In a past interview with the President of LUWIP Edith Wilson, She recalled the first years of the Miss Liberia in the US Pageant. "The pageant started with very humble beginnings LUWIP was a small nonprofit organization at the time. We didnt have the money, experiences, or resources to pull off the large scale production that you see today. However with the support of businesses, benefactors and our pageant audience we are able to deliver a higher level of pageant production then ever before."
The Miss Liberia in the US Pageant serves as the top fundraising event for the LUWIP Organization "Liberian United Women in Progress". LUWIP was founded in 2000 by a group of strong and promising Liberian women who share a passion for promoting and supporting young Liberian women. LUWIP is a not-for-profit and non-political organization that has maintained a tradition for the past six years of empowering Liberian women to achieve their personal and professional goals, while providing a forum for them to express their opinions, talents, and intelligence. LUWIP is headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Their mission is to raise funds for the purchase of life’s basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, and medicine for our unfortunate loved ones. They also strive to promote the awareness to other international organizations of the plight of our people. More so, LUWIP serves as a beacon to promote moral values by encouraging women to pursue education, self-empowerment, and improving their standard of living.
In the pageant 7th Pageant Season, The Miss Liberia in the US Pageant holds the spot as the longest running Liberian (most likely African Pageant ) here in the United States. The pageant is gauranteed always bring between 500-700 patrons. Which probably also gives the pageant the title as the most heavily attended African Pageant in the United States. Majority of the contestants are not just picked to particpate in the National Competition. Where applicable, they must qualify by winning a pageant in their respective states. This gaurantees that the ladies that showcase the national competition are the best qualified and most competitive, which always makes for a great show every year.
I asked the Vice President of LUWIP Miss Agnes Donaldson what do you think contributes to the success of LUWIP and the Miss Liberia in the US competition? " I beleive it is a combination of factors. Due to the fact that we did have humble beginnings, we always had room for growth. The organization did it's reasearch and slowly began to improve upon what it had done the year before. We didnt try to overextend ourselves. That can automatically lead to failure. Secondly our state directors are key. We depend on them to select their state's top candidates and prepare them for the national competition. We try to find directors who share our vision, have a passion for pageantry and are loyal to our cause. The the state directors have become LUWIP's extended family. Last but not least it is our patrons, sponsors and benefactors that have contributed the most to our success. We have definately developed following that shares LUWIP's Vision and supports us year after year.
So what can we expect to see from LUWIP next year? "LUWIP is very excited about next years competition."says Miss Christine Maycole Public Relations Director of LUWIP. "We are again about take the pageant experience to a new level." Our past patrons will definately see a difference in the competition. This year promises to take on a whole new direction and feel. The 2007 pageant year is one you should not miss!!!
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