|
Ebony Bowers, Ph.D., HS-BCPCo-Executive Director
Dr. Ebony Bowers is a native of Lexington, South Carolina. She earned an Associates Degree in Human Services from Midlands Technical College; a Bachelor of Science in Human Services and a Master of Science in Human Services with an emphasis in Community Counseling Psychology both from Springfield College; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Human Service with an emphasis in Family Studies Intervention Strategies from Walden University. Her professional affiliation is with the National Organization for Human Services, and as a member, Dr. Bowers serves as an Awards Committee Member, and she is a Human Services-BBoard Certified Practitioner (HS-BCP). Dr. Bowers has more than 25 years of pageant experience as a competitor, titleholder, pageant director, and judge. The most notable title that she had the honor of holding was the first African American to have held the title of Miss Camden in the Miss South Carolina Scholarship Organization, a Miss America Organization state preliminary. She enjoys working in the Miss America Organization so much that she wrote her dissertation entitled The Social Stereotyping and Self-Esteem of Miss America Pageant Contestants. She has been working in academia for over a decade. Dr. Bowers is currently an adjunct professor at Midlands Technical College and the vice president of academic affairs for Knoxville College in Knoxville, TN. Along with working in academia, she also had various work experiences and is working on a few projects. She was the site coordinator for an afterschool program for latchkey and at-risk youth by the name of Keeping Every Youth Safe (KEYS) that won a state and national award under her leadership, and she was also a professional actress with a regional touring group, and she had the privilege of working at Disney World as a College Program (CP) intern, just to name a few. Her most current projects are a YouTube series entitled "Tell Us Your Story with Dr. Ebony," which is an interview series about the minority experience, and she also gives an educational lecture entitled "Ask A Black Ph.D." that shows how systemic racism was placed in one of America's iconic institutions. Dr. Bowers is a proud mother of two children and the mother/grandmother of three fur babies. She enjoys spending time with her family and friends, singing, watching movies and documentaries, working in her church, working with nonprofit community organizations, performing in and going to theater productions, and going to live music events. During her years of being in pageantry combined with her research and completing her dissertation, she saw a gap in services for low-income, minorities, and/or unique (or new) competitors who may not feel financially equipped to compete in pageantry. Her goal is for everyone of all incomes, abilities, races, ethnicities, gender identities, religious beliefs, and everything in between to have an opportunity to experience this form of competition with lessened financial stress or burden. "I hope to one day have enough donations to fund every grant request in full." Thank you to all that have donated to POPP, and good luck to all that apply for our POPP Grant. |