Pageant queen Dedra Bauer appears handpicked from a fairy tale, with her bright-eyed smile and sparkling list of accolades. Bauer’s upbeat, melodic voice evoked Disney princess vibes when she graced Las Positas’ Cultural Community Center with her royal demeanor. She exuded a fantastical grace that seemed to warrant talk of woodland creatures or a fairy godmother.
On March 25, Bauer addressed LPC with thoughtful prose about turning uniqueness into strength during her event: An Afternoon with Miss Black USA 2024. Bauer shared her story of triumph, beneath the bejeweled crowns and coveted sashes. While she has played the role of Tiana from Disney’s “The Princess and the Frog” for birthday parties, Bauer said her reality mirrors another fairy tale: Hans Christian Anderson’s “The Ugly Duckling.”
“Back when I was in Livermore,” Bauer said, “I was kind of nerdy. I was like a weeb, a quiet anime nerd who really didn’t fit in a lot of the spaces I was in. I was not that homecoming queen, cheerleader archetype that I look like right now. That’s not where I started.”
Bauer did enchant pageant judges all the way up to the national level. But her excellence endured years without praise — and a magical spell to grant it never materialized. Steady determination earned Bauer her flowers.
Bauer grew up feeling like a minority within the minority. She is a first-generation Cameroonian-American, raised in a predominantly white area. She decided against cheerleading in high school because none of the other girls looked like her. Bauer later realized that’s exactly why she should have joined.
“It’s about taking those leadership positions,” she said, “especially where you don’t see people who look like you, speak like you, or aren’t from where you’re from. We need this broad, beautiful spectrum of the human experience in every single room.”
DEDRA BAUER is fluent in five languages, Dedra made history as the first Black woman reporter on Japanese television network, navigating international media spaces with the same confidence she carried on the national stage. Bauer also overcame an eating disorder. (Photo by Eric Liang/The Express)
Upon gaining the confidence to share her experience, she stood out among the Miss Black USA contestants. She now serves as an ambassador for the National Eating Disorder Association.
“I was willing to talk about something that really wasn’t talked about frequently at all,” Bauer said. “It really paid off.”
Her path to greatness proved anything but straightforward. Instead, it curved into countless character-building detours. She battled insecurities in a world routinely dishing self-doubt to minority women. But Bauer didn’t earn her crown as Miss Black USA despite her differences. She credits them as key to her win.
Bauer inspires Livermore’s youth to be alchemists. To transmute their struggles into secret weapons. To disregard societal scripts and embrace the unique insights that deviance brings. What makes students different, what inhibits them now, what may be pushing them to forgo their dreams. It all could be exactly what equips them for success — much like the graceful swan once viewed as an ugly duckling.
“Know that what makes you stand out,” Bauer said, “is exactly what’s going to make you memorable.”
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TOP PHOTO: Former Ms. Black USA Dedra Bauer shares an afternoon with students at the Cultural Community Center at LPC on Mar. 25, 2026. For Women’s History Month, LPC’s Ummoja community invited Bauer to speak on her experiences growing up in Livermore as a Cameroonian immigrant. (Photo by Eric Liang/The Express)
Jaxyn Good is the Managing Editor of The Express. Follow her on Instagram @jaxyngood
