Just starting her beauty pageant competitions, A’nika Lickert has already won a Miss Teen USA crown

By Andy Furman
NKyTribune Reporter

She gave them all a head start.

And from the looks of things, well, they needed it.

A’nika Lickert started her beauty pageant competition in March of this year – when she was 17.

This month she was already wearing the coveted crown she so yearned for.

“I won the USA National Miss Teen competition in October,” she told the Northern Kentucky Tribune. “It was only the third time I’ve entered a pageant.”

Good for her.

Not so good for her competitors.

What took so long?

“Well, I got started because I just wanted to do something different, and new,” the grad of Covington Latin High School said. “And, I’ve always wanted to win a crown.”

She says her friends from high school were actually shocked she entered pageant competition.

Maybe that’s because A’nika Lickert had other things on her plate – like designing and, gulp, softball.

“She is an outstanding softball player,” her grandma Regina Watts, the Activities Director at Covington’s The Point/Arc, boasts. “She’s been playing since she was a kid.”

And she may very well be playing for the University of Cincinnati – but she’ll have to wait for the Spring semester when she turns 18.

“I’m planning on trying out in the spring,” A’nika said, “until you’re 18 there is a whole lot of paperwork to handle; so, I’ve decided to wait.”

Until then, the Fashion Design major at has her eyes set on the week-long Nationals Pageant in July for youths 16 to 18 years of age.

Her plan of action is easy – up at 7:30 a.m., she says, to the gym for an hour workout on the treadmill and Stairmaster.

Then the Darwin T. Scholarship recipient is off to class.

The Darwin T. Scholars Program – formerly known as the Minority Scholars Program – was established in 1976 to honor Darwin T. Turner, an African-American student who, at the age of 16, was the youngest person ever to graduate from the University of Cincinnati.

The Office of Ethnic Programs and Services offers this scholarship program to promote academic excellence, foster diversity and provide leadership and service opportunities to incoming students in addition to providing full-tuition funding.

And the match with A’nika and the Darwin T. Turner Scholars Program is a perfect one – D.T.T. Scholars are expected to participate in programs and activities designed to improve their intellectual, personal and professional development.

Lickert is creating gowns, doing alterations and making skirts for her Fashion Design major.

She’s also making two appearances per-month – a requirement for participation in the Nationals competition.

“I’ll be wearing my crown at the Latonia Christian Church Fall Festival next Sunday (Oct. 30),” the Covington native said.

And every good competitor must have a slew of sponsors, and A’nika’s list is growing.

“Inspired Fashion (827 Madison Avenue, Covington), has been a wonderful sponsor, thanks to Catrena Bowman-Thomas,” she said.

And NV Models has offered her a modeling scholarship.

“I’ll be working weddings and bridal shops for them,” Lickert said.

The hardest part of competition?

“Seeing the other girls and shutting down,” she said, “just losing faith in yourself.”

And what to wear, and how to do your hair?

“Well, I’ve tried something different in my three pageants,” she said.

“First, it was a Box Braid. Then I tried a crochet, curly look and stayed with the curls for my third try.”

She won that.

With no coach and a late start A’nika Lickert is making some noise.

Just ask the competition.