jazzmyne

PUBLIC RELATIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JULY 29, 2000

TELEVISION STARS MO’NIQUE, DORIEN WILSON & MALIK YOBA

TO EXCITE LITTLE MISSES AT EIGHTH ANNUAL EVENT

Little Miss African American Scholarship Pageant Takes the Runway on August 13/

Winner to Take Off to Jamaica!

Actress/ choreographer Lisa Ruffin has once again readied little divas from around the country for their stroll down the runway at the Eighth Annual Little Miss African American Scholarship Pageant (LMAA). The LMAA will be held Sunday, August 13 at 4:00 p.m. at the Universal Sheraton Hotel. The little misses are sure to be dazzled as some of their favorite television stars take on host duties this year. Comedic actress Mo’Nique and co-star Dorien Wilson from UPN’s top rated show, “The Parkers” will join actor Malik Yoba (“New York Undercover”) as this year’s celebrity hosts. For tickets call (323) 969-1730.

As a pageant that emphasizes brains over beauty, Ruffin’s LMAA has positively impacted the lives of hundreds of little girls, many of them underprivileged, since 1993, offering them a formula for confidence, awareness and pride. Explains Ruffin, “The pageant provides an early introduction to the arts and training in public speaking, while promoting individual creativity and stimulating cultural awareness. Within each girl is the promise of unlimited possibilities, and the pageant is a vehicle for bringing that potential to the forefront.”

VIP and celebrity judges this year include Wendy Raqual Robinson from “The Steve Harvey Show,” Garcelle Beauvais from “The Jamie Foxx Show,” Merlin Santana from “The Steve Harvey Show,” Elise Neal from “The Hughleys,” actress Tatyana Ali (“Fresh Prince”), actor Richard Lawson (How Stella Got Her Groove Back), ConnieMarie Brazelton from “ER,” Access Hollywood’s Shaun Robinson and KCOP News 13’s Natalie Godwin.

Over $50,000 in monies and prizes will be distributed this year with the pageant winner awarded a trip to Boscobel Beach, Jamaica! Sponsor’s include The Xerox Corporation, Hughes Aircraft, Lockheed Martin, Essence Magazine, Big Ticket Television/Paramount, Fox-TV, Warner Bros. Records, Yab Yum Records, Atlantic Records, Will Smith’s Overbrook Entertainment and MJJ. Pictured from left to right, top to bottom: Mo’Nique, Malik Yoba, Dorien Wilson, and Lisa Ruffin.