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Emma Dickson surprised even herself when she applied to be Miss Black Colorado 2020. EMMA DICKSON, MISS BLACK The 2018 Metropolitan State University of Denver graduate is pursuing an MBA and plans on opening a wellness spa focused on COLORADO 2020, PLANS serving the Black population. She was scouring the internet for ON EARNING AN MBA AND scholarship opportunities when she learned about Miss Black USA, a scholarship pageant celebrating beauty, culture and identity. She OPENING A WELLNESS SPA. applied for its Miss Colorado competition on a whim. BUT FIRST, SHE WILL RAISE “I gained a lot of confidence in myself and my story,” Dickson, 25, said of winning the title. “I want to put myself out there and HER VOICE AT THE MISS become the voice that I never had growing up.” BLACK USA PAGEANT. Dickson was adopted as an infant by white parents, raised in Highlands Ranch in a loving home and afforded a great education. But there were also times in her youth when she endured racist criticism about her appearance. “I grew up with everything I ever wanted,” she said. “But I definitely lacked that racial-identity factor in my life.” Her search for that identity took her from Colorado to Howard University, where she began her college career. She then went to MSU Denver, earning a degree in Speech Communication while working at Sephora, a retailer specializing in personal care and beauty products. Her passion for Black wellness was sparked at that Sephora, where she witnessed the extent to which the beauty industry neglects the needs of Black people. She began studying Black skin and hair and soon cultivated a regular clientele of Black women. After graduation, she enrolled in Denver’s School of Botanical & Medical Aesthetics and is on the cusp of earning her professional license as a medical esthetician, which she plans to pair with an MBA in her quest to open a wellness spa. But first, she will compete for a $5,000 scholarship in the Miss Black USA pageant, which was postponed from June until February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Having advocated for racial justice for many years, Dickson said she plans to seize the pageant platform to advance that work. But more than finding a platform on which to speak out, Dickson said, she and millions of Black women need an audience that will hear them. “More people want to talk to me; more people want to hear my voice,” she said. “That’s the first time that’s ever happened. I want our stories to be told by us, and I want white people to just listen.”