Photo credit: Kris Connor-Getty Images for Rare
If you think the girl in the below photos looks a lot like Sadie Robertson, it’s because it is. Sadie is a reality TV star on the A&E show Duck Dynasty and is the granddaughter of Phil Robertson, founder of Duck Commander. Her parents are Korie Howard Robertson and Willie Robertson, the company’s current CEO. Robertson was in town for RARE Magazine’s under 40 Awards held at The Palomar Hotel in Washington, DC. “I think the reason I was chosen is because my message aligns with the magazine’s,” she told Hollywood on the Potomac, “which is to be an original and be confident in the person that you are. I go around sharing that message. I’ve written a book and our family has a TV show. I’ve been able to have a platform which is being confident and being yourself.”
Sadie Robertson
Rare’s Under 40 honorees included a few famous names like Barbara Bush, George McGraw, our own Mary Katharine Ham, Tulsi Gabbard and a wide range of talent from the political world to a romance novelist, like BT Urruela from Tampa, Florida. “I’ve always been an author,” he told us, “that’s what my degree is in from the University of Tampa. I’ve always wanted to write, never thought it would happen so soon though…… never thought I’d build up the courage to do it. About two Decembers ago I had a photo shoot with Michael Stokes who is kind of a renowned photographer for Veteran awareness shoots and just started getting contacted about doing romance covers. I was also reached out to by an author who wanted to write a military romance and kind of one thing led to another. I absolutely loved her work. I loved the story line she presented me and it kind of went from there. We ended up publishing last October and I’ve done really well. I’ll be coming out with my first solo novel at the end of June and then starting the sequel with her pretty much right after that so.”
BT Urruela
We spoke to Miss Rhode Island who told us about that experience. “It’s just been unreal, especially in terms of advancing the work that I’ve done for women in leadership. It’s elevated my passion that I’d be working on regardless. My platform is Leading Ladies and I work with getting more women involved in politics and STEM fields. Of course, I’m pursuing politics myself, and my focus in terms of policy focuses a lot on homeland security and information technology. These are arenas that you just don’t see women in, and if you do, there are a lot of barriers for women to enter them, or different biases that they have to face. I am knocking down these barriers, trying to get more women equipped with the skills to navigate these different issues so they can pursue what’s in their heart regardless of any kind of barrier.”
“I want to run myself. from the State of Rhode Island,” she added. “Right now, I’m a campaign manager. I am running the campaign for Caroline Bright. She is a state rep candidate up in the state of Vermont, and she’s actually a former Miss Vermont, which makes this really unique.” So, does she give you some insight into Bernie? “I haven’t gotten too much in terms of the political candidates with her. We’ve been focused on all of her stuff since we’ve been kicking off the campaign, but I’m sure I’ll get quite a bit of insight. I know she has family connections to him. It’s Vermont … such a small little state where everyone seems to be very close-knit and tied together.” Do many other millennial girlfriends of yours have the same enthusiasm for politics? “Many of them do, whether or not one is a candidate them self or because they’re focused on a particular issue. Of course, I’ve been at school for public relations and public policy, so very issue driven people there, and I’ve worked with a lots of women’s organizations. I think my inner circle itself has a lot of future political leaders …it’s part of my message, too. Even if you don’t have that political ambition, there are things that you can get behind. There’s training that you can do, so when an issue comes up in your own community, you’re able to tackle that effectively. You know that your voice matters and you know how to navigate those bureaucracies that often stop people from getting involved at the local level.” Since Donald Trump is into pageants, what are your feelings about him as possible president? “It’s interesting to see a former pageant director running for president. He always used to be the pageant guy, and now it’s presidential candidate.” Would you mind if he won? “Not my choice. Not my choice at all.”
Alexandra Curtis – Miss Rhode Island
“I’m willing to stand with anyone who is going to challenge the status quo,” Orlando Watson told us, “the status quo that prevents people from achieving their American dream and puts up barriers to opportunity whether it’s in education or in the market place. I’ve aligned myself with the party that I believe is willing to fight for people (Republican). I just believe in the freedom to choose and I believe that when it comes to issues that are important, when it comes to the kitchen table, pocket book issues the republican party is there fighting for people. It’s not just economic issues, it’s also educational ones like empowering parents to decide where their children go to school. That decision shouldn’t be based upon their last name or what block they grew up on. They should have the choice to, the freedom to, choose the best quality education for their children.” Well, we said, Bernie wants to give it to everybody. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch. The money has to come from somewhere. I certainly find that Bernie Sanders acknowledges that there’s a problem. That there’s problems with the system and that it’s rigged in favor of some over others, more so than others and he wants to correct it. We just disagree on the solutions.” Do you have any preference as to who the republican candidate is? “Whoever it is I just hope that they seriously engage voters regardless of their background.”
Orlando Watson
