She Wins Interview - Shilah Phillips, Vocalist & Miss Texas 2006

She Wins

New episode alert! Say hi to Shilah Phillips, entrepreneur, pageant winner and decorated vocalist! Heather and Shilah share stories of their time working together 19 years ago and talk about Shilah's Christmas album and what she up to next!

Check out her Christmas songs just in time - https://open.spotify.com/artist/3x8PT...

Shilah Phillips began her groundbreaking career as a child prodigy at three years old. Shilah first introduced the world to her singing abilities when she stepped in to replace the church choir soloist from the pews . Since then she has wowed audiences with her strong soprano and alto abilities. From 6th grade through high school, she studied classical music, theater and dance at the Denver School of the Performing Arts. When she was still a teen, she studied under celebrity vocal coach and former metropolitan opera singer, Ron Anderson. Later, she recorded with Danny Seraphine, a founding member of the rock band Chicago , a Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winner. In 2003, Shilah was a semi-finalist on American Idol where she worked alongside Jennifer Hudson. Shilah won the 2007 Country Music Television's viewer's choice talent award based on the voting of 7.5 million viewers in 2007. In 2009, Shilah appeared on MTV's hit show "Made: Kyra Gray Episode". Shilah has performed with Jazz great pianist Larry Fuller, been the featured artist with the Plano Symphony, and worked with the Irving Symphony conducted by Hector Guzman. She has also worked on the Emmy award-winning Christian TV program “Celebration” with Marcus and Joni Lamb as one of the DayStar Singers.

Shilah's exceptional singing ability is matched by her beauty. In 2006, in her very first foray into the world of beauty pageant competitions, Shilah made history and was crowned the first African American woman to reign as Miss Texas in its 70-year history. She went on to become the 1st runner up to Miss America 2007. Shilah used her scholarship money to complete her Bachelor’s degree at the world renowned Grammy winning Jazz Studies program at the University of North Texas.

Also an entrepreneur, Shilah has started her own company, Pageant School 101, where she volunteers and coaches young ladies in modeling and singing in preparation for competitions. More recently, Shilah formed Shilah Phillips Entertainment to expand her business endeavors to writing and recording original music and leading popular local and regional bands, including “Heaven’s Kiss”(Girl Groups Through The Ages), “The Mariah Carey Christmas Spectalular” and “The Shilah Phillips Experience “. In addition to her music, Shilah is proud to express her multicultural heritage through original paintings which have been displayed in private gallery shows. Shilah recorded her 1st full length Christmas Album in 2023 and is currently working on a contemporary jazz album.

More content please! Check out our She Wins Patreon Channel for extended interviews from She Wins guests and extra content from Heather Sumlin. An episode with Shilah is coming soon: / shewins_solutionsandstories7

Thanks for watching and you can also stream this podcast from Spotify, Apple Podcasts- and more! Visit www.heathersumlin.com and @shewins.podcast on Instagram!