Marjorie Vail was browsing the internet one day, when she learned of the Mrs. Brooklyn International pageant. She had always wanted to be part of a pageant that wasn’t too artificial, and this one, focusing on a wide variety of elements—beauty, fashion, poise, and so on—and more importantly having a socially conscious component—definitely fit the bill.

Born in New York into a Haitian family, Vail is the delegate-elect who will represent her borough at the state pageant in October. Blessed with beauty and brains, and extremely outspoken, Mrs. Vail had something to say just about everything, from her childhood in Brooklyn, to gender roles, and identity. Listen in…

Q & A

What does it mean to you to have been named Mrs. Brooklyn International?
Recently, Brooklyn has undergone a renaissance, with many people coming to represent the borough. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, so it’s not a place I have just come to because it’s trendy. Brooklyn has a strong Caribbean presence. Anyone who knows me knows that I’m Haitian first and a Brooklynite through and through. When you are in Brooklyn, it’s all about love, family, and traditions. I remember the lyric: “Spread love it’s the Brooklyn way.” That’s what I aim to do. I am excited that I get to share that love at the New York State pageant.

What are some of the memories that you have of growing up Haitian?
When I was growing up, it was tough being a Haitian; it wasn’t socially acceptable. We were disliked, despised, and were constantly being attacked. It was actually unsafe to say you were Haitian in school. I never denied I was Haitian, but I certainly did not volunteer the information. Of course all that changed when I went to high school where all of a sudden it was the coolest thing to be Haitian. At home was a different story. I remember speaking Kreyòl to my mom and her making fun of the way I said certain Kreyòl words with an American accent. Having a Haitian proverb explained to me because I just didn’t get it. Conversations that sounded like arguments. Finding any reason to have a party. What ten year old’s party starts at midnight? I remember celebrating christenings, communions and birthday parties where I wore puffy dresses, stockings, leather shoes with ribbons and barrettes in my hair. I remember the aroma of a big pot of New Year’s soup joumou-–pumpkin and butternut squash soup—griyo—fried pork—diri ak djon djon—lack mushroom rice—lanbi—conch—and all the other excellent Haitian cuisine. I remember the lectures about how education is the key to success. Most of all, we laughed! Oh, how we laughed!

When did you first perceive the whole idea of gender roles?
I don’t think anyone can grow up in a Haitian household and not be aware of gender roles. You constantly hear, “Young ladies don’t whistle, or young ladies should know how to cook… etc.” I didn’t hear it so much from my mom—well maybe the cooking part—but definitely from other family members. I felt it when I had to wake up every Saturday morning to clean the house with my sister while my cousin slept in. Of course, I felt like it wasn’t fair, but there was nothing I could do at the time, it is part of the culture. As I got older, I kept hearing those sayings but I did my own thing. I always had a bit of a rebellious streak and pretty much marched to the tune of my own drum. I let people talk about what they perceived as my “unlady-like” ways and all the while I worked hard to shine brightly.

How do you define beauty?
My mom is a classic example of beauty because although someone who doesn’t know her would see an older lady, but because her heart and character are good, honest, and altruistic anyone who gets to know her would know she is a beautiful person. She is the best example of beauty I feel I would ever need. Beauty is approachable, has a beautiful smile, is concerned for others, is not rude, a constant friend, and always ready to serve. Beauty is “Innocent as a dove, shrewd as a snake.”

Did your parents play a role in your teenage years, in terms of giving you the confidence to eventually participate in a pageant?
Since my youth, my mama has been my biggest fan. I would go as far as to say she put confidence into me. She would tell me, “You’re smart, and beautiful! You can do anything!” When she was with other people, she would speak about me in a good light which is so important to do as a parent. So I grew up having confidence in myself. My confidence would wane when I would immaturely compare myself to others. As I get older, my self-confidence gets stronger. If I truly want something, I go after it full force with bridles on.

Any pointers for those who wish to participate in a pageant of that sort?
My advice for those who wish to participate in a pageant is to do your homework. All pageants are not created equal. You have to find the one that’s right for you, the one that speaks to your values—and the one you know you can truly represent—should you win the title.

Mrs. Brooklyn International Marjorie Vail packing supplies in boxes to be shipped to Haiti.

Participating in a pageant takes a great deal of guts. Some feel intimidated by the very idea. Was it taxing finding the gumption to participate?
It was taxing. Being in a pageant can be intimidating. You are trying to win a title that other beautiful women are going for. You have to stand out. You must prove you are the best person to represent their system. I told myself that I am not becoming something I am not to prove this, I just need to be the best me. Thank God I have a great support team that encouraged my dream. So one day, I filled out the application and sent it out before I could talk myself out of it.

