Sossou said that the Miss Africa pageant was a way for students to connect to African culture as part of ASU’s broader goal.
“We are here to show the diversity and cultures that the African continent carries, as well as providing a safe community for the Africans that are on campus by providing events that make them feel at home,” Sossou said.
The pageant, held on Thursday in Goldstein Auditorium, featured three contestants, with Mané Thiane and Khadidiatou Faye representing Senegal and Mariama Barry representing Guinea. Each contestant displayed their national pride and discussed their personal aspirations in the pageant through the career, talent and question-and-answer sections. The pageant also included several musical and dance performances from SU students and other well-known artists, including DJ Buka and Connell Thompson.
The pageant opened with a performance from the SU’s Outlaws Dance Troupe. The pageant also featured a dance performance by the dance group L’Union D’Afrique from Morgan State University, which offered to perform for free after seeing ASU’s other events on social media.
DJ Buka, an artist based in New York City, provided music throughout the night alongside MC Muna, who came from SUNY Geneseo.
Judging the contestants was a panel of women, who all had personal involvement with ASU. Christabel Sheldon, the faculty adviser for ASU and director of the McNair Scholars Program at SU, was accompanied by SU alumni Nneka Akukwe and Chinelo Onyekwere.
Sheldon led the question-and-answer section for the contestants, which focused on topics such as social media, education, race, women’s empowerment and the African community at SU.
SU sophomores Shakira Santos and Ajak Afet sang a duet cover of the song “Stand by Me” before the final question-and-answer section. Both had performed separately at other ASU events prior to the Miss Africa pageant.
“I thought that their voices would work so well together, so I called them both and they worked on that duet,” Sossou said.
During the career and talent sections, each contestant had the opportunity to showcase their personal goals and interests in a creative way. Barry, a sophomore information management and technology major from Harlem, gave a TED Talk about tech security.
