Hannah Lately!

The past few weeks have been SLAM-PACKED between schoolwork and pageant prep! I enjoy being busy though, so I feel very fortunate to be doing what I love! The process of getting all of my wardrobe together for Miss Tennessee has always been one of my favorite parts of the preparation process. We've been hard at work shopping around to find just the right things! This past weekend I had the opportunity to come to Nashville and attend a Children's Miracle Network Fundraiser that Johnny D. put on downtown. It was great to serve as a representative of the organization and to witness the outpouring of the community for such a worthy cause. Aubrey Collins, Florida/Georgia Line Band, and Parker Welling were amazing in their performances! I'm getting super excited about my CMN Fundraiser Gala! We stopped by the beautiful Palm Restaurant in downtown Nashville to finalize a few of the details for the event. For those of you who don't know, the gala will take place Saturday, April 24th at The Palm Restaurant in Downtown Nashville. We'll have great food, music, a silent auction, and performances by Erika Grace Powell, Savannah White, Johnny D, and myself! We're looking forward to a GREAT event and raising some good funds for CMN! For those interested in attending, email missrhythmnash@gmail.com or call 615.400.4892. I hope to see a lot of you out there!!! This coming weekend I'll be back in Nashville to tie up some final preparations for the gala and to do some more pageant prep. I'm also really looking forward to a birthday trip to New York City in Early May! I'll be organizing a small team for the New York City AIDS Walk on May 16th...if you're in the NYC area I'd love to have you join my team! Stay tuned for more details!!!

Workshop and Teen Pageant Weekend!

Wow - what an amazing weekend in Jackson! It was so great to see all of my Miss Tennessee sisters in the city where all of the excitement happens! It's always fun to meet all of the contestants, especially this year with so many new faces! The weekend began with a meeting on Friday night with my director and Paige from Joann's. We got some great wardrobe ideas together...Paige you truly have an eye for picking out the right stuff! Saturday began bright and early with the 2010 Miss Tennessee Workshop. I was so thrilled to be called first in the lottery for line-up. The past two years I have been toward the end, so I can only thank God for my lucky drawing this year! Each year, workshop weekend continues to amaze me. Meeting the other thirty-five contestants who each have such a strong drive and passion for this program is such an inspiration. I can't wait to get to know everyone a little better throughout the year and especially at Miss Tennessee week in June. After a long day at workshop we headed over to the Miss Tennessee's Outstanding Teen/Teen Princess Pageant. The level of talent in some of the teens was truly amazing! Congratulations to Miss Tennessee's Outstanding Teen 2010, Maggie Belew and Miss Tennessee's Teen Princess 2010, Channing Simmons. I'm sure that these girls will be strong contenders for the Miss Tennessee Crown in the future! I am excited for the next step in the journey toward Miss Tennessee week and the future steps in my year of service as Miss Rhythm of Nashville. This week kicks off my spring break. After a little bit of down time, I'm headed back to Nashville for some more pageant prep and an appearance at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. It is always empowering to take a moment to step back and recognize the positive impact that our program has on such a worthwhile cause, the Children's Miracle Network.

Great two weeks!

It has been such an amazing few weeks as Miss Rhythm of Nashville! In between my crazy class schedule and midterms I've been able to make several trips to Nashville for some amazing appearances! Last week I had the opportunity to be a guest at Nashville Lifestyles Magazine's Single In The City event. It was such an amazing experience to meet some of Nashville's finest! I enjoyed some great food and conversation with various Nashville figures, and was lucky to also meet Jon from Bravo TV's Shear Genius who colored my hair this week! This Friday I had the pleasure of sitting down to chat with former Miss Indiana 2005, Sarah Goude (Wiley). She had some awesome stories about her Miss America Experience that truly inspired me to work even harder on becoming Miss Tennessee and serving the state well! Later we had an interview coaching session with Don Baker. I really enjoyed learning his approach to the interview portion and look forward to implementing some of his techniques into my own personal interview. This past weekend was another fun experience when I had the opportunity to go to Chesapeake, Virginia with my director, Johnny D. He was asked to emcee his hometown pageant and I was a featured guest vocalist. Although we had to be at the airport at 5am to catch a flight, it was so amazing to meet girls from all over the nation who share the same dream, drive, and passion for the Miss America Organization! Backstage I got to know the newly crowned Miss Virginia, Chinah Helmandollar. She's a great representative of the state! She was so sweet in extending an invitation to the Miss America Homecoming this Friday, however we had to regretfully decline due to the conflict with workshop. Well it's a full week of classes then off to Jackson for Miss Tennessee Workshop!!! I can't wait to see all of the girls and get started on what's going to be an amazing year at Miss Tennessee!!!

A weekend at home!