When you were in middle school and elementary school, how did you view yourself?
When I was in elementary school, I can’t really say I viewed myself in any particular way. I do feel like my whole outlook on life changed in the 6th grade. That school year, I and other neighborhood kids were bussed to a school in Bensonhurst-Bayridge which was predominately white. That was the first time in my life that I was aware of my blackness. Suddenly, I was in the minority—I was one of two black kids in my class. For a while, I tried to fit in but no matter what I did, I just couldn’t. My skin, hair, and style was just way too different. That school year was one of the toughest times of my youth. One of the white girls in my class befriended me. She too was struggling. Her struggle was different than mine, she didn’t fit in because of her weight. It hit me at some point that she and I were going through the same social struggle, the desire to be accepted. This wasn’t simply about color, but a lot to do with self-confidence. Self-confidence is crucial for survival in this life no matter what who you are.

How can a woman develop self-confidence?
Wow! There are many factors that go into finding self-confidence. Everyone is different. For me, I grew up with a mom who told me that I am smart, beautiful and can do anything. As a believer, I had to embrace that I am who God says I am, meaning I was made in His image. Since I am made in His image, I can’t fail. When I fail, it’s not because I am a failure, but because I need to work harder or take an entirely different direction. Failure is not a reason to quit; it’s a stepping stone.

When was the last time you went to Haiti?
The last time I went to Haiti was July 2010, six months after the earthquake. Several young professionals at my church yearned to go and help. We prayed about it, sought out whom needed our help, got donations and went to work. We went to a little town called Bognotte, Haiti just outside of Leogane. It’s a very remote little town. Had it not been for the pastor of the church working there this town would surely have been overlooked. We fed the people daily, held classes for the kids, did art therapy, held discussions, gave out clothes, held a health clinic and planted trees all in nine days. Those were the toughest yet fulfilling nine days of my life. When we returned, our not-for-profit organization Out To Reach was born. Since that time we have been supporting the school, created literacy and vocational classes for the adults in Bognotte. This is why Out To Reach is my platform. We aim to help the Haitian people not just with monetary donations, but we’re teaching them to be educated and self-supporting. We aim to do this one town at a time.

Most beauty pageant winners have a whole path carved out for them. What are your career plans?
Well first, the state pageant is coming up in October. I need to have the time of my life there and God willing bring that title home to the BK. From there, I would need to compete in the nationals and go on from there. Regardless of how things turn out, my life has always been about serving others. I will continue to work with Out To Reach. We promised the school in Bognotte backpacks, uniforms and a library and we aim to come through on those promises. I also plan to work with other organizations that not only help Haitians, but help those in the States as well. My heart’s desire is to leave a legacy for my son that instills in him that you are never truly fulfilled in this life unless you are helping others.

If actress Sharon Pierre-Louis is a dream chaser, it’s a trait passed on from her parents. They—starting with her father—arrived to Miami from Haiti during one of the influx of Haitian immigrants in the 1980s. From them, she learned the value of putting in hard work towards achieving short-term and long-term goals. To Sharon, this meant attending a performing arts school with a rigid curriculum and moving to Los Angeles from her birth city West Palm Beach, following college graduation.

Moving out of her comfort zone paid off. Sharon Pierre-Louis has since had roles on the remake of the 1980s dance musical Fame, the ground-breaking teen series “Lincoln Heights”, and in film director Quentin Tarantino’s film Django Unchained—not to mention “CSI Miami” and on the TV series “Suburgatory”. If you are a fan of ABC Family’s “The Lying Game”, you should know that’s her playing Nisha Randall.

Seems like it was only yesterday that little Sharon was playing the role of Tiger Lily in her school’s production of “Peter Pan”. Now she’s got bigger snappers and salmons to grill. In the meantime, Kreyolicious.com got the scoop on her journey and life in Hollywood.

As a little girl, did you dream about having a career in the film industry?

As a little girl, I used to say that I wanted to be a teacher or a lawyer. However, being a middle child, I found myself having to play alone a lot and it was through that in which I was able to dive into a world of imagination. I used to pretend to be many different characters in the kitchen in front of the mirror for hours and my big sister would walk by and say, “You’re crazy!” But I just didn’t care, because it was fun for me and all I could think was, “She’s missing out!” Well, a few years later when I was around ten or eleven years old in the sixth grade, I got involved with my middle school’s drama club because I had a crush on this boy who my friend told me was in it. Needless to say, I never ended up talking to him, but it was our individual onstage performance of poems for Black History Month where I got bit by the acting bug. It was my first time on stage in front of my peers and not only did I have a fun time, I got a great response from many of the students. That year, I decided to audition for the Alexander W. Dreyfoos Jr. School of the Arts and got accepted. From seventh to twelfth grade, I was involved in theater and musical theater both in education and at church. I thought I’d go to New York and be on Broadway. It wasn’t until after a couple years of doing student films in college that I decided on Los Angeles. So as a little girl, I just loved people, and acting was a game I played for fun before I even knew it was called “acting.” It’s funny now to think that I’ve gotten paid to do what was a personal game for me as a child. My family laughs about that now because it’s like I knew subconsciously what I was meant to be—even then—and didn’t let the fact that my big sister thinking I was weird—stop me.

