Janaye Michelle Ingram is a political organizer from

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Cherry Hill is a Township (New Jersey), township within Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As a suburb of Philadelphia, the township is part of the South Jersey and Delaware Valley regions. Cherry Hill ...

Biography

Ingram was crowned

Miss New Jersey USA The Miss New Jersey USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of New Jersey in the Miss USA pageant. It is produced by D&D Productions. New Jersey has yet to win the Miss USA title, although from 1989 to 1991 ...

2004 in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

in late 2003. She later represented New Jersey in the

Miss USA 2004 Miss USA 2004 was the 53rd Miss USA pageant, held at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California on April 12, 2004. The winner of the beauty pageant was Shandi Finnessey, who became the first winner from the state of Missouri. The judges were ...

pageant held in

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

in April 2004 where she went unplaced. She is originally from

Camden, New Jersey Camden is a City (New Jersey), city in Camden County, New Jersey, Camden County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the Delaware Valley metropolitan region. The city was incorporated on February 13, 1828.Snyder, John P''The Story of ...

, but later moved to Cherry Hill. Ingram's family is well known in Camden. Her father and his siblings are musicians who worked closely with The Sound of Philadelphia. Her paternal aunt is

Barbara Ingram Barbara Jane Ingram (February 9, 1947 – October 20, 1994) was an American R&B singer and songwriter who was active throughout the early 1970s until the mid-late 1980s, enjoying modest success as a backup singer for almost two decades. ...

. She graduated from

Clark Atlanta University Clark Atlanta University (CAU or Clark Atlanta) is a private, Methodist, historically black research university in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. It was founded on September19, 1865, as Atlanta University, it was the first HBCU in the South ...

with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

Psychology Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

where she was initiated into the Alpha Pi chapter of

Alpha Kappa Alpha Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. () is an List of African American fraternities, historically African-American Fraternities and sororities, sorority. The sorority was founded in 1908 at Howard University in Washington, D.C.. Alpha Kappa Alpha ...

sorority. Ingram later went on to pursue a Master's of Science in Nonprofit Management at The New School's Milano School of International Affairs, Management, and Urban Policy. Ingram's career took an unexpected transition when she began to write about various topics online specifically focusing on motherhood as a woman of color. In 2020, Ingram became unexpectedly pregnant with her daughter and carried to full term birthing her first child as a single mother in the middle of a pandemic. Ingram has worked with organizations across the country to empower underserved populations and has received numerous awards and recognition for her efforts. In 2013, Ingram was promoted from her position as

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

bureau chief to be national executive director of

National Action Network The National Action Network (NAN) is an American not-for-profit, civil-rights organization founded by the Reverend Al Sharpton in New York City, New York, in early 1991. In a 2016 profile, '' Vanity Fair'' called Sharpton "arguably the countr ...

, founded and led by

Rev. Al Sharpton Alfred Charles Sharpton Jr. (born October 3, 1954) is an American civil rights and social justice activist, Baptist minister, radio talk show host, and TV personality, who is also the founder of the National Action Network civil rights organi ...

. She is also board member for the Women in Entertainment Empowerment Network (WEEN) and started a scholarship campaign for children and youth in impoverished communities called Ambassadors of Hope. In 2017, she became known as Head of Logistics for the

Women's March Women's March may refer to: * Women's March on Versailles, a 1789 march in Paris * Women's Sunday, a 1908 suffragette march in London * Woman Suffrage Procession, a 1913 march and rally in Washington, D.C. * Women's March (South Africa), a 1956 ma ...

, which was the largest single-day protest in U.S. history.

References

Selected publications

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Video

External links

Miss New Jersey USA official websiteMiss USA official website

The Grio

Janaye Ingram official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ingram, Janaye 1978 births Living people People from Cherry Hill, New Jersey People from Camden, New Jersey Miss USA 2004 delegates African-American feminists American feminists African-American activists 21st-century African-American women 20th-century African-American people