Josh Walls highlights women of color in SU community with Black and Gold pageant
Courtesy of Josh Walls
Walls always knew he wanted to pursue a legal career from a young age, drawing inspiration from“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.”
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When Josh Walls was growing up in Philadelphia, he loved watching “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” The award-winning TV show was a source of entertainment for many people, but for Walls, it was something more — the inspiration for his lifelong dream of attending law school.
“Will Smith was big in Philadelphia households for the little boys, because we all kind of envisioned that as a dream of success to a degree,” Walls said. “From there, I just got really interested in it.”
Walls, currently a first year student at the Syracuse University College of Law, is well on his way to obtaining his Juris Doctor. But, while balancing his coursework, he widened his focus to include managing the Miss Black and Gold pageant, a philanthropic fundraiser put on by the Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity. The pageant is a one-day event that raises money for at-risk students in the Syracuse School District. Walls also sees it as a chance to showcase women of color and celebrate the differences between people.
While earning his bachelor’s degree in sport management at SU, Walls was a member of various campus organizations, including Alpha Phi Alpha. At the time, the fraternity hosted the pageant on an annual basis, but Walls was hesitant to get involved with the program.
He’d never considered working with pageants before, and didn’t think it was something he would have an interest in doing. After learning more about the program, though, Walls knew he wanted to be involved.
“Once I really understood, I said, ‘I want to sit as a head of this committee,’” Walls said. “I’d seen it was about development, I’d seen it was about building community, I’d seen it was about highlighting the contributions and accomplishments of people who look like my mother and my grandmother and my aunt.”
After Walls graduated in 2015, he took a step away from his collegiate extracurriculars and turned to his career. He knew he wanted to take a break from academics before attending law school, so with a goal of one day applying his law degree to the world of sports agencies, he took a job with Octagon, a sports agency that represents athletes like Steph Curry. Walls held a variety of jobs between obtaining his undergraduate degree and starting law school, working in event management and media and brand partnerships.
Walls also took the opportunity to travel. He’s visited 28 countries, and credits that exploration with teaching him the value of organizational skills and maintaining an open mind. Seven years after his college graduation, though, Walls looked at his life and decided he was ready to go to law school and achieve that childhood dream.
“I looked at where I was at in my career, I understood where I was going next, and I looked at where I was at as a person, as a man, and what I learned and what I still wanted to learn,” Walls said. “The timing was perfect, so I made it happen.”
Once Walls was back at SU, the pageant was no longer an annual event. He approached the current members of Alpha Phi Alpha, and explained what the program was like while he was a student. They trusted him and his leadership, Walls said, and so he began working to bring Miss Black and Gold back to the campus.
Though he’s not a fan of the term, Walls’ job with the pageant is typically called “Pageant Dad.” The role, Walls said, is essentially the project manager for the entire event, a responsibility given to him in part due to his experience and prior knowledge from working with the pageant during his undergraduate years.
“When you dig a little bit deeper, I think I knew the nuances of it, I knew the logistical aspects of it, I knew the importance of it, I knew the empowerment pieces of it, I knew the legacy of it,” Walls said. “It was only almost natural that I took on this role with the event.”
When it came time to recruit the contestants, the members of Alpha Phi Alpha identified women who they thought would make good candidates. In particular, they looked for leaders on the campus — good people and friends who could be a strong contestant in the pageant. After giving potential contestants a chance to learn more by attending some early meetings before fully committing, Walls and the members of Alpha Phi Alpha were ready to move forward with their planning.
Walls worked with students in the College of Visual and Performing Arts to build out the theme of “Broadway” used in the pageant. Throughout the event, sometimes during periods when contestants were backstage getting changed, the pageant put on a Broadway-style performance for the audience. The prep work to get the pageant ready for an audience allowed Walls, the pageant workers and contestants to get to know one another.
“I think building bonds or relationships or fostering those that already existed was also equally important to me, but I think if I had to pick a favorite part, it would have been just spending time with the pageant contestants and just building a family out with them,” Walls said.
Though the fraternity contacted Mariama Barry, a junior, about being a contestant, she’d recently participated in a different pageant, though, and didn’t want to do another so soon. Instead, she took on the role of a “pageant mom,” helping to support, guide and manage the contestants throughout the pageant preparations.
Each day she worked with the pageant, Barry provided emotional and moral support, along with critiques and advice to the contestants. Both from her own pageant experience and her time as a pageant mom with Miss Black and Gold, she knows that watching talented women in a pageant can be an inspiring moment for the audience. Some of the confidence and uplifting environment, though, she attributes to Walls.
“I’ve never seen him have a bad day,” Barry said. “He said that if he’s having a bad day, he wouldn’t show it and that he’s going to make sure to uplift everyone in the room. I don’t think the show would have been possible without him.”
Walls’ work organizing the pageant was essential for the contestants. SU senior Kennedy Campbell was a contestant in this year’s pageant, and said the experience enabled her to make many lasting friendships and relationships.
I looked at where I was at in my career, I understood where I was going next, and I looked at where I was at as a person, as a man, and what I learned and what I still wanted to learnJosh Walls, first-year at Syracuse University’s College of Law
Though Walls was working to execute his vision for the pageant, Campbell said he still made an effort to listen to the opinions and ideas of others involved with the program.
“He worked with us to fulfill his vision, he still had the idea in his head,” Campbell said. “But if we wanted to change something, he would work with us through that and allow us.”
The pageant, which was held on Nov. 5 in Goldstein Auditorium, drew audience members from a variety of cities and states, including New York City and Massachusetts, Walls said. The fraternity also invited judges from around the Syracuse area.
Through both the pageant and philanthropic aspects of Miss Black and Gold, Walls aimed to demonstrate the value of community building and to highlight women of color as role models for the audience and campus.
“I hope there was a little girl who’s six, seven, eight years old in the crowd that could say, ‘I want to be Miss Black and Gold.’” Walls said. “She can see someone, like the Vice President of the United States, that looks like her and is being celebrated, specifically by black men. To me, that is important today, that was important yesterday, and that’ll be important tomorrow.”
Published on December 1, 2022 at 12:29 am
Contact Abby: [email protected] | @abbyvp08
