Detroit resident Maritza Cooper is a lot of things. She is a proud Black woman, a wife and mother, a businesswoman and a mentor. And now the vivacious 35-year-old is a contestant in the Mrs. Michigan-America Pageant. Mrs. Michigan-America is the state’s official preliminary to the Mrs. America Pageant and Miss for America.
Detroit resident Maritza Cooper is looking forward to inspiring others during her run for the Mrs. Michigan-America Pageant.
Photo provided by Maritza Cooper
“I am humbled to be able to participate in this once in a lifetime experience,” Cooper posted on Facebook.
Cooper selected the local title of “Mrs. Southfield” because she said that the city of Southfield is a place that she credits as the starting point to so many life experiences for her.
“I am a graduate of the former Southfield-Lathrup High School where I met and later married my high school sweetheart. It is the city where I birthed my three children and began my family. Additionally, it is a beautiful and diverse community of respectable hard-working citizens to which I’ve had the pleasure of calling home,” she added in the post. “For me, Southfield is a cornerstone in my life which held new beginnings, memories and a sense of community that has molded me into the person I am today.”
Cooper chose to participate in this pageant to inspire others to “do anything they can to make their mark on the world in a positive way through community involvement.”
“Additionally, my goal is to utilize this platform to bring awareness to some issues that I am very passionate about,” she said.
Cooper shared her good news on the Detroit Women’s Leadership Facebook Group where she received a flood of overwhelmingly positive responses that she said she felt were “so empowering.”
“I was able to form some awesome connections; it was uplifting — made me want to go harder,” she said of her competition journey.
The qualifications for the Mrs. Michigan-America pageant are that the contestant is:
- Married
- 21 years of age or Older
- S. Citizen
- A resident of the state
The pageant’s scoring categories include certain percentages of total scores: personal interviews with a panel of judges (50%); swimsuit segment (25%); and evening gown (25%). Also, there is an onstage question segment for the top finalists.
Cooper said she became involved in the pageant at a time she was passionate about being more involved in her community and was just trying to “kind of touch base with things that were local and near and dear [to my heart].”
She added that what she loves about the pageant is that they encourage people of all shapes, sizes and personalities to apply.
“There’s lots of different ethnicities and that is what I really loved about it,” she said of the pageant. “It went further than different body types.”
She added that she would tell other Black girls and young women interested in competing in the beauty pageant that they are beautiful just as they are. She works with children and she says a lot of young Black girls tell her that they don’t like how they look.
“[They] are very self-conscious; they are trying to fit in and one of the things I say all the time is a quote: ‘In a world full of horses, be a unicorn.’”
She said that she tries to embrace her uniqueness, too, which includes being over five feet tall. “I definitely have a mommy body. … I know I am not like everybody else,” Cooper said, adding that especially as a woman of color. “Black is beautiful and everybody should embrace it. We are some of the most diverse creatures on the earth and it is just amazing being a part of something like that and being able to represent.”
Southfield resident Francetta Watson and Cooper attended high school together and became very close during the quarantine.
Watson said that her spirit was filled with so much excitement over the news of her entering into the pageant.
“Maritza’s spirit is kind, patient, and understanding. I love how she connects to the youth and encourages them no matter the obstacle,” she said.
Watson added that her friend helped her, too. “Maritza has no clue how she has helped me in the journey of mentoring and just being her loving self. She is beyond deserving and just amazing,” Watson said. “She is always wearing a crown of light no matter if it’s pouring down raining. She’s that inspiration, that drive, that spark of light that this world needs to just believe that they are beautiful and can do what they put their mind to. She’s the light young Black girls and boys so desperately need in 2021.”
The pageant is slated for May in Plainwell, Michigan. For more information visit here: https://www.mrsmichiganamericapageants.com/.
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