Miss Black Maryland USA 2008
Alisha Lola Jones
Age: 27
School: Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH, Bachelor of Music, Voice Performance, 2003; Yale Divinity School and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, New Haven, CT, Master of Divinity, 2007; Ph. D. student, University of Chicago, Department of Music, Ethnomusicology, Chicago, IL.
Major: B.A. Musical Voice Performance; M.A. Divinity & Theology; Ph.D. Student in Ethnomusicology, African American Music focus
Talent: Classical Voice
Platform: HIV/AIDS education
Achievements: University of Chicago fellow; The Fund for Theological Education doctoral fellow, 2006-07 Rev. John G. Magee fellow for Dwight Hall center for Social Justice and Public Service at Yale University; Charles S. Mersick award; Harriet Ely award in theology; President, Yale Black Seminarians; Founder, Total Praise Ensemble and the Spirituals Workshop; Co-President, Oberlin College Black Musicians Guild; Co-founder with five friends of the Oberlin College Gospel Conference; Member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.; First Runner-up, in the Miss District of Columbia pageant, a preliminary of Miss America Organization in 2005; Contributing biographical author to Henry Louis Gates, Jr's African American National Biography; Member of the American Academy of Religion; Member of the Society for Ethnomusicology; Member of the national Black Religious Scholars Group; Coordinator for inter-faith relief efforts in post Katrina organizing, sponsored by Hillel International; cultural ambassador in "Project Bridge," an inter-cultural group sponsored by the Korea Society to learn about and visit Korea, in response to the L. A. riots; attended Centro Studi Italiani in Urbania, It and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria to study music; established a Maryland think tank to respond to HIV/AIDS issues; Spokeswoman for and advisor to Sing for Change, an HIV/AIDS non-profit for education and public service fundraising.