National Wear Red Day - February 3, 2012

On Friday, February 3, 2012, National Wear Red Day®, Americans will wear red to show their support for women's heart health. This observance promotes the Red Dress symbol and provides an opportunity for everyone to unite in The Heart Truth campaign's life-saving awareness-to-action movement by putting on a favorite red dress, red shirt, red tie, or Red Dress Pin. Together, we will continue to urge women to protect their hearts, as heart disease is the #1 killer of women.

Please join Miss Black Louisiana USA as we start National Wear Red Day with a bang at the National Wear Red Day Celebrity Date Auction, on THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 2 at 8pm at 600 Main!!

 

Miss Black USA Comes to Howard University Hospital to Promote Healthy Hearts on MLK Day

The following article was posted on the Howard University Health Sciences website about our visit this weekend in DC.

WASHINGTON (Jan. 12) – Eighteen of the nation’s most beautiful women, all dressed in fabulous red gowns, will visit Howard University Hospital on Martin Luther King Jr. Day to charm patients, talk with hospital staff and D.C. area residents encourage women to take care of their hearts.

The women, Miss Black USA contestants, are in town for the annual Red Dress Photo Shoot, when the ladies adorn beautiful red dresses for a special promotional pageant photograph promoting February as Heart Month. 

But the women, who hail from Minnesota, Tennessee, Virginia, Indiana, Michigan, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, the Virgin Islands and other states, said they to do something to help others while in D.C.

“These young ladies, as well as the organization, strongly believe that service is a part of who we are,” said Karen Arrington, who founded the organization in 1965.  “We felt it was fitting to do something in tribute to a man who through his service changed America.  We couldn’t think of a better place to do that than at Howard University Hospital.”

After visiting with hospital patients, the women will gather in Freedmen’s Hall for a chat with local residents and hospital staff.

One message that they particularly want to drive home is that of the importance of developing healthy habits to protect hearts.

Heart disease is the number one killer of women, Arrington said.  One in four women die from heart disease annually.  That is particularly true of African-American women, Arrington said.

So, for the past three years, her organization has partnered with the Heart Truth Campaign, an initiative of the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“We want to encourage young women, particularly young black women, to live a healthy lifestyle to avoid heart disease in the future,” Arrington said.

“These women are not only beautiful, they’re highly intelligent,” she said.

Miss Louisiana has a master's degree in Public Administration.  Miss Maryland and Miss Michigan and have master’s degrees in public health.  Many of the women are undergraduates and Miss Nevada has a doctorate in physical therapy.

The event is free and open to the public.  Seats, however, are limited.  To register, call 202.865.1375 or email tdeyo@huhosp.org.

Miss Black USA....not a pageant, but a MOVEMENT!

The Miss Black USA Pageant and Scholarship Foundation, Inc., was founded in 1986 by Karen Arrington. With civil rights activist parents, Karen was driven to form this organization due to the lack of a positive portrayal of Black women in the media. When she opened a magazine, she did not see anyone whom looked like her. She saw the pageant as a vehicle to provide scholarship to women of color, to not only showcase these intelligent, beautiful Black women, but to CHANGE THE FACE of young African American women.

Today, the movement continues with the pageant becoming the "Who's Who of Women of Color". 80% of the 2012 delegates hold advance degrees including attorneys, doctors, and public administrators.

With service and a commitment to community at the heart and soul of this organization, I am proud to represent the state of Louisiana as your Miss Black Louisiana USA 2012. Aside from my platform of improving the state of higher education in Louisiana, I am also a voice of The Heart Truth Campaign, to raise awareness of heart disease as the #1 killer of women.

Please join me on my journey to the crown by making a small donation to get me to the national competition on August 13, 2012. The countdown is on and I cannot do it without your support. I am passionate about my approach to my platform, and believe education is the KEY! 

Click HERE to donate! Thank you!