The 2023 Miss America season is well underway, with young women around the country preparing to compete at their upcoming state competitions and capture one of the coveted 51 spots at Miss America 2024. …

Earlier this month, the 71st Miss Universe competition, often regarded as the “Superbowl” of pageants commenced in New Orleans, culminating in Miss USA receiving the ultimate promotion. Like with any major sporting event, fans participated in brackets, attended viewing parties and rooted for their favorites. And while I didn’t partake…

According to an Independent Musician — 2020 was devastating for people across the board, but I’m not sure if any industry has suffered a blow as hard as the arts and entertainment. Well, maybe my good friend, the cruise industry. …

The story of two best friends and unemployed cruise ship workers living in a van during one of the most chaotic times in American history. — A few weeks after being sent home from our jobs working aboard luxury cruise ships, my best friend, Emily, and I were taking our daily government-sanctioned stroll through my neighborhood, contemplating what we wanted to do with our (what was originally supposed to be) two month hiatus from ship life…

#MusicWithAPurpose is a series dedicated to continuing the conversation surrounding music education and expression, both pre and post COVID. Today’s interview features Philip Shoultz, Associate Conductor and Director of Learning and Engagement for VocalEssence — a 52 year old performing arts organization based in the Twin Cities. Shoultz discusses the power of community, music and creativity in times of crisis.

#MusicWithAPurpose is a series dedicated to continuing the conversation surrounding music education and expression, both pre and post COVID. Today’s interview features Olivia Marques, a 22 year-old graduate of Bridgewater State University, where she studied theatre education, secondary education and musical theatre performance. She is starting her first year within the New Bedford public school district as a building-based substitute at Normandin Middle School.

Business meetings, classrooms, and concerts have all transitioned to Zoom. Now, beauty pageants are going online, too. — Even if you know absolutely nothing about beauty pageants, you’re probably not surprised that this year’s Miss America competition, the 99th anniversary, was cancelled. So was every preceding state contest— except Montana. No pandemic was going to get in the way of crowning a new Miss Montana!

If I don’t care about your travels from 5 months ago, why am I suddenly going to care about your travels 5 months from now? I am just as sick of uploading posts about my new song covers, past vacations and #AtHome life as you are looking at them. The…

In the words of my hero, Sir Elton John, “I think it’s going to be a LONG, long time”. This is what May 8th, 2020 was supposed to look like: I wake up in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Even though I had a show the night before, I get up early…