Lencola Sullivan

Orean Lencola Sullivan (born 1957) is an American news anchor, singer and former beauty queen who has competed in the Miss America pageant. She was the first African-American to be crowned Miss Arkansas.[1]

Sullivan was the oldest of five children born to Richard and Macie Sullivan. She attended the University of Central Arkansas where she received a degree in broadcasting.

Sullivan won the Miss Arkansas title in July 1980 and represented Arkansas in the Miss America 1981 pageant held later that year in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sullivan became the first African-American woman to win preliminary awards in the pageant and was also the first to place among the top five, where she was fourth runner-up.

Sullivan became a news reporter on KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas, and later moved to New York City. She has also worked for KTTV-TV in Austin, Texas, and sang with Stevie Wonder, Kool & the Gang (for example on the album Unite) and the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, among many other things.[2][3][4]

In 2002, Sullivan married Roel P. Verseveldt, a native of the Netherlands, in Little Rock, Arkansas.[5] [6] She and her husband have since been involved in international business activities. Among other things, Sullivan also works at Royal Dutch Shell and teaches and guest-lectures at the University of Groningen, both in the area of diversity and inclusion[7]. She currently lives in The Hague.

References

  1. ↑ Encyclopedia of Arkansas History and Culture entry on Sullivan
  2. ↑ Press Release Induction Arkansas Black Hall of Fame; accessed on 11 July 2017
  3. ↑ Article on 501 Life, Magazine Celebrating Greater Central Arkansas; accessed on 11 July 2017
  4. ↑ Kool & the Gang fan site, Japan; accessed on 11 July 2017
  5. ↑ Archive University of Central Arkansas; accessed on 11 July 2017
  6. ↑ Item in Log Cabin Democrat, news source for Conway and Faulkner County, Arkansas; accessed on 11 July 2017
  7. ↑ Webpage at University of Groningen; accessed on 11 July 2017


Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Janet Holman		 Miss Arkansas
1980		 Succeeded by
Elizabeth Ward
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