The loss of Cheslie Kyrst, Miss USA 2019, hit close to home for Alisa not only as a pageant Sister Queen, but as a black woman who has gone through what Cheslie’s mother calls “high functioning depression”, who had suicidal thoughts in the past, herself. “As black women we are taught that you don't tell people your business, you pray and keep it moving or you let it go”. Alisa believes in God and believes He also gave us therapists to help guide us.
When Cheslie won, Victoria said “Mommy, she looks like me and her hair is just like mine!” and that was the deciding factor to get back into pageantry at 51. She was in a better place mentally and wanted to let women her age, little girls who looked like her and people living with lupus know that anything is possible! This is that golden nugget her father had given her decades prior. The words hit her differently this time around…“Why Not Me?”
Alisa is taking this crown by the jewels, so to speak, by advocating and volunteering at organizations near and dear to her heart. She is a member of Sigma Gamma Rho Sigma Gamma and volunteers at A Safe Place where you can hear her say to little girls, “We are all queens…I just wear a fancy crown”. Kevin raises money and runs the Chicago Marathon in support of the Lupus Society of Illinois every year. And as a family they volunteer at soup kitchens every holiday season.