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Miss America Tells DiversityInc Her Story, Plans to Reach Corporate America
By Yoji Cole

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© 2003 DiversityInc.com

November 13, 2003

At 11 years old, Ericka Dunlap decided to become a country-music singer. It was a child's dream, whimsical and optimistic, but not out of character for a girl who at 6 years old decided she was going to be Miss America.

Being a country music singer and Miss America, these are dreams that for many girls do not seem too far-fetched. But for Dunlap, who is African American, those dreams were fodder for ridicule.

"Ericka, Miss America." That's what fellow students at her Orlando, Fla. high school said to mock her dream. They'd repeat it over and over in singsong voices, Dunlap recalled in an interview with DiversityInc.

Dunlap, now 21, was undaunted. And the African-American girl, who entered her first beauty pageant at 6, blossomed into a beautiful woman who in September laughed last when she was crowned Miss America.

Dunlap is the eighth African-American woman to be crowned Miss America since Vanessa Williams became the first in 1984. The Miss America Organization, since holding its first pageant in Atlantic City, N.J. in 1921, has crowned nine women of color, eight of whom were African American, according to pictures of Miss America winners dating back to 1921. Angela Perez Baraquio, Miss America 2001, was the first Asian-American woman to be crowned. In 1989, the Miss America Organization made it mandatory that contestants compete with a commitment to an issue that becomes Miss America's platform for her year's reign.

Dunlap plans to take the message to corporate America that diversity is a business benefit.

"Diversity is a rich and endless source of experience, language, custom and tradition that enhances our nation and makes us unique," wrote Dunlap in her platform. "I have learned to overcome the prejudice and ignorance I experienced as a child and to celebrate the diversity that defines the United States."

Being different was Dunlap's reality throughout life. Growing up in Orlando, she attended a diverse kindergarten-through-12th grade school, but just because the students were diverse did not preclude them from harboring stereotypes. She still had to tell her classmates that being African American didn't mean she lived in the ghetto. Rather than be crushed by such ignorance, however, Dunlap saw her difference as unique. Her love of country music is another extension of that.

"When people hear me sing country, they don't know what to think," said Dunlap.

Interestingly, karaoke introduced Dunlap to country music. She was 11 and her parents bought her a karaoke machine, complete with Bonnie Raitt's "Something to Talk About." While Raitt doesn't sing the song with a country twang, the woman who sang Raitt's song on the karaoke machine did and Dunlap took to it.

"It's no different from singing rhythm and blues or gospel or jazz – it's all a matter of personal style and I have always had a knack for being able to have a country twang or sing in a southern style," said Dunlap.

Performing country songs expands the public's idea of what African Americans are capable of doing, Dunlap said.

"I have an opportunity to really break barriers," she said.

Dunlap hopes her diversity platform breaks barriers throughout corporate America. Her plans call for her to talk about the benefits of diversity throughout the nation's executive suites and board rooms. In September she met with NASCAR officials and was the grand marshal of its EA Sports 500 Winston Cup Series Race in Talladega, Ala. Dunlap also plans to participate on NASCAR's diversity board. (Please See: NASCAR Goes After Diverse Drivers to Attract New Fans).

"Business owners and decisionmakers derive many benefits from embracing diversity," wrote Dunlap in her platform. "Inclusion simply makes good business sense and impacts the bottom line."

Diversity is the one factor that will boost a company to new heights as the U.S. population continues to become more diverse, said Dunlap. Her desire is to express to CEOs the importance of establishing an awareness of diversity's benefits within their companies.

"Once CEOs realize their diversity outreach without, as well as, within their business they will be able to realize greater product quality, greater profit margin and greater pride in their companies," said Dunlap. "It's important for employees to feel that pride in their companies and products and for them to know they are being valued and respected for who they are. Diversity allows a company to have a team effort."