Lencola Sullivan
Quick Facts
Biography
Orlean Lencola Sullivan (born 1957) is an American news anchor and former beauty queen who has competed in the Miss America pageant. She was the first African-American to be crowned Miss Arkansas.
Sullivan was to oldest of five children born to Richard and Macie Sullivan. She attended the University of Central Arkansas where she received a degree in broadcasting.
Sullivan won the Miss Arkansas title in July 1980 and represented Arkansas in the Miss America 1981 pageant held later that year in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Sullivan became the first African-American woman to win preliminary awards in the pageant and was also the first to place among the top five, where she was fourth runner-up.
Sullivan became a news reporter on KARK-TV in Little Rock, Arkansas, and later moved to New York City where she dated Stevie Wonder for a short period of time.
In 2002 Sullivan married Roel P. Versevelt, a native of the Netherlands, in the Hague. Her and her husband have since been involved in international business activities. She currently lives in the Hague.