This is my first weekend home in almost a month and I was so excited to see my parents and celebrate my mom's birthday. I won't tell you how old she is, but she looks more like my older sister than my mother. Happy Birthday, Mom! My dad and I gave her a gorgeous picture frame for the wall that says, " We may not have it all together, but together we have it all." How true that statement is. I am so insanely blessed by God to have the parents that I have. They have been beside me each step of the way and in all of my endeavors.

I also got to spend time with my Aunt and Uncle who will be leaving tomorrow morning for Germany and will be gone for seventeen days! Please keep them in your prayers. I loved seeing one set of my awesome grandparents tonight, and my grandfather experienced the "Hibachi grill" for the first time. Needless to say, he was not impressed and suggested Wendy's, McDonalds, or Burger King. What a hoot! I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.

I hope all of you are having a wonderful start to 2010 and that you all had a great Valentine's Day! I know some have mixed emotions about that holiday, but I find it nice to have the ones you love there regardless of whether they are a significant other or just being with family and friends. Johnny D. and I had a great weekend last weekend at the Jenn Cady photo shoot for their upcoming ad in "Four Points Magazine." Thank you all so much for inviting me to be a part of this experience, it was a pleasure working with you.

I cannot wait to see my "sisters" at workshop next month. It is always a great experience when we all come together at once for the first time! We have so many new, sweet, beautiful, and talented young ladies in the program this year. I can promise you, Miss Tennessee week will leave you with so many memories, and it will be one of the best weeks of your life.

I wish everyone a great weekend and week and check back next week for more updates. I will be headed back to Nashville to attend the last local of the 2010 cycle. Good luck to everyone competing and I hope to see you all soon!

God Bless!

Hannah-Wade Powell

Another great weekend in Music City!

Well it was another successful weekend in Music City! After classes on Thursday, I made the drive to Nashville and rushed to get ready for the Music City Cares: Haiti Relief Benefit that Johnny D. put on at B.B. Kings downtown. It was an amazing event, and I was so honored to share the stage with recording artists Scarletta, Cody & Chance, Florida/Georgia Line, Nashville Star's Casey Simpson, Taylor Pey, and Johnny D! There was a ton of talent on stage and I was so blessed to be a part of a small effort to help a nation that has suffered the devastating loss of over 100,000 lives! The day started early on Friday morning with another photo shoot. Thanks so much to Jenn Cady and Julia Burton of Jenn Cady Photography for inviting to be featured in one of their ads for Four Points Magazine. It was a blast! The weekend continued with more pageant prep and planning for the 1st Annual Miss Rhythm of Nashville/Children's Miracle Network Gala on April 24th! Mark your calenders! More info to come!!!

A Productive Weekend in Music City!

First off I would like to give MAJOR Kuddo's to Kristy Belcher for her amazing photography skills and to Joel Green for being one of the most talented hair and makeup artists I've ever had the privilege to know! The photo shoot was one of the best experiences I've ever had with photography. Kristy and Joel made me feel so warm and comfortable and I couldn't have asked for it to go any better! Then we were off to watch Stefanie Wittler perform on the Miss America stage with all of our guests! Thanks to everyone who fought the horrible weather to come cheer Stefanie on! Congratulations on your INCREDIBLE job and we are so proud of you for placing 2nd runner-up! We all thought you had it, but we are so proud! You have truly represented Tennessee well.

Everyone have a great week and be safe on these icy roads. Check back next week for more updates!

My First Week Returning to School!

I returned this past week to the University of Tennessee at Martin to complete the second semester of my Junior year of college! It started off somewhat rocky because I woke up on Tuesday morning with flu-like symptoms so to the doctor I went! I can proudly say I am "over the weather" and feeling much better! I am fortunate enough to be able to take my second public speaking course this year and to my surprise today I had to give my first speech! It was my first class for public speaking that I attended, so I had absolutely no idea that I would be having to deliver a speech that I had not prepared for. I think this was the professors idea of "welcoming" us to the world of speech. I happened to have my MAO local titleholder crown close-by so I talked about how courses on speech are vital and instrumental to young ladies that are interested in the job of Miss Tennessee and Miss America. I stressed the importance of being able to relate to your audience whether it be young or old. You have to be able to stoop down and get in the "adult" mind-set of a child to be able to present your point in a way that they will understand the information they were just presented with. That being said I would like to extend a good luck and well wishes to Stefanie Wittler, Miss Tennessee, while she is in Las Vegas working hard to bring home Tennessee a Miss America Crown. Congratulations on being named a Quality of Life finalist! I will be headed to Nashville this weekend for our Miss America viewing party and an event that Johnny D. and I will be attending afterward raising money for a Children's Miracle Network hospital. It will be a weekend filled with pageants, working out, and more preparations! June isn't very far away and I cannot wait to compete for the Miss Tennessee crown!