Williams sat for two sessions with Chiapel, followed by a third session with another photographer in New York City. Chiapel frequently arranged photo-shoots involving female nudes, and when the photographer expressed interest in using Williams as a model, she took the chance. Although she was only one of 12 students accepted into Carnegie Mellon's program that year, Williams decided to attend Syracuse University in upstate New York instead.ĭuring the summer of her freshman year at Syracuse, 19-year-old Williams took a job as a receptionist and makeup artist for local photographer Tom Chiapel. A natural performer and outgoing student, Williams was a high achiever who landed the Presidential Scholarship for Drama at graduation and gained entry into the Carnegie Mellon University theater arts program in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She also excelled at French horn, piano, and violin. With plans to become the first African American Rockette, she studied classical and jazz dance as well as theatre arts. Music was an integral part of Williams' early life, and by the time she was 10, she had devoted herself almost completely to music and dance. They moved Vanessa and her brother, Chris, to the upscale suburbs of Millwood, New York, when Vanessa was 12 months old, so they could take jobs as music teachers in Millwood's public school system. Williams' parents, Milton and Helen, both worked as music educators. Vanessa Lynn Williams was born on March 18, 1963, in Bronx, New York. Williams soon started a singing career, finding great success and then branching out into acting, again with success. Horrified, the Miss America pageant board asked Williams to resign her post. But soon thereafter, nude photos of Williams were plastered on the pages of Penthouse magazine. In 1983, Vanessa Williams made history when she was crowned the first African American Miss America.
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