- [Narrator] Funding for this program was provided by.

- [Narrator] Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist, dedicated to helping you celebrate your life or the life of a loved one for over 85 years.

Chattanooga Funeral Home believes that each funeral should be as unique and memorable as the life being honored.

- [Narrator] This program is also made possible by support from viewers like you.

Thank you.

- [Alison] This week I find out how this Chattanooga native went from practicing law to being crowned on the international pageant stage.

- And so I saw that pageantry with purpose can be powerful and I said, not to sound arrogant, but it was a way of me humbling myself to say, okay, God, if it means more, the words that are coming out of my mouth, if I have a sash with rhinestone on it and a crown and it will mean more to these young ladies and maybe impact them more then okay.

- [Alison] Join me as I talk with Juanita Ingram.

Coming up next on "The A List."

(upbeat music) Juanita Ingram is an attorney, an author, a television producer, a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, and the current reigning Mrs. Universe.

But whether she's negotiating contracts, working behind the camera, or walking the runway, Juanita approaches her professional endeavors with the goal of breaking down barriers and lifting up the women around her.

The impact of her work is being felt around the globe and right here in her hometown where she founded the Chattanooga affiliate of Dress for Success.

Well, Juanita, welcome to "The A List."

- Thank you so much for having me.

It's a pleasure to be here.

- It's a pleasure to be here, I feel very at home.

It's almost like just sitting in my closet but it's more organized.

- Yes, far more organized in my closet could ever be.

- So we are here at the Chattanooga affiliate of Dress for Success, which you founded.

One of two affiliates in the world that you founded.

- Yes.

- Tell me about the mission of Dress for Success and how this plays a role for women in Chattanooga.

- Absolutely.

Dress for Success is all about getting unemployed women back into the workplace.

So every unemployed woman can be a potential client for Dress for Success.

We are about the economic independence for women, so we help women by giving them interview attire, interview training and ongoing support.

I like to say that we dress women from the inside out, so it's about confidence building and really giving them the tools they need to succeed, not just to get the job but to be successful in it.

- How did you get involved?

And how did you start not only this one, but the affiliate in London many years ago?

- Yes, London came first.

I moved to London in 2011 and the Worldwide CEO called me one day.

I had been volunteering at their former affiliate that closed down, and I had just sent her an email that said, if you wanna reopen, give me a call.

If you need somebody to fold clothes or sweep the floors, I'm here.

And the phone rang and she called me and she said, and I told her, I was like, "That was quick."

And she was like, "What are you talking about?"

I was like, "Well, I just sent you an email "about the affiliate if you're ever gonna reopen."

She was like, "I hadn't gotten that, "but I was gonna ask you would you restart it?"

So it was very serendipitous moment and there was a lot of legal issues at play.

And because of my legal background I think she just felt like I was the right person.

So I started that affiliate and then when I moved back to the US, I still chair the board and I'm still there about four times a year.

I lived there for almost five years.

But I started thinking about the women in my own community, Chattanooga is home.

So I'm from here, born and raised, and I knew that this type of service could be of great benefit to the women in our area.

- Now, I love that you already mentioned that Chattanooga is home.

Because you are an international woman of mystery, right?

(both laughing) - I don't know about the mysterious part but yes, I'm all over the place.

Sometimes I have this blog called Where in the World is Juanita.

It's very appropriate.

- And it's perfect because we love that these are your roots, this is where it all started.

But tell me a little bit about growing up here.

Also, I wanna plant this seed because I know, I mean, your resume alone showcases what an incredibly strong, committed, philanthropic, successful woman, mother, reigning Mrs. Universe you are, but my sense is that doesn't come about just by happenstance.

There had to be some incredible female, especially role models in your life.

- Absolutely.

And I think that's why I'm so passionate about Dress for Success because none of us succeeds in a bubble and that's certainly true for me.

Chattanooga is the reason I am who I am.

I tell people that all the time.

It's one of the most philanthropic environments and it's also one of the most beautiful places.

