After a failed attempt in 2008 to win the crown, Ms. Raeceen Woolford, from Ko Olina, has won the 2009 Miss Honolulu crown. She is a former University of Honolulu volleyball player and beat out some tough competition in the runner’s up Jalee Kate Fuselier, Lauren Cheape, Tioni Tam Sing and Crystal Lee.
Raeceen will be traveling to Las Vegas in January 2010 to represent Hawaii at the annual Miss America competition. Ms. Woolford won a number of prizes; including a system-wide pass on Hawaiian airlines, jewelry from JYL Jewelry and Flora Lu Designs, professional services and a complete wardrobe from Honolulu’s local designers and providers.
Raeceen shares, “My plan to create awareness of this issue stems from my marketing strategy. The Keiki Ohana Program, with the support of the Miss America Program will work in partnership with other established programs like the Boys and Girls Club, Police Activities League (P.A.L), and the Girl Scouts of America. It will also work with parents to strengthen the familial unit as a whole. Every aspect of a child’s development and environment is evaluated as being healthy and nurturing or not. We can then send our representatives into the community, reaching out to children and their parents through after school programs. I was raised in a single parent home and subjected to years of verbal abuse. If it were not for the love of my grandparents and positive role models in my life, I would have low self-esteem and look for acceptance in the wrong places. I needed the love of those people to realize that I am better than what my childhood defined me as and I have the potential to be a revolutionary woman.”
Cheering you on from Ko Olina and Honolulu!!
