Many successful women have passed through the Miss Black America pageant on their road to greatness, including Oprah Winfrey and Grammy Award winner Toni Braxton.
The 2017 Miss Black America, Brittany Lewis is a New Jersey native and currently a PhD candidate in history at George Washington University.
Lewis visited Great Day Washington during Domestic Violence Awareness Month which happens to be the basis of her platform. But domestic violence awareness is so much more than a platform to Lewis, it's personal. Lewis lost her sister at the hands of her ex-fiance about eight years ago.
"Ever since then it's been my goal to keep her memory alive and to help other victims of domestic violence and to make sure the community is aware of the warning signs of domestic violence and how they can get involved and how they help."
Related Video: "Not One" Campaign on domestic violence
Lewis says getting a victim based safety plan is essential and for more information on how you can help end domestic violence head to The National Network to End Domestic Violence.
