The Journey to the Title
Meet JeanAnne Roberts,
Mrs. DC America By Linda Barrett
JeanAnne Roberts isn’t the typical contestant that comes to mind when you mention beauty pageants. For one thing, she’s not 25. For another, she has a husband and two adorable children. At age 55, she is the reigning Mrs. DC America.
JeanAnne’s Journey How did your journey begin? Because of my love of dance and modeling, I signed up for two pageants in high school. I won the crowns for Miss Mingo County and Miss Magnolia Fair. My grandmother could sew anything and made a life-sized boxing dummy and red silk boxing shorts for me for my dance routine to Eye of the Tiger. As Miss Mingo, I was eligible to compete in the state’s Junior Miss pageant, which is connected to the Mrs. America system. This pageant was based on ‘beauty and brains’ and I did not realize what it entailed. I did not even place. It broke my heart and I closed the door to that dream when I lost, never realizing I’d have the opportunity to compete again.
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What happened next? I earned a B.A. in speech communication from Marshall University and pursued a career as a flight attendant, traveling to more than 20 countries. Then I met my husband and stayed home for 12 years with my children, Joseph, now 13 and KellyAnne, 12.
How did you come to be involved with the Mrs. America pageant? I did some modeling throughout my 30s and at the age of 40, came in second for the ‘Face of Avon.’ The passion for modeling was still in my heart, and at 52, I signed with two New York modeling agencies and appeared in five national campaigns that year. Locally, I was selected as a model for a fashion/beauty segment on Fox 5 TV along with Raquel Riley Thomas, an award-winning producer, pageant queen and beauty/fashion expert. She happened to own the Mrs. DC Pageant and told me that if I ran for Mrs. DC America, I could win. I thought it was insurmountable, but she encouraged me to apply anyway. When I learned the pageant cost $700, I let it go. In the spring, I was asked to model on another fashion special and VIVARESTON.COM