And I've lived almost, I won't say almost everywhere, but I've at least traveled to several places, lived on three continents and Chattanooga is always home.

I grew up here with a tremendous amount of support from the women around me.

My grandmother was probably the most influential person in my life.

I used to live for whatever she was gonna wear every Sunday.

I would wait and see what she would show up in.

She was absolutely fabulous.

And she smelled like white diamonds, I think was in her bloodstream at one point in time, and she was just amazing.

And really showed me the epitome of what womanhood is, of supporting other women.

And I had guidance counselors.

My band director was a woman.

I marched all four years in the band.

And so I had some really strong women role models.

My mother is still here, my father is here, everybody, my sister.

So all of my family is here, Chattanooga is always home.

And it's just been an extremely supportive environment.

- So what did you aspire to be when you were young and growing up here?

- A lawyer.

I used to get in trouble for talking too much in class and I told someone one day, I was like, "You know one day people are gonna pay me to talk "and I'm gonna stop getting put in the corner."

I did need to stop talking in class.

My mother is a school teacher, retired of 32 years.

They would call her, they were all her friends.

But I always wanted to help people.

I went to Brainerd High School.

We graduated from Brainerd, Dalewood Middle School, Woodmore Elementary.

So I am Chattanooga to the bone and all of my teachers would inspire me to do mock court and moot court trials and argue in class and do a debate team.

And that's where it really sparked for me that I can use this as a catalyst to help other people.

And so I know lawyers get a bad rap sometimes, but we really do.

You need us when you call us for a good thing.

But we really are all about problem solving and helping people see their dreams.

I'm a transactional lawyer.

If you get a DUI don't call me.

I tell people that all the time.

I'm not that kind of lawyer, but I help people realize their dreams.

I started out in nonprofit work, so it was just inherent to me to help other entrepreneurs and business owners be successful.

So that's my passion.

- [Alison] That childhood aspiration to help people propelled Juanita through first earning a bachelor's degree from Tennessee State University, and then her MBA and her law degree from the University of Memphis.

But as she began building the career she'd always dreamed of her life took a turn she could have never expected.

So how in the world did you get into pageantry?

- That's a very good question.

Because of my background I've been invited to speak to different high schools and elementary schools, girls groups about career choices, making wise decisions.

And I remember I went back to my office, I was practicing law full-time and I said a prayer, you gotta be careful what you pray for.

And I said, oh God, this is amazing, please use me.

How can I do this more often?

And I heard the encouragement of pageantry and I had a Sarah moment.

You know how Sarah in the Bible laughed when God told her what she needed to do.

And I laughed and I said, no, I'm not doing that.

At the time I was an adjunct professor of business law.

I was practicing full-time and I was also an adjunct professor of business law.

I was like I'm in academia, I'm not doing that.

I'm not gonna stand before someone and tell them to judge me.

I know I clean up well but I don't need someone to tell me I'm cute or pretty.

And I didn't have a real understanding of pageants at the time.

And then God took me to the Book of Esther and I looked at how she approached, because really that's the first historic account of pageantry that we have.

She stood before the king with the other young ladies in the county.

It was a first Miss Persia pageant.

But it was with the purpose.

And so I saw that pageantry with purpose can be powerful.

And I said, not to sound arrogant, but it was a way of me humbling myself to say, okay, God, if it means more, the words that are coming out of my mouth, if I have a sash with rhinestones on it and a crown, and it will mean more to these young ladies and maybe impact them more then okay.

And I did my very first pageant in 2007 and it was Mrs. Indiana United States.

And I didn't think I was going to win because all the professional pageantears as I called them were there.

And these ladies had been doing pageants their whole lives.

And I won.

And then I just kept going from there.

And I feel like God has a reason.

I do feel that pageantry without a purpose is pointless.

I don't find validity in it.

I'm not a real big supporter of kitty pageants.

And I think for some women, for missed contestants and maybe even teens, it's a great confidence builder.

There's a lot of scholarship funds that are available.

You can change your life with the opportunity.