Sharon Pierre-Louis (left) with two castmates from the TV show “Suburgatory”.

So you’re also a trained opera singer?

I did musical theater in middle and high school as well as took voice lessons in college at FSU—Florida State University. I just got back into singing again after having been focusing on my acting career and have taken lessons here in LA. I’ve been offered some opportunities to share my voice at charity events mostly to empower youth as well as some onstage performances. Opera singing is another passion of mine. I feel like it’s my soul purely expressing itself. Although I have a slight build, my voice is big which feels more like the true me.

How was it working as part of the cast of the film Django Unchained?

It was incredible! I had the best time on set. We shot my part on a real historical plantation in Louisiana. Although the film was pretty intense, the energy in the air between takes was joyful. I felt like I was that little girl again diving into a world of imagination, but this time with a whole bunch of other people who were in the game with me. I also didn’t experience any egos, we were all in it together. Working with Quentin Tarantino was a dream come true, of course. I remember being on the edge of my seat watching his films when I was younger and thinking, “God, I’d love to work with him one day and be in his films!” It was surreal when that day finally came and I wasn’t disappointed at all because he truly is a genius, an actor’s director—and his passion is contagious.

You were born in a family of eight, with some of your siblings born in Haiti, and others born in the USA. What was it like growing up with some of you having had that experience of living in Haiti and then assimilating in the USA, and with you and your younger siblings having a whole different experience?

It all feels normal to me. We had a number of guests in our home whose first stop after getting off the plane was our house where they stayed before moving onto making their own life for themselves. I actually remember—when I was around two or three—my parents telling me that I had a big sister and that she was coming “tomorrow.” [Laughs] I remember meeting her when she was about seveen and all of a sudden the dynamics of our family changed. I went from being the only child to a little sister who wanted to be cool like my big sis. I remember I used to stand there staring at her while grinding my teeth hard when she commanded, “Sere dan’w!” [Grit your teeth] Only to find out years later from my mother that she was in fact speaking English, not Kreyol, and exclaiming through her thick accent that I “sit down!” I remember being so confused because the angrier she got, the more I’d clench my teeth. No wonder why she thought I was weird! [Laughs]

A few years after my sister came to the United States, I was informed by my parents that I had two brothers, one of them being deaf, who were coming within the week to live with us. I remember being excited about all of a sudden having big brothers. That was the beginning of what I feel was one of my greatest gifts. I would run around the house asking my brother how to sign things and as the years went by, went with him to many Deaf events. Another world opened up for me and, to this day, I am still involved within the Deaf community mainly as a sign language interpreter. With my older siblings all coming from Haiti, they had to adjust to the culture and the most important was learning the English language along with making friends. They assimilated pretty quickly because there’s a large community of Haitians in South Florida—where I’m from. As for my little sisters and I who were all born in the US, we’re all at least bilingual because Kreyol had to be spoken in the home. We did have an advantage of doing better in school with honors because we started with the English language earlier…Although English was my second language, because we only spoke Kreyol in the home and by the time my little sisters were born, they had older siblings—who all spoke English to each other. Although my older siblings had to go through more in order to obtain their citizenship, they had each other and were close in age so there was support there. There was some of the standard sibling rivalry, but we’re all so different that we kept busy in our own ways.

Do you remember the first time you went to Haiti?

Yes, very little. I was about five or so…I remember the exciting plane ride where I got to sit by the window, running in the fields of Haiti with my cousins and even being on a rooftop of a house enjoying the night air. I remember eating a lot of fruit loops there, too, which my parents brought because they knew how much I loved cereal. The only scary part for me were the outhouses. I remember being terrified going alone to the bathroom and needing someone to accompany me because I felt like I could just fall into the scary hole with large roaches running around. [Laughs]

When was the last time you visited?

Sadly, that was the last time I visited. I definitely plan on changing that sooner than later. I yearn to go back and look forward to the day.

You’re actually fluent in American Sign Language. Any tips on how to learn that language?

