KATRINA ELAYNE STEWARD

MISS BLACK ARKANSAS USA 2005

She was born and raised in Fort Smith, Arkansas and has dreams of one day performing on Broadway. She has received training in dance, theatre and singing. Her vocal skills have been likened to those of one of the greatest classical sopranos, Leontyne Price.

She is currently a pre-school teacher for a private educational institution and is studying psychology at the University of Arkansas, Fort Smith.  She plans to meld her artistic talents with her background in psychology to create a program entitled "Beauty in the Community". "Beauty in the Community" is designed to assist in building the self-esteem of young ladies who are facing the challenges of poor socio-economic backgrounds and varying ethnic and cultural stigmas. She believes that we should celebrate rather than merely tolerate the diversities in race, culture, and ethnicity.

She is an Afro- American woman who has faced poverty and prejudice in her past. However, her mother never allowed her to use their socio-economic standing or their minority status as an excuse to fail. She instilled in Katrina a ravenous desire to conquer the stereotypical projections and the statistical outcomes expected of a black girl brought up in the projects. As she watched her mother move from federal aid to working for a federal agency, she realized that the sky is the limit for her.  Katrina's dreams can become realities. This is the same lesson she would like to impart to the young ladies of today.