But I do think that with a purpose, as long as you're clear about your why, that it's a very powerful tool.

- But you are an outsider.

I mean, there are certainly a number of young women who are really raised in the craft and have gotten to that position after decades of being groomed, trained, doing all of the rituals.

What was the culture of inclusivity and acceptance like for someone like you who sort of jumped in and then not only thrived but won the title her first pageant?

- No one has ever asked me that.

No one's ever talked about that, no one's ever inquired.

It is a subculture within a culture.

And it was and I felt it.

And because I am an outlier.

I am not your typical as I call them, the pageantears that grew up in it and do it instinctively.

I had to train.

I am more of an academic.

I am not someone who, but I always love fashion.

I love what we do at Dress for Success because we use fashion to empower women.

When you feel better, you perform better, you feel better.

My grandmother used to always tell me, you should always look the way you feel unless you don't feel fabulous, you should always look great.

And so taking that as an aspect of pageantry wasn't hard or difficult for me.

But definitely I'm not that competitive of a person.

I don't like to compete.

I do believe that just being your best self, it's all that I can do.

I cannot compete next to a woman who is blonde-haired, blue-eyed, six feet tall.

We are apples and oranges.

How do you truly compare?

Well, you don't.

So it's really about bringing your best self.

That aspect of pageantry I love because you can't really compare someone to the next person.

I tell everybody on stage every woman is a rose.

I may be a polka dotted glitter rose, someone else is a red rose, someone else is a pink rose.

And if the judges are in the mood for yellow roses that day doesn't mean I'm not a rose.

It just means they didn't want polka dotted glitter roses that day and that's okay.

So I think if you aren't mentally healthy to lose, you shouldn't be there.

- [Alison] Though she took a non-traditional path to pageantry, Juanita excelled at the craft and made history along the way.

In 2012, she became the first African American woman to win the title of Mrs. World International.

And she also took home the Crown as Mrs Great Britain World 2011, Mrs. UK Universe 2013, and Mrs. UK International 2014, before making the decision to retire from pageant competition.

But nearly a decade later, an unexpected call about her health served as the catalyst to step back onto the international stage.

So who is and I don't wanna say approval necessarily, but who's blessing and encouragement did you seek out when you started pageantry, and more importantly, when you decided to come out of retirement and be in the Mrs. Universe pageant?

- I think I only prayed about it, honestly.

I didn't really confer 'cause I tell people all the time and I love my husband dearly, he gives me a yes regardless.

So I don't really have to consult with him.

He's just, yes dear.

He's trained really well, we've been married for 18 years, so that's never a barrier.

- So he never pushed back on the idea?

- No, I think 'cause it makes him Mr. Universe.

A win is a win, I think he's winning.

I prayed about it.

I felt like it was the right time.

And I had gone through a health issue prior to that.

I was over 40.

It was right before we moved to Taiwan and I got my first mammogram and nobody expects to get a call back and I did.

And my mammogram worked.

I tell people all the time, I did not have cancer.

It caught everything early.

But I had to have a massive reconstructive surgery, a lot of tissue removed, a lot of medications.

I gained 45 pounds and had to do a lot of physical therapy.

It took me almost six months just to be able to raise my arm again.

And so that was heavy.

The journey back from that I think he fully understood that probably a pageant was gonna be the only thing to motivate me to really focus the way I needed to.

Because again, the last time I won big I was 35, now I'm 45.

And there's no come to Jesus like a swimsuit competition.

You gotta walk towards the judges and you have to walk away.

And so it's that back action that you gotta think about those type of things and really was the only thing that would motivate me- - I'm worried about the back of my hair much less the back of my whole body.

- Oh my gosh, it's a lot to think about but it is the motivation that I needed to get out of the woe is me space.

Because I felt like with the surgery and the scars that something was done to me and it was the thing that helped me to turn it around to see that it was done for me and to really celebrate.

So when I stood on that stage, I stood there whole, I didn't really, I know it sounds cliche, and my friend asked me the day before, "How are you feeling?

"What do you think?"

