A New Year Brings A New Photo Shoot!

In honor of the New Year, here are some of my hot shots from my latest photo shoot. These photos were taken by Len Depas, noted photographer extraordinaire, of the Photographer's Gallery in Washington, DC. Len is also the talented photographer responsible for that awesome book cover below! Enjoy!

Coming to a Borders or Barnes & Noble Near You!

HAPPY NEW YEAR! I know that it has been a while since I've blogged, but things have definitely picked up over the last month! On December 7th, 2008 I crowned Nicole White as the 2009 Miss District of Columbia USA and Jessica Nowlin was crowned the 2009 Miss District of Columbia Teen USA. Since then, things have been going full speed! Then when the holidays arrived, I headed to Georgia to see my parents and have a little vacation before ushering in the New Year with friends and colleagues at Station 9 on U St. NW in Washington, DC. Where else could I say goodbye to what has been an unprecedented year, and welcome in what hopefully will bring even better things in 2009 but my home of DC! No matter what my domicile may be... my home will always be the same and I am forever a Washingtonian!

Now, there is more good news on the rise in 2009! My picture was selected to go on the cover of a Digital Portrait Photography book by Steve Sint and the book was released at the beginning of this month! The photo, seen here, was taken by my friend and one of my favorite photographers, Len Depas. He runs The Photographers Gallery in northwest Washington, DC and the man is incredible. My new headshot was also taken by him! Thanks Len for everything!

If you need a good quality photo, I strongly recommend that you pay him a visit! You will always get your money's worth!

My How Time Flies...

Whoever said "time flies when you're having fun" was absolutely right! I am seven days away from the end of my reign as Miss District of Columbia USA 2008 and I can't help but feel some sadness in coming to the end of what has been an unexpected and amazing year! I've had an opportunity to meet several of the contestants in the 2009 pageant, and I feel pretty confident that the District will carry on with a strong titleholder to represent us next year. All last week and this weekend, I have really taken time to reflect on all the wonderful things and experiences this past year has brought me, and I am truly grateful for the opportunity. I can only hope that our next titleholder too feels the sense of urgency for her presence in the community and dutifully responds to that call. Since work has been rather crazy these last few weeks, and has not lent me much time to update the blog, here are some pics from my most recent appearances:

The Washington Post Music and Dance Scholarship Awards

The 2009 Miss Maryland USA Pageant

Breast Cancer Awareness in the Nation's Capital

With October being National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I had the opportunity to participate in some of the Nation's breast cancer awareness programs over the past weekend. On Saturday I attended Women Against Real Risk's (WARR) Breast Cancer Awareness Gala at the Washington Courts Hotel on this past Saturday. WARR, is an organization founded by two wonderful women, Totlyn and Claudia, who travel with a staff and volunteers to Jamaica every year to offer women free mammograms. On Saturday, they honored their hardworking staff, volunteers and survivors and fundraised for next year's trip which I can hopefully participate in.

Then on Sunday, some of the 2009 Miss DC USA/ DC Teen USA contestants joined Ivana, Miss DC Teen USA, and me down at the National Mall for the American Cancer Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. The five mile walk took us around most of the DC monuments and it was an amazing sight to see! Although it was pretty cold that morning, the smiling faces and energy of breast cancer survivors helped to warm us up along the way, and once we reached the finish line, the real party began! We cha cha slid and cupid shuffled along with hundreds of fellow walkers and even ran into some of my fellow Howard University School of Law students walking for a good cause!

Miss DC USA is Coming Home for HOMECOMING!

Today is Wednesday, and I am soooo excited because in two days I will be back in the city I love and cherish oh so much! I never realized a work transfer could make me miss DC so much, but that just further confirms that I could not have been more fortunate to represent such an amazing "state" (the District, of course) at Miss USA. Living in Manhattan really gives me an opportunity to step back and realize how blessed I am. I am so grateful to have served as an ambassador for the most powerful city in the country and I am extremely excited to COME HOME!

That's right, Howard University's homecoming is this weekend, and as a recent Howard University School of Law graduate (class of 2008 baby!), I am excited to experience my first HU alumni weekend, and most importantly, my only HU alumni weekend as the reigning Miss District of Columbia USA 2008! There are tons of events going on, and in addition, I have a few appearances in honor of October's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. So yes, I will be out and about all around the city, and I hope to see you there!

New York, New York, Guess Who’s Back?!

Unfortunately one is never fully in control of where life will take them, and in my instance, life, or rather my job, has taken me back to New York City to work for the fabulous firm, McKee Nelson LLP, in their capital markets division. While I will miss DC, don’t worry… your Miss DC USA will be back every other weekend keeping up with appearances and community service activities all the way up until I pass the crown on to the new titleholder in December!

In fact, I returned to DC this weekend to serve as a guest presenter for the Military Hospitality Alliance’s 5^th Annual Culinary Competition where chefs from the various branches or armed forces whipped up delectable courses and competed for the coveted Culinary Competition gold medals! Although the weather wasn’t the best, rain didn’t stop the military servicemen and women from coming out in large numbers to take part in the event. Ivana Grace, Miss Teen DC USA, and I had the honor of announcing the winners, awarding them their prizes and medals, and taking photographs with them. Sadly, we didn’t get to taste any of the creations, but we did volunteer as taste-testers for next year’s event!

After the Culinary Competition, I changed clothes and headed to my second appearance of the evening… the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, Inc. Annual Awards Gala. The event was definitely a sight to see! It was held at the Washington DC Convention Center and I was photographed and interviewed on the red carpet by a variety of media outlets before the event began. The awards dinner and gala honored such notables as actress and humanitarian Kerry Washington for her work as a community activist and Illinois Senator and Presidential nominee Barack Obama, who brought the room to tears when he spoke after accepting his award. The convention center held so much history on Saturday evening, and as a former political science major, I was honored to be invited!

Miss DC USA 2008 Sings the National Anthem!

So by now, it is no surprise that I am a huge fan of the Washington Nationals, especially after my fun-filled adventure with the Nats for the Night of Stars Woman of the Year Dating Auction I participated in back in May to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Washington, DC. I met some of the players “off” the field and really enjoyed hanging out, so I became a convert! Since then, I’ve had the opportunity to attend several games, and I even picked up the sport of baseball as my bar exam stress reliever.

Since singing is one of my great loves, I decided to combine the two—I got to sing the Star Spangled Banner for the Nats game last week! First, when you inquire about singing, you have to send in a CD or DVD (no one wants a butchered National Anthem!) and once reviewed, they Entertainment committee schedules you for a game. I was scheduled to perform on September 23^rd at the game against the Florida Marlins.

When you arrive at the stadium, they conduct a sound check a few hours before the game, and then they give you field passes and show you to your own personal “Green Room”, which is a lounge area for you and your VIP guests. My girls, Bre and Erin accompanied me, and my teen, Ivana Grace (Miss DC Teen USA ’08) came out as well. Ladies, I must say the view from the field is pretty nice. 

The experience was AMAZING and Nationals Park was by far the largest crowd I’ve ever sang in front of… not to mention the game is broadcast on television as well! But, I absolutely enjoyed myself, sang to the best of my ability, then signed autographs and took pictures afterwards with Nats fans (and now recent Miss DC USA/ Miss DC Teen USA fans!). The night ended on a grand note as the Nats whooped the Marlins 9-4!