Nina Davuluri Looks Back at Her Year as Miss America 2014

Source: NBC News

Nina Davuluri made history last year as the first Indian American to win the Miss America pageant. Born in Syracuse, New York, the daughter of Indian immigrants, Davuluri beat out 52 contestants for the 2014 title with a Bollywood-inspired dance performance and a platform of "Celebrating Diversity through Cultural Competency." Though her win was marred with an online barrage of racist tweets and social comments -- questioning Davuluri's American identity and incorrectly calling her Arab and Muslim -- the 24-year-old met her first challenge wearing the crown with grace and aplomb, rising above fray and focusing on her year ahead.

As she prepares to hand over that crown at the Miss America 2015 pageant this weekend, Davuluri looks back at what she was able to accomplish in the last year, and hints at what could be ahead. Below, five things to know about Nina Davuluri before she adds "former" to her title.


1. She doesn't actually remember the most memorable moment of her Miss America pageant.Before she was even named the winner, Davuluri seemed to know the significance ahead as she stood with fellow contestant and finalist Miss California, Crystal Lee. At the time, she said "We're both so proud. We're making history right here, standing as Asian Americans." But as she thinks back to "The Moment" -- as her name was called, as a sea of faces celebrated her, as the crown was placed on her head? "I honestly don't remember the actual crowning moment," said Davuluri. "It was such a blur!"
"Unfortunately, I was prepared," said Davuluri. "However, I can honestly say that for every one negative tweet, comment, or post, there were hundreds if not thousands of people who had positive words of encouragement and support all across the country and world for that matter."

2. Davuluri wasn't completely surprised by the torrent of negative tweets and nasty social media comments following her win.


3. She won the title by celebrating, not playing down, her Indian heritage, with the hope of sending a message to other young, minority women. 
"I came into this organization wanting to change the face of who Miss America was," said Davuluri. "It was so timely for this organization to finally reach out to a new demographic of young women that is representative of America today. I hope this encourages young women to embrace their ethnicities and cultural heritage."

4. Born and raised in New York, Davuluri spent two early years of her life in India, and believes finding balance between both cultures is a lifelong process.
"I'm very blessed to have a family that was always supportive and encouraging of my dreams," said Davuluri. "The biggest thing I've learned through this experience is that assimilation has to happen from both sides. It has been a constantly evoloving journey in my household."


5. She once had designs on becoming a doctor, but now plans on pursuing her MBA. Her advice for the next woman to wear the crown?
"I will always say that becoming Miss America was something I have worked for my entire life," said Davuluri. "My biggest advice is to know who you are, love who you are, and stand up for who you are."

Miss America Nina Davuluri visits NJ children's hospital

Source: New Jersey 12News

NEW BRUNSWICK - Children in a New Jersey hospital got a special visit from a celebrity bearing an icy treat today. Miss America Nina Davuluri was at PSE&G Children's Specialized Hospital in New Brunswick visiting patients and handing out Dairy Queen Blizzards.

At least $1 from each blizzard sold at many Dairy Queens in northern and central New Jersey on Thursday are being donated to Children's Miracle Network, which supports the New Brunswick hospital.

"Oftentimes when I walk into a room, the children don't necessarily know who I am or what I am," Davuluri says. "But all they see is that a princess has walked into the room for a day. So to take their mind off their treatments that they're going through even for just a few minutes is one of the best parts of my job."

Davuluri is making her final few appearances with the national title. A new Miss America will be crowned next month.

Miss America Goes to Washington

by Alan Neuhauser

Call it a meeting of the old and the beautiful.

Members of Congress and Education Secretary Arne Duncan met with Miss America Nina Davuluri this week to talk science, technology, engineering and math education. The Miss America Foundation and Davuluri – herself a science grad from the University of Michigan – have made STEM learning one of their platforms. When the annual pageant returns in September, it will for the second time offer a range of STEM scholarships to its contestants. 

“Sixty percent of the contestants on the Miss America stage were involved in STEM-related fields: PT school, PA school, engineers,” she says, referring to schools for physical therapists and physicians assistants. “If you enter in this organization, you walk away with some form of scholarship money.” Davuluri began competing in beauty pageants to pay for college, she says. Having been named Miss Michigan’s Outstanding Teen in 2006, Miss Syracuse and Miss New York in 2013, and Miss America last September, she’s won about $92,000 – allowing her, with help from her parents, to graduate debt-free.

