Lencola Sullivan

Last updated

Orean Lencola Sullivan (born 1957) is an American news anchor, singer and former beauty queen who has competed in the Miss America pageant. She was the first African-American to be crowned Miss Arkansas. [1]

Sullivan was the oldest of five children born to Richard and Macie Sullivan. She attended the University of Central Arkansas where she received a degree in broadcasting.

Sullivan won the Miss Arkansas title in July 1980 and represented Arkansas in the Miss America 1981 pageant held later that year in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sullivan and Doris Hayes (Washington) became the first African-American women to win preliminary awards in the pageant, with Lencola taking a preliminary swimsuit award. She was also the first to place among the top five, where she was fourth runner-up.

Sullivan became a news reporter on KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas, and later moved to New York City. She has also worked for KTTV-TV in Austin, Texas, and sang with Stevie Wonder, Kool & the Gang (for example on the album Unite) and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, among many other things. [2] [3] [4]

In 2002, Sullivan married Roel P. Verseveldt, a native of the Netherlands, in Little Rock, Arkansas. [5] [6] She and her husband have since been involved in international business activities. Among other things, Sullivan also works at Royal Dutch Shell and teaches and guest-lectures at the University of Groningen, both in the area of diversity and inclusion. [7] She currently lives in The Hague.

Related Research Articles

Miss America Annual competition in the United States

Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As of 2018, there is no longer a swimsuit portion to the contest, or consideration of physical appearance. Miss America travels about 20,000 miles a month, changing her location every 24 to 48 hours, touring the nation and promoting her particular platform of interest. The winner is crowned by the previous year's titleholder.

Jineane Marie Ford is an American beauty queen, actress, and television personality from Arizona who held the title Miss USA 1980.

Debbye Turner

Debbye Turner Bell is an American TV anchor, veterinarian, talk show host, former beauty queen and winner of the 1990 Miss America pageant.

The Miss Arkansas competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Arkansas in the Miss America pageant. Arkansas has won the Miss America title three times.

Miss Gay America

Miss Gay America is a national pageant for female impersonators. Established in 1972, the pageant is based on the Miss America contest and follows a similar format.

Amanda Lee Kimmel is an American beauty queen, actress, and model who has competed in the Miss USA and Miss Earth pageants. Kimmel was the second runner-up contestant on Survivor: China, runner-up on Survivor: Micronesia, and later returned for Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains where she placed ninth. Kimmel set several Survivor records during her three seasons on the show.

The Miss New Jersey competition is an annual pageant held to select the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss America pageant.

Rachel Smith

Rachel Renee Smith is an American actress, TV host, model and beauty pageant titleholder who won the Miss USA 2007 and who previously had competed in the Miss Teen USA 2002 pageant. She represented the United States at Miss Universe 2007 and placed 4th runner-up.

Kelly George

Kelly Kaplan is a social media, public relations and communication professional, and former officer in the United States Air Force, and a beauty queen from Mission Viejo, California, who competed for the Miss USA title in 2007.

Kandice Pelletier is an American beauty queen and swimwear designer from Marietta, Georgia who has competed in the Miss America pageant and on two seasons of the reality television show The Amazing Race. As of 2012, she was the president of Kandice Pelletier Swimwear.

The Miss Arkansas' Outstanding Teen competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the U.S. state of Arkansas in the Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant.

The Miss Pennsylvania's Outstanding Teen competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in the Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant. The pageant is held each June at the Hillman Center for Performing Arts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Toni Seawright American actress and singer-songwriter (born 1964)

Toni Deniece Seawright is an American actress and singer-songwriter. In 1987, Seawright made history as the first African American to become Miss Mississippi and was the fourth runner-up in 1988's Miss America pageant.

Alyse Eady

Alyse Cynthia Eady is an American news anchor and beauty pageant titleholder who was Miss Arkansas 2010. Eady was named first runner-up at the 2011 Miss America pageant, which was won by Miss Nebraska 2010 Teresa Scanlan.

Miss USA 2012

Miss USA 2012 was the 61st Miss USA pageant, held on June 3, 2012, at The AXIS in Las Vegas, Nevada and it was televised live on NBC. Alyssa Campanella of California crowned her successor Olivia Culpo of Rhode Island at the end of the event. This was Rhode Island's first Miss USA title. Culpo represented the United States at Miss Universe 2012 and went on to win the Miss Universe title, becoming the eighth American to do so.

Julie Smith West is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Birmingham, Alabama, who was named Miss Alabama 1999.

Savvy Shields American beauty pageant winner

Savannah Janine Shields Wolfe is an American beauty pageant titleholder from Fayetteville, Arkansas, who was crowned Miss Arkansas 2016. On September 11, 2016, she was crowned Miss America 2017 by Miss America 2016, Betty Cantrell.

Miss America 2018

Miss America 2018 was the 91st Miss America pageant, though the Miss America Organization celebrated its 97th anniversary in 2017. This discrepancy is due to no national pageants being held from 1928-1932 or in 1934 because of financial problems associated with the Great Depression. The 2018 pageant was held in Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey on Sunday, September 10, 2017. This was the first Miss America pageant to be held in Atlantic City since the Miss America Organization headquarters relocated to Boardwalk Hall.

Miss America 2019

The Miss America 2019 pageant/competition was the 92nd Miss America pageant, though the Miss America Organization celebrated its 98th anniversary in 2018. This discrepancy is due to national pageants not being held from 1928–1932 or in 1934 because of financial problems associated with the Great Depression. The 2019 competition was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. On May 23, 2018, it was announced that the pageant would air live on ABC on Sunday, September 9, 2018. This was the last Miss America to be aired on ABC before would be moving to NBC beginning from 2020 pageant.

The Miss America 2020 competition was held on Thursday, December 19, 2019. This was the 93rd Miss America pageant/competition, though the Miss America Organization celebrated its 99th anniversary in 2019. This discrepancy is due to national pageants not being held from 1928 to 1932 or in 1934 because of financial problems associated with the Great Depression.

References

  1. ↑ "Encyclopedia of Arkansas". Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  2. ↑ "Former Miss America Runner-up Lencola Sullivan to be Inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame". Pr.com. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  3. ↑ "Home 1". 501lifemag.com. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  4. ↑ "UNITE_1992". Koolandthegang-fansite.jp. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  5. ↑ "M08-04 – LENCOLA SULLIVAN COLLECTION — Archives". uca.edu. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  6. ↑ "Item in Log Cabin Democrat, news source for Conway and Faulkner County, Arkansas; accessed on 11 July 2017". Thecabin.net. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
  7. ↑ "Language and Culture Policy". University of Groningen. 18 November 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2021.
Awards and achievements
Preceded by Miss Arkansas
1980		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.