'It's been a whirlwind of emotions': Brianna Burrell on her goals as Miss Alabama 2023

How do you feel? I feel amazing. It's, it's, it's been *** whirlwind of emotions and I'm still on an adrenaline rush, but it's, uh, it's confirmation and just an amazing sense of accomplishment. So, tell us *** little bit about yourself. Where are you from and how you make it to this point. Yes. Well, I'm from, uh, the 251 Mobile, Alabama and, you know, I was searching for ways to further my education and my sister sent me the preliminary for, um, *** local title in the organization and I, you know, like, ok, I might as well, I'm looking for, you know, scholarship money, but I'm also looking for *** way to spread my service that I was already doing and they called my name. And the Journey has been going on ever since last year was my first year competing in Miss Alabama. And this year I, you know, ashly taking the crown home. Yeah, that's awesome. I mean, to be competing, what, in one year? And you're now Miss Alabama? So, how, how do you feel knowing like, uh, the work that went in, in the last year to get this title? It feels. It's, it's proven that good work and hard work doesn't go in vain um that the Lord saw my commitments and my sacrifices and he wanted to honor that and reward that. And I just have to remind myself if I stay committed to the things that I said that I wanted to do that. I was going to see *** result. I was going to see the reward even if it's not something that's tangible, but the feeling and the motion and the accomplishment and the sense of pride that I have for my community, for myself, for this organization is just an amazing feeling. So, what did you? Yes. So my community service initiative is Save *** Stem and it focuses on stem engagement, science, technology, engineering and math for students of color and underfunded schools. And so, uh I mean, why that particular? Yes. So I saw myself in this platform, I saw myself in this community service initiative back in sixth grade when I was the only black girl in the science club where time and time again, I had to fight for my voice to be heard, my intelligence not to be under mind and my work to be credited and just my presence was advocacy of itself. And from then on, I fought for other people to feel comfortable in those types of spaces, but also to develop *** sense of teamwork with people from different cultures. So, and, and speaking of that Right. You're the third is Alabama 35 Miss Alabama. Uh tell us about that. How do you feel knowing that it's just another step forward to *** greater future where we can see more people who look like me competing on that stage where we get to represent an entirety of Alabama, not just one specific uh you know, uh demographic. And thankfully, uh the first black Miss Alabama is from my hometown Mobile. So when she reached out to me, that was like, oh my goodness, you know, I saw her as *** celebrity and so to have that full soccer moment where I met her, she talk, gave me some advice and told me the ropes and what I needed to do to prepare and now I'm here with the crown on my head. I'm texting her. Look, I did it. I did it not just for her and not just for me but for the next black Miss Alabama for the next contestants who are gonna follow after me because they saw themselves in my work. So the work starts right away. Yeah, you gotta go through around the state and you know, with the platform. So what, what are the first things that we'll expect? Well, of course, doing interviews like this, just get the organization and my name out there and hopefully people are wanting to connect with my community service and make sure that we are impacting and bettering the education of next generations, not just for these students now, but for futures on end where we can see that education is representative of everyone and students can see their education as valued and valuable. So I'm gonna be hitting the ground running, talking to city officials, state officials working with the State Department of Education and, and all different types of curriculum developers to make sure that I'm leaving an impact and *** legacy. Uh I guess at the end of the year, right, when you have to pass off the crown out to the Nexus Alabama next year, uh what are you hoping you will have accomplished by then? Like, what's the end goal? Well, hopefully I'll be Miss America by this time. Um But I want to embody and cultivate *** sense of relationship where people don't look at us for our color or where we come from, but they see our heart, they see the human of us where we can come together and we can celebrate one another. We can work towards the successes and the goals that we have, we can look good while doing it and truly embody the pillars of this organization of style, success service scholarship and sisterhood. I wanna make sure that I'm fully embodying those pillars and making sure that the next person, the next Miss Alabama isn't wanting to fill my shoes, but be inspired by my path and uh tell us about your path now to Miss America. Yes. So it was going to be, you know, mock