2014 RACHEL AMOAH (2nd Runner Up)

Rachel Amoah truly exemplifies what it means to be driven. She is a trained dancer, former figure skater, gymnast and has been playing the saxophone for 15 years. She currently holds the title of Miss Ghana USA 2nd runner up.

At a young age her parents instilled in her the value of education and to always persevere. Embracing all that she was taught, she graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science IN PSYCHOLOGY with a pre-medicine concentration. She went on to complete her post baccalaureate degree at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is currently preparing herself to go to medical school to fulfill her dream of becoming a DOCTOR.
Rachel currently gives workshops to better educate people on health and managing stress. She is working on various projects to help PROMOTE awareness for HEART DISEASE. Her passion to help others doesn’t stop there; she is currently working on starting her own foundation to mentor girls. Her main goal is to teach young girls that true beauty comes from YOUR determination, intelligence, talents and confidence. She hopes to show others the importance of finding their special gifts and using them to make a difference. Rachel believes that God has blessed everyone with a purpose, but it is her purpose in life to help others reach their full potential. Rachel Amoah is a leader who determined to help educate and save the lives of people not only in Ghana and America, but around the world.

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I am extremely proud of my culture and I feel completely blessed to be a Ghanaian-America woman, representing many generations of strong women who came before me in such a beautiful, matrilineal culture. I take so much pride in being Ghanaian and I make sure I always exemplify what it means to be strong Ghanaian woman in today’s society. At a young age my parents instilled in me the importance of being successful and hardworking, but also that success is nothing unless you are doing something to help others and making a difference. Embracing all that I was taught I was able to graduate from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign with a BS IN PSYCHOLOGY with a pre-medicine concentration. I am currently a post baccalaureate pre medical student at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro as I prepare to go to medical school next year. I want more anything in the world to work with children and that is why I am working towards becoming a pediatrician. My passion goes beyond helping people in my area, but I ultimately want to be able to GO BACK to Ghana and work in clinics there.

Helping people has become something I have devoted my life to and I love every MINUTE of it. I am a TRAINED HEALTH CAREcounselor through McKinley Health Center. I go around giving workshops to people to better educate them on health care and ways to deal with mental health such as stress. In my personal time I volunteer at many outreach centers and group homes for the less fortunate and the intellectually disabled. I have served as tutor for America Reads/America Counts, where I had opportunity for 4 years to teach children Kindergarten through 5th including those with special needs. I was very blessed to receive the tutor of the year nomination. I am currently working for the Office of Annual Giving at UNIVERSITY of North Carolina and recently began volunteering for the American Heart Association. All of these opportunities have been rewarding in each way and truly teaches me the value of life. But more importantly seeing the smile on people�s face makes it all worth it.

As Miss Ghana USA my platform is HEART HEALTH awareness. In just her early 30’s my mother suffered a HEART ATTACK. Upon arriving to the hospital she had to have immediate open heart surgery. Had she not been in America or had such skilled physicians I am not sure what may have happened to her. I cannot thank God enough everyday because without His grace I may have grown up without a mother. When she arrived to the hospital the doctors didn’t even believe she was HAVING A HEART ATTACK because she was so young and like most people they see it as an illness in older men. However, HEART DISEASE has become a rising epidemic in Ghana, especially in women. Heart disease has gone from being the number seventh cause of death to the number one. Just like my mother at the time, many women don’t understand the necessary precautions they must take because they don’t believe that it could happen to them. Although heart disease is the number one cause of death, most Ghanaians still do not see it as a threat. They are in denial that it will happen to them and see more infectiousness diseases such as malaria and HIV as more of harm to them. They feel as if they have no control over what happens to their bodies, but I want more than anything to end that misconception and encourage women especially to take control of their lives.

As Miss Ghana USA I will make my platform about heart health, and willwork to coordinate workshops to inform the public on basic health care practices and ways to get active. I plan to collaborate with the Ghana Heart Foundation and become an advocate, and ultimately start my own Health Organization. I will help to raise money for new clinics in Ghana where people can get more testing, treatment and medical supplies. I want to stress the importance of both one’s physical health and mental health. Additionally, I hope to help to provide counseling and ways to get people talking. If we don’t talk, we don’t ask questions.When we don’t ask questions, we don’t learn. When we don’t learn, we don’t have the knowledge.

Ever since I was young I have told my parents I was going to do something to change the world. That passion and determination still carries with me today and I will stop at nothing to make a change. Becoming the next Queen for me goes beyond carrying the title of Miss Ghana USA, but when I think Queen I think “Change”. I think of all the children and people in Ghana and across the world who are less fortunate or sick and how I can use that title to make a difference. I don’t want to be the Queen just for myself, but to carry that title for women from all walks of life. I see it as a representation of all the courageous Ghanaian women across the world. Too often, we forget that many African women have left their families and friends back in their homeland just to start a BETTER LIFE for their family. They strive to be the best in a society that does not want to recognize the hard work and determination these women have. I want to show young Ghanaian girls what makes you stand out is not just your beauty, but it is how you use your intelligence, talents, determination and confidence to make a difference. That is true beauty. In my eyes the most beautiful people I have met in life are the ones that made an impact on me and inspired me. After I went back and visited Ghana again last summer, that passion to make a change really was reinforced and I told myself I was going to give back and do everything possible to do so. What people don’t realize is that a little truly does go a long way. People often think that because they aren’t well known around the world they can’t make a change. But I couldn’t disagree more. All it takes drive, patience, but most importantly love. If you want something to happen you make it happen. Being the next Queen will not only allow me to further reach my goal of helping out, but to spread the message of unity among my fellow Ghanaian sisters and brothers. If we come together, we can become one and we are that much more powerful. That passion in me which once was a dream has now become a goal and if one has a goal it must always be reached. I am determined to help educate and save the lives of people not only Ghana, but across the country. It starts today, its start now. God has called me to do something great and I believe with everything in me that I can and will make that happen by being the next Miss Ghana USA.