Entertainer and journalist Lencola Sullivan broke many barriers. While she gained recognition as a pageant winner, she also made a name for herself on other arenas.

In 1980, she was crowned Miss Arkansas, becoming the first contestant in pageant history to win the talent award and the title.

In the Miss America pageant, she became the first African American to win a preliminary award and to place among the top five finalists.

Around the time she was competing in pageants, she was employed by KARK as a producer and eventually an on-air reporter.

She eventually moved to New York to focus on her career as a singer and public speaker.

Sullivan had studied piano for seven years and voice and organ for one year. As a vocalist, she performed with the Lionel Hampton Orchestra, with Stevie Wonder, with Kool and the Gang, and at both of President Bill Clinton’s inaugural balls, in 1993 and 1997.

She has also performed throughout The Netherlands, on Dutch National Television, and at Jazz Club 606 in London. Sullivan has also appeared on several television soap operas, in industrial films, and in many television commercials.

In 2002, Sullivan married Roel P. Verseveldt of The Hague. She and her husband are involved in international business activities. Sullivan is a frequent lecturer at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in The Netherlands.

She was inducted into the Arkansas Black Hall of Fame in 2006. For more information on Lencola Sullivan and the other Arkansas Black Hall of Fame inductees, visit the permanent exhibit at the Mosaic Templars Cultural Center, a division of the Department of Arkansas Heritage