“I had no means to pay for school aside from student loans, so I started competing,” Davuluri tells U.S. News during an interview on Capitol Hill. “This is not the only way to earn a scholarship and it’s not for everyone. This is a creative way to do it.” Schools and employers have long struggled to attract women and minorities. While women made up more than half of the country’s college-educated workers in 2010, for example, they comprised only 28 percent of the science and engineering workforce, the National Science Board found earlier this year. Meanwhile, blacks, Latinos, American Indians and Alaskan Natives accounted for just 10 percent of science and engineering workers. Asians made up 19 percent. Davuluri, who is Indian-American and the daughter of a physician father and computer-programmer mother, declined to speculate how discrimination and social pressures may discourage women from entering those fields.

“I can’t say I know one particular case,” she tells U.S. News, adding, “I never experienced anything in terms of not being encouraged to go into a STEM field.” She suggested, though, that students, guidance counselors, parents and lawmakers could look more broadly at what a science or technology job might encompass. “Thinking outside the box of what STEM is is something that I’ve been really trying to encourage this year,” she says. Davuluri pointed to her visit to a cosmetics factory, where she learned to make her own lip gloss. “I think a lot of times, we are in those confines of engineer, computer programmer,” she says. “Oftentimes young girls can’t think outside the box of what STEM is.” And that goes for tuition, too: “The cost of a higher education is astronomically expensive,” she says. Paying for it, she continues, “doesn’t have to be what you think might be the normal way.”

Miss America vs. Miss USA: Rival pageants seen as similar

BY EMILY BECK COGBURN

In the longtime rivalry between the Miss USA and Miss America pageants, Miss USA is the flashy upstart while Miss America is the modest one with her head in a book. At least, that’s the way it’s supposed to be. The Miss America pageant started in 1921, the talent competition was added in 1935 and the first scholarship was given in 1945, according to the organization’s website. Miss USA began as a breakaway competition, begun by a swimsuit company in 1952 that had been a sponsor of the older pageant. “Competitors in the Miss America Pageant do it for scholarship money for college. They have diverse career interests,” says Valerie Hayes, who bills herself as the Pageant Coach and hosts an online talk radio program about pageants.

In contrast, Miss USA competitors see the pageant as a stepping stone to careers in the entertainment industry — in acting, modeling or broadcasting, she says. Miss USA is a subset of the Miss Universe contest, a for-profit organization owned by casino mogul Donald Trump and NBCUniverse. For the past six years, the pageant was held in Las Vegas until moving to Baton Rouge for the 2014 event. The Miss America Organization, which moved the pageant back to its historic Atlantic City, New Jersey, home last year, is a nonprofit and has connections to charities such as Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals.
“Since its inception, Miss USA has been unabashedly a beauty/swimsuit pageant. It hasn’t confused its identity by adding talent, making interview a main scoring component or offering educational scholarships — all of which Miss America did after it began. This has allowed the production to embrace the sex, show the women in skimpier bikinis, etc.,” says sociologist Hilary Levey Friedman, a beauty pageant expert. Do these contrasting approaches to pageantry lead to a different reaction from audiences? Not so much, says Hayes. Actually, viewers tend to confuse the two events.

“If someone tells me they watched a pageant last night, I’ll ask which one. If they don’t know, I’ll ask if it had a talent competition. If it did, then it’s Miss America,” Hayes says. “For most viewers, they’re not that different.” Pageant professionals and more experienced fans can distinguish the two, she added. Not surprisingly, the subtle contrast between the pageants has not resulted in much difference in viewership in recent years. Both are significantly down from Miss America’s heyday in the 1950s, when the show in 1952 drew 39 percent of the TV audience. Last year was an exception. Miss America dashed ahead of Miss USA, capturing around 8 million viewers, its best ratings since 2004, when the pageant last appeared on ABC. Miss USA had 4.6 million viewers on NBC, perhaps because it aired at the same time as the NBA finals, according to website zap2it.com, which analyzes Nielsen ratings. Previously, Miss America had looked to be on the rocks, with poor ratings prompting ABC to drop the show and the organization forced to move on to cable stations. Picked up by CMT in 2004, it faltered even more. “The production was abysmal,” Hayes says.

CMT also moved the pageant from its original home in Atlantic City to Los Angeles. The cable station then dropped the Miss America pageant in 2007, after which TLC decided to air it. While at TLC, the pageant’s ratings climbed back, rising to 4.5 million, up from 2 million to 3 million during its time at CMT. It returned to ABC in 2011.

