Today we’d like to introduce you to Darrell Larome. Them and their team share their story with us below:
The Miss HBCU Teen Pageant provides scholarships, resources, and support to high school girls of color attending Historically Black Colleges and Universities to ensure that they are empowered, excel during their college years, and advance successfully into their careers.
We all know the impact that A Different World had on Historically Black Colleges and Universities’ enrollment rates & excitement from black high school students.
After the show’s ending, the morale, exposure, & enrollment rates for many HBCUs began to decrease. There were so many elements in that show that was extremely relatable to the African American Community and many HBCU experiences that were directly exposed high school students considering higher education.
After becoming extremely engaged with campus activities and the HBCU culture in the Atlanta University Center, it dawned on us that there are so many high school students back our local communities and around the world that have no idea of these experiences & the empowering, unified culture. Many may hear about it from recruiters or staff but rarely get a taste or preview of that experience themselves, even during college tours. With that, and knowing how much talent lives in our youth, we’ve decided to bring that HBCU experience directly to high school students.
Pageants at Historically Black Colleges & Universities are less focused on ‘beauty’ and more focused on tradition, culture, and empowerment. These are values that our communities need. Many institutions drop the ball when it comes to tapping into the power & influence of the performing arts. Overall, the arts have a huge impact on people’s thoughts and decisions. It leaves an impression. It provokes thoughts.
This pageant is an avenue to use arts to influence and excite youth in our communities. We partner with current & previous HBCU campus Queens, HBCU Alumni Associations, and local educators to establish a supportive community that ensures a successful pageant program is produced.
We are the first and only team to produce a pageant exclusively girls of color committed to attending HBCUs. We encourage community support as it reflects not only the culture at Historically Black Colleges & Universities but also the values we encourage on our contestants.
The Miss HBCU Teen Scholarship Pageant aims to benefit the community full-circle; starting with students, connected with alumni associations, partnered with supportive businesses, and led to our prestigious HBCUs.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
So far, it has been a rocky but beautiful road. We’ve connected with many students, queens, alumni, and businesses that believe in our vision and support our mission wholeheartedly. Within our first year, all of our donations have come from donors of color. The challenge is getting direct connections & pipelines from our alumni associations so that our events can literally be recruitment fairs and opportunities for our high school girls to have direct connections with their prospective institutions. This may derive from the generation gaps, but I know by our 3rd or 4th year, that should change.
It’s also been challenging spreading the word through Black & HBCU related platforms/social media pages that usually require budgets that we don’t have at the current moment.
Our team is comprised of all volunteers with full-time jobs. This can sometimes lead to an overwhelming amount of responsibilities to not only maintain the pageant’s current foundation but also support its expansion to impact more youth across the United States.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Darrell Larome, the Director, is an overall creative. This Morehouse Man & Columbia grad is currently working for a fundraising consultant firm in New York. With that, he’s able to connect the dots on how philanthropy, business and event management can support producing better events that serve his community. He’s known for amazing dance classes, premier fashion shows, artistic poetry events, directing great visuals and now producing the #1 pageant for Black girls.
Brelynn Hunt, the Assistant Director, is both “Beauty & Brains.” The visionary and media guru of the pageant’s strategic plan. Brelynn just received her Masters in Physiology and is also a Spelman alumna. She has held several titles and is currently Miss Cumberland with the Miss America/Miss Maryland pageant system. She’s a future Doctor and her relatable personality and grind set her apart from others.
Jessika Dickerson, the Director of Community Engagement, is the heartbeat of our program. Another beautiful Spelman alumna whose hard work has shined in all of her accomplishments thus far. Currently an Associate Account Executive at Faire, she really maximizes the impact that the pageant has through sealing partnerships with brands that align with the pageant. With the heart of a true Queen, Jessika also supports the enrichment of the philanthropy for the pageant’s donors.
Aarin Christina Carver, our 1st Miss HBCU Teen, is the blueprint and prime example of what this program represents. The definition of Black Girls Magic. She is a Baltimore native and current Freshman at THEE Alabama State University! She is a part of the Sensational Stingettes dance team and currently holds a 3.8 G.P.A. She puts God first in all that she does and has a true passion for Black girl excellence, community service, and leading students to HBCUs for higher education. She is the daughter of the Legendary Adrienne Watson Carver of Studio “A” Modeling Etiquette and Dance Academy.
What are your plans for the future?
We have a few things in store that will lead to not only more scholarships for our contestants but girls of color in all! We plan ‘shake the table’ when it comes to Black girls in pageantry. This summer, we will have two amazing HBCU-themed fundraising events in both Atlanta and the DMV area and expect a huge turnout with support from current HBCU students and alumni (everyone’s welcomed)! We hope to receive an increased amount of financial support to the point that we can award EVERY contestant in next year’s pageant a scholarship!
Contact Info:
- Email: hbcuteen@gmail.com
- Website: www.misshbcuteen.com
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/misshbcuteen
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/misshbcuteen
- Twitter: www.twitter.com/misshbcuteen
- Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCZaQKpd7cqaRFeoyJSHhGtQ
- Other: www.misshbcuteen.com/donate
Image Credits
https://www.instagram.com/studiomuzeofficial
https://www.instagram.com/rgspark
https://www.instagram.com/cookie_captures