The best way is to take a class because the pictures in the books are not 3-D and it’s best to see the correct positioning of the hands in person. Also, grammatically, ASL is different from English. In a class, it’s more effective to learn the correct usage of a sign. Some words in English have the same spelling and sound but different meanings like “running from a dog,” “running for presidency,” or “running out of time.” “Running” would be signed differently in each context. Last, but not least, go out and mingle with Deaf people! Finding out where Deaf events are in your area, is a great way to start in meeting other people who sign. It forces you to use your hands to communicate which helps to accelerate the learning process. I actually got a degree in interpreting after moving out to Los Angeles, and used to go to Starbucks along with other students to meet Deaf people and sign.

Are your parents proud that their “pitit fi” is in Hollywood?

My parents would definitely be more comfortable if I was in Florida living closer to them [Laughs.] My mother has expressed to me that it is hard for her knowing I’m out in LA on my own “nan peyi lwen sa,” [in no man’s land], but in the end, they know how driven I am and that I’m happy. I have an amazing network of friends out here who are like family and I am where there’s opportunity. Plus, it also brings them joy to at least see me on their TV screen when I’m so far away.

You’ve had lots of mean girl roles. Were you ever a mean girl?

In high school, I made sure to separate myself from other mean girls because it broke my heart to see anyone getting bullied, especially when it was isolating one person from a group. I even told one of the girls who led the pack that I found her making fun of others to be mean-spirited and that I wanted no part. That was the last time we spoke to each other until years later. I remember in 7th grade one time getting into a short spat with another girl who many people made fun of and afterwards feeling awful because I felt I only added more negativity towards someone who already had enough of that. I’m more of a peacemaker than anything else, I was usually the one in the middle trying to make peace between people who had a falling out. I kept the drama for the stage. Although I’m not into “zin” [vicious gossip], I love roles where I don’t play nice because it’s just so much fun and I always learn from it in a way that helps me to become even more empowered in my life without having to step on people.

How do you usually prepare for your roles?

I usually sit with it in silence and go into my imagination using the text as a map. I also leave judgments and comparisons to my life out of it. I come in as a blank slate and allow the story to be my teacher. I step into the shoes of the role and see how it fits. Where I feel discomfort is the place I know to begin my empathy work because I know that’s where I’ll learn the most. If I’m given a script, I like to read it several times and not always in order after the first read. My process has evolved since I first started acting, especially in the last year, and I’m sure that it will continue to grow. I still take classes, because it’s like going to the gym and one of my favorite things to do is improv—which is like my playground.

Your first screen appearance was in a project called Little Miss CEO.

It was actually a pilot that was then pitched to networks, but with no pick up. I went in for the role and just had a good time with it. After I was cast, I was a little nervous because this was one of the first acting gigs I booked in LA, but it wasn’t too scary because I had already started shooting a recurring role right around that time on another network.

What’s it like living in Los Angeles?

Amazing and tough. I love the weather, mountains, beaches, and the opportunity to do what I love. LA has a lot to offer, and there are many interesting people from different walks of life who are artists. It’s also tough because it’s hard work pursuing my dream. It takes patience, having a vision, good work ethic, and perseverance. Nothing is guaranteed. But that’s life. I’ve been able to grow tremendously out here spiritually, emotionally, mentally…Many people come out here and get so discouraged or even lost. It’s important to have a strong sense of self and purpose.

What advice do you have for those who are hoping to make it in Hollywood?

It’s about the work, not about you. Do not take rejection personally because many factors go into casting that usually are beyond your control. The only thing that can be controlled is the quality of your work and showing up with confidence because you’re prepared. The most important skill is to be able to rejuvenate oneself, being able to pick yourself up every time and coming back stronger than the last while continuing to learn. Also gratitude. Everyday nurturing your creativity, doing something towards your career, and balancing it all out with acknowledging the ways in which you’re grateful.

What plans do you have for your career?

My vision is to continue work in film, TV and even on stage. I’d love to play an opera singer on screen—and/or do an opera on stage. I’d also love to be able to get involved with a film or TV project where I work & sign with other Deaf actors. I definitely want to do a movie that is focused on our Haitian people & our unique experiences. Any role that elevates humanity or shows what is possible through our spirit and determination excites me. I’d also love to work with Quentin Tarantino again and Tim Burton is another director who’s work draws me. People and the choices they make fascinate me. I love learning and having heart to heart connection with others. I hope to have a long line of opportunities where I am able to express many different facets of a human being artfully on stage & on screen. I look forward to the day when I am able to play a grandmother—that’ll be the day!

Check out Sharon Pierre-Louis on Facebook.