Mrs. International Pageant ....... in living color !!!

Whew, a vacation does a WORLD of good!  I am back, feeling nice and refreshed.  The mountain air, cool crisp breezes and lots of rest has totally rejuvenated me!   A lot happened while I was away.

Three new School America system queens were crowned in Orlando (more on that later this week) and the Mrs. International pageant kicked off in Chicago.   Known as one of the BIG THREE, this pageant always provides LOTS of great looks and surprises.

I've decided (as I can do, because it's my blog) to highlight some of the women of color in this year's Mrs. International pageant. Ironically, the very first Mrs. International was an African-American - Joanne Brown in 2000.  

There has been one other Mrs. International titleholder of color - Armaiti Shahidi-Fitzgerald in 2009.

Now let's look at some of the 2013 contestants:

Ceylone Boothe Grooms, Mrs. New Jersey International 

Nedjy Jean-Charles, Mrs. Haiti International

Afoma Eguh-Okafor, Mrs. Africa International

Quynci Joyner, Mrs. Arkansas International

Karli Bose, Mrs. Asia International

Leila Fraga, Mrs. Brazil International

Tenisha Dotstry, Mrs. District of Columbia International

LaSheila Yates, Mrs. Iowa International

Joyce Lee Mei Hui, Mrs. Malaysia International

Lailani Gatdula Llanto, Mrs. Manilla International

LaSonja Coleman, Mrs. Maryland International

Gisel Merrifield, Mrs. Mexico International

Andrea Bennet Xiong, Mrs. Minnesota International

Bola Harpprecht, Mrs. New Zealand International

 

 Sanam Azeem, Mrs. Pakistan International

Alicia Almendral, Mrs. Phillippines International

Octavia Ephraim, Mrs. South Africa International

Mireya Rangel, Mrs. Latin America International 

Charlotte Shores, Mrs. Washington International

I don't know about you, but I am pretty impressed!!!!  This is a significant number and a great amount of diversity.  Learn more about the contestants (I've linked where I could)....I am sure you'll like what you read.

I've had a couple of great friends compete in this system and believe me when I tell you - doing well is NO easy task.  These women put tons of work into developing their platform, working hard for Go Red, fund raising and making appearances!  I should know, I've seen my fair share of Mrs. International titleholder "work" ;-).

 with Mrs. All-American Classic and Mrs. North Carolina International 2009 at a MLK Day Parade in Baltimore, MD

with Mrs. Maryland International 2011 at a press event

with Mrs. All-American Classic and Mrs. Maryland International 2009 after speaking at a Health & Fitness Fair in DC.

 with Mrs. Maryland All-American and Mrs. Maryland International 2006 at a roller skating fundraiser

This could be the year that the Mrs. International pageant runs off with the lead!  Of the "BIG THREE" - Mrs. International is the only pageant to have crowned more than one woman of color with it's ultimate title.  Mrs. United States has only crowned one - Stephanie Hunt of Michigan in 2007.  The Mrs. America system has crowned, two Hawai'ians in the last 12 years, but not a woman of "brown skin".  Interesting!

Good luck to all the contestants!!! Don't forget to make lots of memories and have a blast!