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!