Atlantic City unveils Miss America statue, plans for pageant

BY SUZANNE MARINO

ATLANTIC CITY – Plans for the 93rd Miss America pageant are gearing up – and Miss America Organization CEO Sam Haskell said Monday, April 28 on the boardwalk at Kennedy Plaza that the plan is to build on last year’s success and go bigger. He said the Miss America Show Us Your Shoes Parade, set for 5-8:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 13, will have many more free spaces available for families to come, set up their chairs, put down their blankets and make memories of their own. “When we spoke with our fans, the one thing that everyone loved and had great memories of was coming to Atlantic City with their family and watching the parade. We want people to have the chance to make memories of their own,” Haskell said. There will be a select few seats available for ticket holders, but the rest of the boardwalk will be for families and fans to cheer and enjoy the tradition of the parade. The parade will begin at Revel Casino and end at Albany Avenue. Performances will be at Kennedy Plaza in front of Boardwalk Hall.

The plan is to include more local groups, youths, choirs, dance groups, tumblers and gymnasts. Haskell said the 52 contestants will ride in convertibles along the parade route, something Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri described as one of the best events. “I don’t remember much about the crowning, but I remember everything about the parade and all of the people cheering along the parade route,” she said Monday. “It defined the real heart of the events leading up to the pageant that the contestants experienced. That is what makes Atlantic City and Miss America perfect together.” Atlantic City Mayor Don Guardian was part of the festivities Monday. “Welcome back, Miss America. We love you,” he said. Standing in the shadow of Boardwalk Hall, the permanent Miss America statue was unveiled. Toms River sculptor Brian Hanlon talked about how honored he was to create a lasting tribute to Miss America. The statue unveiled in September 2013 was a resin cast of Hanlon’s work. The 6,000-pound bronze sculpture was unveiled Monday in front of fans and supporters of Miss America, including Davuluri and Miss America 1984 Suzette Charles. “This is a really important project for me. Not only is the statue something to decorate our landscape, but what it represents is so important,” Hanlon said. “The scholarship; I understand how hard so many people work to help change women’s lives.”

Hanlon said a panel featuring pictures of Charles and Bette Cooper, the only two Miss New Jerseys to win the crown, is an important part of the landscape in Kennedy Plaza. While Miss America 2013 Mallory Hagan was a model for the stature, it also draws from other contestants, including Charles, Hanlon said. “We wanted a statue that would reflect who Miss America is,” he said. It is also meant to be fun, and the statue was an instant hit with everyone who walked by. They all wanted a picture of themselves being crowned.
The statue was the suggestion of local radio talk show Pinky Kravitz of Margate, according to Liza Cartmel of the Atlantic City Alliance. “Pinky was the brain that put the wheels in motion for the statue. The panels behind the statue help to celebrate the pageant’s Jersey roots,” she said. Kravitz called the finished statue a magnificent addition to Atlantic City and a popular spot for people to come for pictures. A kiosk near the statue will allow anyone to walk up and read about Miss America and its contestants throughout the 93-year history of the pageant. Charles, who was living in Mays Landing when she went from being the first runner-up to becoming Miss America, said she was feeling a lot of emotion as she looked around. Charles acknowledged that the pageant has changed over the years, but said it still does what it has done since its beginnings, and that is to support the dreams of women. “I think the pageant still represents the best in women,” she said.

Charles, who was accompanied by her daughter, Anna Pley, 18, said she was proud to be able to have her share of the experience in Atlantic City. Haskell announced that unlike last year when tickets to the pageant events went on sale several weeks before the parade, the website is up and running, and visitors can check out the events and make plans to attend the preliminary competitions or the live broadcast. Miss America will also do a live “20/20” airing the hour prior to the pageant broadcast on ABC.

Nina Davuluri to attend Indian origin physicians meet

Source: OneIndia

Washington, May 6: Nina Davuluri, the first Indian American to be crowned Miss America, will lead the women's forum session and the "Be Fit Be Cool' walkathon at the 32nd annual convention of Indian-origin physicians. Over 2,000 physicians and their families are expected to attend the annual convention of the American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin (AAPI), the largest ethnic association of physicians in the US, from June 25 to 29 in San Antonio, Texas. 

