Congratulations to Miss District of Columbia 2016,
Cierra Jackson!
Miss District of Columbia 2016 Cierra Jackson
Spelman College
Talent: Vocal
Cierra Dena’e Jackson is a graduate of Spelman College where she gained her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science with a concentration in American Institutions and Processes. She graduated on her birthday May 18th as a member of the class of 2014. She has served as the Spelman SGA liaison to the Office of College Relations. She is also a member of the Granddaughters’ Club, an organization for women whose family members also went to Spelman College and a G.I. Bill Scholarship recipient. Miss Jackson was inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success in the fall of 2012. She later attended the Women’s Campaign School at Yale University as a part of the class of 2015. Cierra is the fourth of now eight Spelman women in her family to attend Spelman College.
Ms. Jackson believes her greatest success has been giving back to her community by being a servant leader. Cierra has volunteered with Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals, Ronald Mc Donald House, Salvation Army, the Humane Society, the Boys and Girls Club, local education campaigns, as well as, tutoring programs at middle schools and project homes. One of her fondest servant leadership memories was coaching a youth Atlanta Track Club running team at the West End Boys and Girls Clubs of America and training them for the Kilometer Kids 1-mile run at Grant Park in Atlanta, Georgia. The Atlanta Track Club is dedicated to inspire and engage the community to achieve health and fitness through running in Georgia, a goal that lines up so harmoniously with Spelman’s Wellness Revolution. During her freshman summer, Cierra supported one of her platforms, “Reaching High with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America” at the Miss Georgia Pageant 2011, a preliminary to the Miss America Pageant, where she placed in the Top Twelve.
In pageantry, she has held the titles of Miss Phi Beta Sigma 2010-2011 of the Chi Chapter at Morehouse College, Miss Brookhaven, GA 2011, the first African-American Miss Rome, GA 2013, and Miss Columbus, GA 2015! She won the title of Miss District of Columbia on June 19th, 2016, where she won the talent, evening gown, photogenic& top AD sales awards She also placed in the top 5 fundraisers for CMN Hospitals raising more than $2.9k. Cierra will compete for the title of Miss America 2017 on September 11th, 2016 at 9pm ET in Atlantic City on ABC! Cierra will be the second woman from her alma mater, Spelman College, to compete for he title of Miss America.
Cierra currently promotes the platform Behind the Frontline, to aid military families, but wants to expand her platform to include police, firefighter and medical first responders, as well. She has pledged over 150 hours of community service to First Lady Michelle Obama and Second Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s Joining Forces Campaign and invites the community to join her. Cierra also was a founding member of an organization on Spelman’s campus entitled S.A.S which stands for saluting our Armed Services with her friend. The goal of the organization is to give back to all of the veterans and their families who have put their lives on the line so that we may experience freedom. Her story as a military child was even featured by First Lady Michelle Obama’ in her Joining Forces campaign and on her Instagram.
With the help of Governor Deal, Senator Ed Harbison, Mayor Tomlinson and Columbus City Councilman Bruce Huff, Cierra created the “Day of the Military Child” in both the city of Columbus and the State of Georgia. Jackson even wrote a children’s book that chronicled my life as a military child through September 11th and into college; that is now available for pre-order and is slated to be published in 2016.
Jackson has worked on the Michelle Nunn Senatorial Campaign and the Kasim Reed Atlanta mayoral Campaign. She has also staffed for State Rep. Erica Thomas of GA’s 39th District. Cierra moved to DC to pursue a career in politics. She was selected out of hundreds of applicants to be one of seven young women selected to intern and be mentored by a female congress member through the Running Start Walmart Star Fellowship. As a Running Start Walmart Star Fellow, Cierra worked for Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard as a legislative intern. Rep. Gabbard is one of only two female combat veterans in Congress. Cierra recently completed an internship at the White House in the Obama Administration. During her time at the White House, she was selected as the only communications intern selected to serve the Chief Of Staff’s office.
In the future, Cierra plans to gain a master’s in Journalism from Columbia’s School of Journalism focusing on political broadcast journalism or a master’s in environmental science, while enrolling in music classes at Juilliard. She later plans to attend Harvard, Yale, or Georgetown Law School, and one day run for office. In law school she plans to focus on Environmental and Constitutional law . She realizes that though many believe racism, sexism, classism, and other issues do not exist, our environment tells us otherwise. Miss Jackson avidly works to be the change she wants to see in the world as well as a voice for those who do not know these issues exist and cannot speak for themselves.