interviews, making sure that I'm doing my due diligence with my community service and looking for ways to expand that across the nation, um being prepared for my talent, which I am super excited to work on and of course drafting *** wardrobe that speaks to who I am and uh take us back to yesterday. So, you know, for folks who may not have been um been in the competition, just tell us, you know what you went through. Um your, your talent uh that you displayed and everything. Yes. So it's not just one night, it is over four nights of preliminaries and then the finals on Saturday. So I had my mock interview Wednesday morning. Then I did evening gown and on stage question health and fitness and then talent and then all of those uh scores are composited and then they choose *** top 13, which actually we have *** people's choice as well. Um So the people's choice was the last place for the top 12 and top 13. We do everything again one night. And then from there, they have *** top five where we talk about the role of Miss Alabama and our plans as Miss Alabama. And from there they announce us for 3rd, 2nd and 1st run, then eventually Miss Alabama. Yeah. Is there anything else that you wanna add for me? I wanna glance down and I had questions prepared and then *** lot of us had questions prepared just to make sure we're hitting all the points. But if there's anything that you wanna add right now in this moment, um Well, I can talk about the targets of my community service. Ok. Yes. Um So in my community service, *** there are three targets of funding representation and curriculum development. And I'm excited that with my experience, experience in fund raising, I've raised over $3000 just for Mobile and Baldwin County. And I'm excited to expand that funding and those resources and materials for classrooms across the state. With my self published children's book Investigation Nation. I've created *** space where kids can have *** conversation about diversity and working together and highlighting people who in times past have been overlooked because of their contributions to society. And then lastly, I wanna make sure that I'm working with educators across the state where we can create *** curriculum that is applicable to the real world where students see their hobbies and their interests in what they're learning, but they can also see careers that can tie into those hobbies as well. Your favorite part about the competition? Oh, my favorite part. It would have to be talent. Um I sung Alabaster Box by CC and it's an amazing song, beautiful uh music, but it also tells *** true message of faith and how faith can inspire how it can break cultural ties and cultural boundaries and truly give me uh *** platform and *** time to spread the message in the gospel of love. 10. Um I know we talked about preparation *** little bit. Um But I, I guess I know you said you competed last year for the first time, but it had to be years in the making, right? So just tell us about that process. Like, how long ago did you really, really start up until this point? I will say it started in high school. Really um where one of my teachers, well, actually two of my teachers that I have to shout out uh Melissa Willard and Lisa Kelly, they saw something in me and they begin to, to put me in places where I was able to cultivate my leadership, my professional skills. But also how I viewed myself, I grew up in *** predominantly white school and they saw that my presence was inspiring other people, not just people who look like me, but other people who didn't look like me. And from then on, I just sought after ways that I could serve that I could inspire that I could lead but also develop other leaders. Um So how much scholarship uh were you awarded throughout the competition? And now they've been calling my name and I was, you know, tunnel vision. So I don't know the, the exact number, but it's approximately $20,000 that I can use to my um educational goals of receiving my master's Awesome. And did you share with us where you would like to get your master? Yes. So, I'm enrolled to receive my Masters of Educational Administration at the University of Alabama. Yes. And uh just give us *** brief, uh, I guess, summary of your college career. And how old you are? Yes. So, I am 25 years old. I am alumna of the University of South Alabama. I received my bachelor's in political Science and Philosophy and now I'm on track to receive my master's in educational administration. Awesome. All right. I think, um, and I, I guess I can ask this in *** different way, you might have answered this. But, uh, what are you most looking forward to as Miss Alaba? Really? The relationships that I'm gonna be able to form with citizens throughout the state, um, is not about what you do, but it's how you make people feel. I want them to feel, seen, feel, valued, feel loved. And someone told me earlier, I may be the only Miss Alabama that they ever get to meet. And I wanna make sure that once they meet me, that they feel like, hey, she knows who I am. I know who she is and I'm proud for her to represent our state.