The convention will deliberate on ways to enhance their own professional growth and identify ways to network and stay united and offer a unified voice to protect their rights as well as explore possibilities to give back to the society, said AAPI president Jayesh Shah. Childhood obesity Awareness Campaign, a pioneering preventive health initiative of AAPI in collaboration with local chapters across several states, was launched in San Antonio by the Texas Indo-American Physicians Society (TIPS) South West Chapter. The Convention will be held from June 25 to 29 in San Antonio, Texas The obesity prevention initiative is one of the top priorities for AAPI, Shah stated. "The Be Fit. Be Cool campaign aims to involve at least two elementary schools in each state to launch the educational programme for youth to adopt simple easy to follow tips to eat more vegetables and fruits, engage in at least one hour of daily physical activity, limit recreational screen time and eliminate sugary drinks," he added. 

"Many of the physicians who will attend this convention have excelled in different specialties and sub-specialties and occupy high positions as faculty members of medical schools, heads of departments, and executives of hospital staff," said AAPI vice president Seema Jain. "The AAPI Convention offers an opportunity to meet directly with these physicians who are leaders in their fields and play an integral part in the decision-making process regarding new products and services," she said

Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri To participate at The White House Easter Egg Roll

On Monday, April 21st, Miss America 2014 Nina Davuluri will be part of the White House's largest annual event, The White House Easter Egg Roll, a 136-year old tradition. This year more than 30,000 people are expected to attend and the theme is "Hop into Healthy, Swing into Shape" in support of First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move campaign.

The day-long event will feature egg-rolling, live music, sports, cooking stations and storytelling, where Nina will be one of the featured readers on the Storytime Stage. There she will join other celebrity readers Jim Carrey, former NFL player and NASA astronaut Leland Melvin, DJ Lance Rock, Debby Ryan from the Disney Channel's JESSIE and Sesame Street's Mando, Rosita, Abby Cadabby and Cookie Monster.
Other highlights of the day will include yoga sessions, healthy eating demonstrations as well as appearances by numerous celebrities, world renowned chefs and athletes and of course President Obama and the First Family.

To learn more about the Easter Egg Roll visit www.WhiteHouse.gov/EasterEggRoll. Tune in for live streams from the South Lawn on April 21, 2014 on WhiteHouse.gov/live. You can also join the conversation online using the hashtag #EasterEggRoll and get the latest updates by checking out Let's Move! on Twitter and Facebook.

Source: Miss America Website.

Miss America Will Be Crowned in Tony Bowls

by Laura Pennington (source: The Pageant Planet)

Miss America state winners will be working with Tony to design their dream gown for finals night on the Miss America stage. While each contestant will have the opportunity to select her own gown for preliminary evening gown competition if desired, all state winners will grace the stage in Tony Bowls for the final night of competition. One contestant will walk away with a $50,000 scholarship, a year of travel and service, and her crowning moment forever remembered in a Tony Bowls. This is a sponsorship like no other, putting the creative power of Tony Bowls at the hands of each state queen to design the evening gown of her dreams. We look forward to seeing your unique creations in Atlantic City this fall!

Miss America to announce date for pageant

ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. (AP) - January 10, 2014 (WPVI)

Miss America is back in Atlantic City.

Nina Davuluri on Friday will announce the date for the next pageant in which her reign will end.

The Syracuse, N.Y., native was crowned Miss America in September in Atlantic City. The pageant, which originated in the Jersey shore resort in 1921, spent six years in Las Vegas before returning to New Jersey.

Davuluri is expected to stop at Atlantic City High School to encourage students to follow their dreams.

(Copyright ©2014 WPVI-TV/DT. All Rights Reserved.)

Miss America crowns first winner of Indian descent, and critics slam her as Arab terrorist

‘How the f--k does a foreigner win miss America?’ One man tweets after Nina Davuluri’s historic win.

What not everyone watching the Miss America pageant appeared to realize is that Nina Davuluri is American — or they just chose not to. "How the f--k does a foreigner win miss America? She is a Arab! #idiots," one man tweeted just after the first winner of Indian descent was crowned Sunday night. "If you're #MissAmerica you should have to be American," another woman wrote.

"9/11 was 4 days ago and she gets miss America?" chimed another man who later likened her to a photo of a Middle Eastern man wielding a firearm. The 24-year-old from Fayetteville, New York says she has always viewed herself as ‘first and foremost American.’

A second man appeared to agree while writing on his Twitter feed: "So miss america is a terrorist."

In consequence, the 24-year-old from Fayetteville, New York, near Syracuse, spent part of her first press conference acknowledging the hate-spewed comments that followed.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/1st-america-indian-descent-slammed-arab-article-1.1457133#ixzz2fC1PoNQe