And I said, "Well, I'm just preparing for whatever God has, "it's about the journey."

And they're like, "Well, this is a really expensive journey.

"You don't think he could have told you this?

"Or sent you a memo in some other way, something you need?"

But honestly, standing on that stage, being whole, being healthy and being back to myself was enough.

I felt like I had already won.

I really didn't care if they crowned me.

It was icing on the cake, it was great.

But this was a catalyst that helped me to be and to get back to myself.

- Well, and I know you've been very open about that journey, not just with your family and your friends but with a whole world of people.

- Yes.

- Who know of you not only as Mrs. Universe, not only as a lawyer, not only as an accomplished actress and producer, but also as part of a reality series that you not only star in but created.

And tell me a little bit about the intersection between finding that purpose and also wanting to showcase the "Expat" community and specifically, the black "Expat" community in a way that had never been done before.

- Absolutely, it's interesting because when I was in London I went back to acting and then when we moved back to Indianapolis, I got behind the camera just because of opportunities that weren't there and having to create my own opportunities.

But I was standing in London when I came up with the idea of the show because as a storyteller you always wanna look for the story that hasn't been told.

That's very rare and that's really hard.

And then at the time I was an entertainment lawyer.

I had clients in the unscripted space and I would go on set with them sometimes and negotiate deals.

And I would just look around, especially for black led cast and just to see how the genre dealt with storylines and dealt with conflict and really portrayed us in this sort of monolithic, repetitive way.

And I tell people all the time, there's no bad show out there.

There's something for everybody.

I watch it all, I study it, I don't watch it the same as I used to.

I look for transitions and color grading now.

I'll look at it in a different light, but there's something for everyone.

But yet for black led casts you didn't really have a different formula for entertainment and something that was very family friendly.

And so I knew that there was a niche and a need for a black led cast to be showcased in a different way.

That we are just normalizing us just being high stakes are there, life presents enough drama.

We filmed it during COVID, that was enough.

Things kept happening, it was enough.

But we don't really have shows that showcase us in this sort of normalized way.

Everything has a formula for drama and a formula for entertainment that sometimes takes a negative turn that is repetitive.

And I think that that's so important to showcase any group in a very diverse way.

Because when you don't, that's when you get into stereotypes that can be very dangerous and toxic for any particular group to only be shown in one particular light and only be shown to navigate conflict in one particular way.

And it's not honest.

- [Alison] Whether she's creating a platform for a new kind of storytelling, or breaking down barriers in the pageant world, it's clear that Juanita is passionate about diversifying the spaces she works in.

After all, she's seen firsthand how representation can make a big impact for those who would follow in her footsteps.

So it's not only impressive that you are Mrs. Universe, but it's worth noting you are the first black Mrs. Universe.

- Yes.

- What kind of, I guess, responsibility is on your shoulders in addition to just the responsibilities of representing that title throughout the year?

- I think it means a lot to a lot of people.

I go to a lot of schools and one of the most impactful experiences that I've had this year, I was at a elementary school in Long Island and I walked in the auditoriums.

There was like 1100 little girls in there and they all started screaming.

It was an inner city school, all black and Latina.

And one of them looked at me and she started crying and she was like, "You look like me."

And that meant a lot because I think sometimes people often ask me, well, isn't pageantry outdated?

Do you really still need that?

And unfortunately, sometimes we can look at things with such a privileged lens when we've always had it, and when we haven't had it it still means a lot to a lot of little girls to know that their look and their aesthetic is validated and it's beautiful and it's meaningful.

And then I try to tell them that intelligence and wisdom wins the crown and that's more important.

But I think celebrating and being inclusive is always important.

- [Alison] Though her professional path has taken many unexpected turns, it's clear that Juanita is guided by her purpose and her childhood dreams of helping those around her have come to fruition in ways she could have never anticipated.

It feels like one of the common themes for your life is being a reflective piece for others, is being possibly the reflection you didn't have when you were looking at pageantry or when you were looking at living abroad or global travel.

