By: Asia Johnson Vanessa Williams

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams was born on march 18, 1963, in Bronx, New York. I chose to do this project on her because she was the First African American to become “ Miss America”. She is inspirational , she has encouraged plenty of young African American females. Even though her title was snatched. Her success never stopped. .

Background Both her parents worked as music educators. They later moved to Millwood, New York to take jobs as music teachers. Her parents influenced her life with music, she devoted her life to music and dance. She wanted to become the First African American Rockette. She also studied jazz and theater arts. To include , she excelled in French horn , piano , and violin. She received “Presidential Scholarship For Drama” and was accepted into Carnegie Mellon University but instead went to Syracuse University in New York.

Miss America scandal She was miss New York 1983, initially gained public recognition as the first African-American woman to win the title of Miss America when she was crowned Miss America 1984 in September 1983. Several weeks before the end of her win, however, a scandal arose when “Penthouse” magazine bought and published unauthorized nude photographs of her. She was pressured to give up her title. The pictures came about when she was working for Tom Chiapel as a receptionist and makeup artist. He offered her a higher job position for more money and she took it. She regretted it later and asked for them to be destroyed , but they were not. It was a big mistake. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwBmoNXrr0w

Comeback (ACHEIVEMENT) Believing the "best revenge is success," she referred to cleaning up her tarnished image. She was ignored but the film industry because of the scandal. Her public relationship with Ramon Hervey II helped with the rise of her comeback. She managed to in a film role in the movie “The Pick Up Artist” act . That same year, she got married to Ramon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZW9NgaENjCI

Comeback part 2 (ACHIEVEMENT) Her husband put her career back on track, helping her to sign a recording contract with “Polygram”, and supported her through the release of her 1988 album, “The Right Stuff”. The album went gold, and three singles : “The Right Stuff," He's Got The Look" and “Dreaming'" all made it into the top 10. Her album won her the title of best new female artist award from the national association for the advancement of colored people that year, as well as three Grammy award nominations.

Opinion Even know Vanessa went through that tragic scandal , she still ended up successful. The media has torn and drug her name in the dirt but still managed to do better for herself and her family. She has children and is very wealthy. In September 2015, she served as head judge for the Miss America 2016 pageant. At the beginning of the event, Miss America CEO, Sam Haskell, made a public apology to her for what was said to her during the events of 1984. This shows me no matter how bad things could be , good can always come out of it.