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, and Illinois and spend some time getting to know them this weekend. They’re such awesome young women! Friday night when I arrived, I addressed the delegates about life as Miss Black USA and answered questions concerning my experiences. After that, we headed to Sue’s house (Sue is the director of the Miss Black Kansas and Miss Black Missouri USA Pageants) to have a birthday party for Miss Black Michigan (she turned 21 Sunday). Happy Birthday, Kyona!! :) We had a ball playing games, sharing funny stories, and eating snacks and cake.

We participated in a radio show hosted, produced, and created by high school children Saturday morning called “Generation Rap” on 103.3FM at 8-9am. It was very interesting. The topic was beauty and the perception of people in the world of pageantry. At first, the young radio show team had an overall negative view of pageants and women who compete in them, but by the end of the hour, we were able to address many issues and concerns the teens had expressed. This lead them to have a better understanding of the purpose and benefit of competing in pageants, and they seemingly were more readily able to accept the idea of pageants as positive entities. I was so impressed by the young people we interacted with while broadcasting “Generation Rap”. They asked thought provoking questions and were very brave in expressing their opinions. After that, we had a photo shoot at Artis Studio. It was fun and went very well. Everybody looked so lovely in their pictures! From there, we went to an autograph signing event at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. Lunch at Harper’s Restaurant followed the autograph signing. The last event of the night was a banquet honoring the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The speakers at this event were phenomenal! One particular thing I heard stuck out to me: “the people who will steal your dreams are not your enemies; they are people who you call friends, and they can often times live under your same roof!” Those are words to take heed to. Live your dreams! Do not allow yourself to be discouraged by dream stealers!

So, right now I’m sitting on a plane headed to Atlanta from Kansas City and attempting to learn to play poker for a charity poker tournament in which I’m scheduled to participate in Scottsdale, Arizona. It’s not going so well. I thought I would learn pretty quickly because it is, afterall, just a card game. I was wrong. In fact, I think I officially stink at playing poker. :( I need help!!