So who, when you were growing up, or even as a young adult, who was sort of the mirror for you?

Who was like that inspiration, either someone close or maybe it was someone that you've never met that you said, I aspired to be like that?

- I had many, I had really great women in my life.

One of the general counsels at Chubb Insurance years ago.

So I started interning here when Chubb used to be in the building that Miller Martin is in now.

And I started interning there, but there was a general counsel her name was Joanne Bobber.

And I remember her pulling me into her office.

We were in New Jersey at the time.

I interned with them for a few years and I went to New Jersey and I was contemplating dropping out of law school.

And I don't know if she saw something on me or saw something in me in that moment.

And she pulled me in her office and she said, "Juanita, I just wanna tell you that you're gonna be amazing "at whatever it is that you do."

I didn't know her, I never met her.

And I don't know if she just saw me and just saw that I needed that.

She pulled me in her office and she said, "You're gonna be amazing, I think the world of you."

And in that moment I realized that I didn't think that of myself and I realized that I should.

And that there was nothing that I couldn't do.

And if she thought that of me, why didn't I think that of myself?

But I had really good women and people and my dad especially, who told me I could do anything.

When I walked the halls, I went to University of Memphis and I would look at the composite pictures along the walls going back to the '60s and the '70s, and I didn't see a lot of me in those pictures.

But when I started to see a sprinkle of me in them, I recognized that they did it probably under far harsher, harder circumstances than what I was facing.

And there wasn't anything that I couldn't do if they did it.

So I would walk the halls and get inspired by people that I'd never met because I think we stand on the shoulders of a lot of folks who broke a lot of glass ceilings and I sat in those chairs because of a lot of the foundations that they laid.

So I felt like I owed it to them as well.

But I had a lot of great mentors and people who just kept encouraging me.

Chattanooga is a magical place in that way.

- So for the young Juanita or the young woman or young man who is now growing up and sees you on TV or sees your show or just reads about you, what do you hope you reflect to that person?

- Oh, that it's gonna be okay.

That you are enough and it's going to be okay.

You don't have to have it all figured out.

Life is going to take you on the journey that you're meant to go, ride the wave.

Time is your friend, it's not the enemy.

And it's okay for you to change.

I've done several pivots in my career.

If you had asked me 10 years ago, would I have been Mrs. Universe, I probably would've said, well, I hope so 'cause that was the first time I tried I didn't win.

But if you had asked me 20 years ago I would've said no, I would have never seen this.

So I hope that I reflect, one, that if God did it for me he can do it for anyone.

I didn't grow up in any special circumstance.

I am an ordinary woman that's done some extraordinary things, that has some extraordinary experiences, but I am like everyone else.

I just clean up really well, that's all.

But I hope that they get inspired to know that nothing is beyond their limit and to not listen to the negativity that is inherent and inevitable in life.

But you make up your mind that you wanna do something and you seek out the tribe that's gonna help you to accomplish it 'cause we all need someone.

- Well, when I listen to you I think of not letting perfection be the enemy of purpose.

- Absolutely not.

Do it broken, broken crayon steel color.

You do not have to be perfect.

People often say to me, I'm so surprised that you're so short.

And people think that I'm really, really tall.

And I tell them, isn't it amazing how big my presence is?

It's always something that somebody's gonna find with you that is different or outside of the norm.

That's a good thing.

If there were two of you, one of you is unnecessary.

You're there for a reason.

Everybody is here for a reason that only you can accomplish.

So that's what I hope people see.

- Well, we do.

On behalf of the world, on behalf of the universe, we see it.

Thank you so much.

- Thank you.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] Watch even more of the shows you love on the free PBS app.

- [Narrator] Funding for this program was provided by.

- [Narrator] Chattanooga Funeral Home, Crematory & Florist, dedicated to helping you celebrate your life or the life of a loved one For over 85 years.

Chattanooga Funeral Home believes that each funeral should be as unique and memorable as the life being honored.

- [Narrator] This program is also made possible by support from viewers like you.

Thank you.