RaSheeda A. Waddell, Miss Black North Carolina
USA, is a native of “The Gate City”,
Greensboro, NC and currently resides in “Pirate Nation”,
Greenville, NC. She is the daughter of Darryl &
Gilda Hayes and Sjon & Buffy Shavers. She holds the Master of
Music degree in Voice Performance from East Carolina University in
Greenville and is a Summa Cum Laude graduate of Hampton University in Hampton,
Virginia. She is also a
recipient of the International Baccalaureate Program diploma from
Grimsley High School in Greensboro.
She is the 2007 Winner of the Piedmont Triad Vocal Arts Competition
(formerly Leontyne Price Vocal Arts
Competition) and placed 3rd at the Regional level.
Other accolades include holding the titles of Miss Central Carolina
(3rd Runner Up & Preliminary Talent & Swimsuit
Awards at the 2008 Miss North
Carolina), Miss Hampton University 2006-2007, and Miss
Randolph County 2005 (the first and only African-American in the
pageant’s 50-year history), preliminaries to the Miss America Program.
RaSheeda is an active
vocalist in the realms of classical and popular music. She is on the Voice Faculty
at the Music Academy of Eastern Carolina and serves as
Assistant to the Director of Videmus, Inc., a non-profit
organization promoting the music of minority composers. She is also a Makeup Artist
at MAC Cosmetics.
Civically, she is active with the Union Memorial United
Methodist Church, the VISAA Chapter of the National Association of
Negro Musicians, Inc., and Spoken Serenity, Inc. She is the 2009/10 “Artist
in Residence” for the Aggie Opus Project, a Greensboro-based vocal
ensemble. In addition
to a budding vocal career, RaSheeda will pursue doctoral work in
Women’s Studies in hopes of becoming Executive Director of a
non-profit or university-based center promoting cultural diversity
and women’s issues.
As
Miss Black North Carolina, RaSheeda is excited to have this crown as
a microphone for her civic and social concerns. Her community service
platform of the past 5 years is Depression in 3D: Detect,
Deal, & Destruct (The 3D Project), a fervent effort to
address mental health issues, particularly as they pertain to the
African-American community.
The 3D
Project was a featured at Hampton University’s 2007 Conference on the Black
Family and was covered by the Daily Press, the premiere
newspaper of Southeastern Virginia. Within the 3D program, detecting or recognizing the
numerous symptoms of depression is key. Often sufferers are unable
to distinguish depression from normality. Individuals with depression
should also know that there are options designed to help one deal with the illness, such
as counseling and medication.
The ultimate destruction of the illness
in one’s life can be achieved through dispelling myths and stigmas
about depression and its treatment methods, setting goals, having a
firm support network, volunteerism, arts involvement, and realistic
self-perception, among other things. RaSheeda is pleased to offer
Depression in 3D
presentations to your local community and nonprofit organizations,
churches, schools, and other target groups.
RaSheeda is available for individual
presentations, platform/panel discussions, vocal performances
(classical/operatic, gospel/inspirational, pop), hosting, and other
events.
“True art is made noble and
religious by the mind producing it. For those who feel it,
nothing makes the soul so religious and pure as the endeavor to
create something perfect, for God is perfection and whoever strives
after perfection is striving for something Divine” -
Michaelangelo
