Ryann Richardson was crowned the 50th National Miss Black America titleholder on Sat., Aug. 18 in Kansas City, MO at the historic GEM Theater. She was crowned by the reigning queen, Brittany Lewis.
Ryann, 28, is a native of Washington, DC who currently resides in Brooklyn, NY. She is the marketing vice-president for Victor, the global leader in private jet charter technology. As VP, she is responsible for growing Victor’s on demand private jet marketplace in North America. In addition, she is a technology marketing professional, an entrepreneur and advocate for diversity and inclusion in business and technology. She has a undergraduate degree in business and marketing from Jefferson University (formerly Philadelphia University) in Philadelphia, PA.
The new Miss Black America, has led east coast regional marketing, strategic partnerships, and business development at Uber. She spearheaded the company’s presence at the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia and designed Uber’s first comprehensive multicultural marketing strategy
Richardson is a veteran pageant queen spending years as a spokesperson, titleholder, volunteer and judge for pageants. She was Miss Philadelphia 2009 and a six-time Miss America state pageant runner-up and has served as the Miss District of Columbia USA 2017. She dedicated her reign to supporting efforts to advance the professional, political, and economic condition of women and minorities in the District and beyond.
She left the judges and the audience in utter amazement with her grace, poise, uncanny vocal skills and quick and insightful answers in the projection segment.
As the 2018-19 Miss Black America, Ryann won a 2018 Ford Escape, a movie role in Terrance Tyrek’s upcoming movie, artist development cultivated by major talent development agencies, trips to Cuba and Cayman Islands, designer wardrobes, professional photo shoots, weekend getaways and clothes and cosmetic products packages and more.
One of the highlights of the 50th anniversary was the reunion of eight former Miss Black Americas including: Stephanie Clark-Epps (1970), Von Gretchen Shepherd (1974), Helen Ford (1975), Amina Fakir (1985), Paula Gwynn Grant (1989) Alexandria Morton, (2014), Jelissa Barringer (2015), Sharmell Sullivan (1991) and the current Miss Black America- Ghani, Linda Kust.
The Miss Black America Pageant was created in 1968 on Atlantic City, NJ as a positive protest of the discriminatory practices of the Miss America. It has since grown to be a symbol of Black pride, achievement and determination of woman of African descent both nationally and globally.