Pageant is still scamming women of color with thousands of dollars. Pageant standard is not up to par and the organization is sloppy. Don’t do it or resign your title ASAP. National title holders don’t get their money, or only partial in installments which doesn’t help. Whole pageant is complete BS for the past 30 years. It’s all money wire fraud. I know since I was a former national title holder for the pageant.
I was a contestant of the Miss Black USA pageant in 2009. My experience was horrible. Nevertheless, i wanted to do a beautiful pageant in my home state. when I decided to do it in 2015, I thought the organization had to have gotten better over the years. I was so wrong. I took my first state contestant to Nationals in 20015, and it was the worst experience of both our lives. My contestant called me in tears several times over the pageant week. She was upset that they were only eating pizza all week, and not even regularly. She was hungry, exhausted, and disappointed that the overall experience was far less than what was promised. The contestants were told they would be touring the White House, but that didnt happen, nor did they tour ANY sights in DC. The pageant was super basic for a national competition. No decorations, no legitimate sponsors, no publicity. Nothing. This pageant has been around for 30 years, and they have nothing to show for it.
I was shocked that they allowed multiple girls to compete from the same state in order to have the appearance of more contestants, so all the girls basically got demoted. They received competition sashes with their cities instead of their states. I was equally shocked to find out that none of the contestants even received a souvenir program for participating. There was some excuse about the programs not being printed correctly, and that they would mail the contestants their programs when it is a requirement that each contestant sell $500 or more worth of ads or risk disqualification. I was told that I could pay $15 to receive a digital copy of the pageant program. The Vice President of the organization is also the State Director for North Varolina. What a coincidence that North Carolina SWEPT every title, Miss, Teen, and little Miss.
As a state director, there was no support. I never received any communication from the organization. I received a bill for licensing, but never a contract. After my state pageant I was sen an email saying that accounting was supposed to send me a bill for my contestants 30 days prior to my State pageant, but they made a mistake, and that I needed to pay their fees because the deadline is tomorrow. When I replied that I had no information, not even a list of fees, I was blasted by the pageant coordinator Renee Stallworth, and the president Karen Arrington For being an irresponsible state director.
I had the audacity to voice my issues/concerns to Karen Arrington about my contestants experience at nationals, and about the fact that the organization's non-profit status Has been revoked since 2013 for failure to file taxes. This is what she told me:
1) she doesn't have to answer any questions about my contestants experience.
2) the White House cancels tours the day of, and has for the last 6 years.
3) the IRS has listed their non-profit status as revoked because of a glitch.
Needless to say I have washed my hands of this terrible organization. There is a gross misappropriation of funds going on, and there is no Board of Directors. after I resigned as a state director, I received an email from the coordinator's personal email account calling me bitter and miserable, and a disgrace to the legacy of state queens! LOL! I can't believe that more complaints aren't posted about this organization. Probably because contestants think it might be misconstrued like "she's just complaining beause she didn't win" but I'm happy to blow the whistle and hold hold them accountable.
BEWARE! they will charge you thousands of dollars, and you will leave with nothing. Do your research. call the IRS. You can speak with an actual person who is happy to run down any non-profit's tax information :)
Miss Black USA Reviews
Miss Black USA pageant
Pageant is still scamming women of color with thousands of dollars. Pageant standard is not up to par and the organization is sloppy. Don’t do it or resign your title ASAP. National title holders don’t get their money, or only partial in installments which doesn’t help. Whole pageant is complete BS for the past 30 years. It’s all money wire fraud. I know since I was a former national title holder for the pageant.
I was a contestant of the Miss Black USA pageant in 2009. My experience was horrible. Nevertheless, i wanted to do a beautiful pageant in my home state. when I decided to do it in 2015, I thought the organization had to have gotten better over the years. I was so wrong. I took my first state contestant to Nationals in 20015, and it was the worst experience of both our lives. My contestant called me in tears several times over the pageant week. She was upset that they were only eating pizza all week, and not even regularly. She was hungry, exhausted, and disappointed that the overall experience was far less than what was promised. The contestants were told they would be touring the White House, but that didnt happen, nor did they tour ANY sights in DC. The pageant was super basic for a national competition. No decorations, no legitimate sponsors, no publicity. Nothing. This pageant has been around for 30 years, and they have nothing to show for it.
I was shocked that they allowed multiple girls to compete from the same state in order to have the appearance of more contestants, so all the girls basically got demoted. They received competition sashes with their cities instead of their states. I was equally shocked to find out that none of the contestants even received a souvenir program for participating. There was some excuse about the programs not being printed correctly, and that they would mail the contestants their programs when it is a requirement that each contestant sell $500 or more worth of ads or risk disqualification. I was told that I could pay $15 to receive a digital copy of the pageant program. The Vice President of the organization is also the State Director for North Varolina. What a coincidence that North Carolina SWEPT every title, Miss, Teen, and little Miss.
As a state director, there was no support. I never received any communication from the organization. I received a bill for licensing, but never a contract. After my state pageant I was sen an email saying that accounting was supposed to send me a bill for my contestants 30 days prior to my State pageant, but they made a mistake, and that I needed to pay their fees because the deadline is tomorrow. When I replied that I had no information, not even a list of fees, I was blasted by the pageant coordinator Renee Stallworth, and the president Karen Arrington For being an irresponsible state director.
I had the audacity to voice my issues/concerns to Karen Arrington about my contestants experience at nationals, and about the fact that the organization's non-profit status Has been revoked since 2013 for failure to file taxes. This is what she told me:
1) she doesn't have to answer any questions about my contestants experience.
2) the White House cancels tours the day of, and has for the last 6 years.
3) the IRS has listed their non-profit status as revoked because of a glitch.
Needless to say I have washed my hands of this terrible organization. There is a gross misappropriation of funds going on, and there is no Board of Directors. after I resigned as a state director, I received an email from the coordinator's personal email account calling me bitter and miserable, and a disgrace to the legacy of state queens! LOL! I can't believe that more complaints aren't posted about this organization. Probably because contestants think it might be misconstrued like "she's just complaining beause she didn't win" but I'm happy to blow the whistle and hold hold them accountable.
BEWARE! they will charge you thousands of dollars, and you will leave with nothing. Do your research. call the IRS. You can speak with an actual person who is happy to run down any non-profit's tax information :)