August 2008

Greetings Members and Guests –

First thing's first: Congratulations to Nina West - Miss National Entertainer of the Year 2008 and Savion Simpson Black - Mr. National Entertainer of the Year 2008! Have a spectacular rein to you both and best wishes.

Summer is upon us and I hope everyone is wearing extra sunscreen because it's definitely a scorcher! It's time to take a break from the heat and the rising gas prices and dive into another cool interview from the staff here at CarrieFairfield.com. This month – we bring a new interviewer to the table. She's also one of our newest staffers. Miss Arabia Knight Addams has taken the time to sit with Sheena Devine Hawkins as her first interview for CarrieFairfield.com. I hope you enjoy this up and coming entertainer's perspective on her life and art. Without further ado...

Best –

Carrie

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For our next interview we've decided to interview a relative newcomer to the mainstream pageant circuit but a veteran to the world of Black Universe and pageantry in Florida. Sheena is definitely a star on the rise and after this interview, you will see exactly why! This is my first interview for the site so I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed conducting it and without further ado let's get started!

Well hello Sheena why don't you get comfortable and start out by telling us a little about yourself and the history of Sheena.

Well, my name is Sheena Devine Hawkins. I was born and raised in Miami, FL where I currently reside. I started the art of female impersonation in 1996 right after I completed high school. I started the art of female impersonation because I just wanted to see how I would look in drag. I did my first show to Whitney Houston's "One Moment In Time." I made ten dollars in tips and thought I had turned the party! [She laughs.] I wore a royal blue crushed velvet dress, with white stockings, and silver open toe shoes (Isn't that a pretty picture?) Anastasia Chanel Roberts did my makeup and hair. She cut the back of an old chopped wig, and made us both a pair of eyelashes. Although I still had that fear of drag queens, I still stepped on stage and performed. After leaving the stage, I said "Oh, I will be back" because I had a point to prove to everybody and that point was that Sheena Devine will make it.

So I came back every week, competing in the talent competition shows and I lost EVERY time! I didn't place in a show for a whole year straight. In 1997, I competed for my first pageant, and to my surprise (and everyone else's,) I won! The pageant was called Miss Third-World Ft. Lauderdale and from then on I kept going because I knew I could make it. I told my mother a couple of years later about my secret life by throwing some of my drag pictures on her bed just before I left to go to work but just before I could run out the door she yelled my name! I came to her bedroom door, she lifted up her glasses, looking at my pictures, and she said, "So this is you?" I said yes (while shaking,) she said, "I already knew, I was just waiting on you to tell me." She then said, "No matter what, you are still my child, and I love you." That's probably one of the happiest moments of my life.

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