Xóchitl Hernández interviews Nia Franklin, Miss America and aspiring composer.

BY XÓCHITL HERNÁNDEZ
EL NUEVO SOL

Episode 3 of season 1. In 2019, history was made when Miss America, Miss USA, and Miss Teen USA were all beautiful black women. Today, I sit down to interview one of the women of this historical trinity and that is Miss America Nia Franklin! As an aspiring composer, opera singer, and arts advocate she holds degrees in composition (both a bachelor’s and a master’s) from East Carolina University, and The University of North Carolina’s School. Besides being Miss America, Nia holds numerous other accolades such as Kenan Fellowship at New York’s Lincoln Center and is the National Goodwill Ambassador for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. At the invitation of the New York Philharmonic, she hosted their “Phil the Hall” and was named by the New York Times as the perfect host for the program which opens up classical music to all through free programming. Among other events, she has been a part of the NY Metropolitan Opera and LA Opera’s opening nights was the keynote speaker for the Center for Education Reform and the Lincoln Center’s Summer Music Forum and has worked with Sing for Hope to promote the arts among disadvantaged students.

 A gifted singer/songwriter, Nia has been a teacher and music mentor and has written over 100 songs, including one she began performing at age five.

Throughout her year as Miss America, Nia has been promoting her social impact initiative ADVOCATING FOR THE ARTS through appearances at colleges and universities, performing with orchestras and operas across the country, at art schools and holding masterclasses.

From being crowned Miss Five Boroughs at the age of 24, Miss New York 2018 and Miss America 2019 on September 9, 2018, the road to victory has not been easy. Join my conversation with Nia as she talks about her personal story and how it has shaped her platform’s purpose to break barriers for women musicians of color.

As Nia encouraged, it’s important that we learn the history of our family, ancestry, culture, and the world around us, but sometimes our school history books do not incorporate that in our education. I encourage all of you to be intellectually curious, What is one thing you could learn this week about your cultural heritage or world around us? Stay curious, you have no idea what you learn, how it may affect you, and how it may inspire you to make a change.

For more on Nia’s upcoming projects be sure to Follow Nia on Instagram and Twitter @MissAmerica or go to missamerica.org and click on Nia Franklin. To follow Nia’s composed by her project and blogs promoting female composers make sure to follow Composer Her on Instagram @composedbyher and visit composeher.org to follow and while you’re there, take a listen to her music. And of course, you can also click on the links in the description.