Miss Black Kentucky USA Pageant kicks off Sunday

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WAVE) – For the first time ever, 15 women will take the stage at Louisville Memorial Auditorium Sunday, with the chance to win the first ever Miss Black Kentucky USA pageant.

Sunday afternoon, judges will name 3 winners. One from three age divisions ranging from 13 to 45 years old. All 15 contests compete together throughout the weekend.

The 29-year old Taylor Dudley is a graduate student working in health care from Maysville. Dudley said she is competing in this year’s pageant.

“I’m actually really excited. Big events like this typically make me very nervous,” Dudley said.

Dudley said she was inspired to join after watching her older cousin Lyda Lewis.

”She was the first African American to be crowned in Miss Kentucky in 1973,” Dudley said.

Miss Black Kentucky USA Executive Director Dr. Ashley Anderson says putting the pageant together has been a dream job. Her past in pageantry gave her life skills that have helped shape who she is.

“For me, I grew up on 18th and hill street. Pageantry was something that helped to mold and develop me and teach me life skills,” Dr. Ashley Anderson said. ”It fills my heart with so much joy because I have been able to see already, just within the last couple of months, since our workshop how much some of these women have come out of their shell and start standing into their- into their beauty.”

Anderson said since August, the contestants have been training in on interview, model, walking training, and branding skills.

The entire pageant is an opportunity the women to be celebrated for who they are and get a chance to win scholarships to help further their dreams.

Dudley says the pageant means more to her than the title, regardless of the outcome, she feels better prepared for her future.

”I see my own strength and what I am capable of putting on my plate, achieving and executing,” Dudley said.

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