“Every opportunity I have now began at The Mecca. I’m proud to represent not just a title but a mission to champion health equity, elevate underserved voices, and use every platform I stand on to advance justice.” 

– Ilahi Creary, Miss Black United States 2025

A 2022 graduate of Howard University, Ilahi Creary (B.A. ’22) was recently crowned Miss Black United States 2025 — becoming the first Black woman representing Massachusetts to win a national title across any pageant system. “There’s only been two national winners across pageant systems from Massachusetts, both in the early 2000s,” explained Creary. “And there have been Black Miss Massachusetts, but never a winner representing the state on the national level.” 

The honor was one that meant a lot to Creary, who got her start in pageants while she was an undergraduate at the university. “I won Miss Black and Gold for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated Beta Chapter, and that was my first introduction to pageantry,” she explained. “I kind of fell in love with it a little bit.” That experience illuminated what having a platform can do to elevate one’s message. 

“At the end of the day, I’m going to do the work, with the crown or without the crown,” said Creary, who’s been dedicated to giving back to the community since an early age, participating in clothing drives and working in soup kitchens while in middle and high school. “Doing Miss Black and Gold Howard kind of showed me a microcosm of what you could do with a platform — with people backing you and supporting you and funding you.” She notes that the Black United States pageant system lives by its principles of scholarship, leadership, mentorship, community impact, and sisterhood. 

“That’s ultimately what drove me to the Black United States system. The service and the emphasis on uplifting Black women, uplifting our communities, and really giving back.”  

An Unexpected Journey to the Mecca

 That “love at first sight” feeling Creary detailed when talking about participating in pageants is something the biology major and chemistry minor also felt the first time she stepped foot on Howard’s campus. Explaining that attending a historically Black college or university was not something her guidance counselors exposed her to in high school, it was her mother who insisted that she explore the possibility. “My mom actually dragged me to an HBCU conference in Harlem, I think my junior year of high school,” she said. 

At the time, the future bison was set on attending NYU, and during the conference spoke with several reps (even receiving a full ride offer to Norfolk State). But there was something about her interaction with the rep from Howard. “I was just so curious about what Howard encompassed and why this woman was so passionate about the HBCU,” she began, noting that she decided then and there she needed to tour the campus. “I scheduled it, and I completely fell in love with the campus,” she continued. “I only needed to walk around one time; I looked around and I saw so many people that, I mean, to be frank, that I wanted to be. I saw the potential leader and change maker that I could grow into, and I didn’t fully know what I could bring to the table yet, but I knew that I had enough to become one of them.” 

She went on to described how inspired she was by the people she met and interacted with at the university; how their confidence and conviction impacted her and led her to the Mecca. “It’s kind of hard to explain how I felt on campus, but I just knew at that point the other acceptances, the other scholarships that I had gotten weren’t worth it for me. I knew whatever my experience at Howard was going to be, it was going to be meant for me.”  

“At the end of the day, it’s the utmost privilege, and it’s such a blessing to be able to be the first and to be able to essentially trailblaze a path for people like you to follow. And I didn’t really understand the importance or significance of legacy until I went to Howard.”

A First-Generation Graduate and the Power of Inspiration 

“I was initially pre-med. I was planning on going to medical school after I graduated,” said Creary. Ultimately, she decided that wasn’t the path for her, leaning into the confidence she said she gained from Howard to “just trust myself” and know that “what’s for me won’t pass me.”

“I ended up doing two gap years,” said Creary. “I worked at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I was a research program coordinator; I coordinated clinical trials for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients, which is very cool, by the way — we did a lot of innovative things with our research.” She’d go on to become a published researcher, which was a goal she’d had while an undergrad, and eventually a student at Harvard. She acknowledged the connections and opportunities her HBCU journey opened up for her, both figuratively and literally.

“I met a lot of people that wanted to pour into me and my experience, and that encouraged me to kind of shoot for the stars,” she continued. “I never saw myself as someone that Harvard was even attainable for. You know, I’m first generation for my bachelor’s and for my master’s, and so I had to figure out a lot of things myself. I had to build it up brick by brick.” 

And build it she did. Currently pursuing her master’s in public health and policy (MPH) at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, she didn’t simply attain entry into the prestigious school and program. “When I applied to Harvard, I not only got in, but I got a full ride, and I was through the moon! Obviously, that would not have been possible without my journey through Howard.” 

Creary also proved to be an inspiration to her family, who also greatly influenced and inspired her journey in turn. One of five children (and the only girl) Creary recalled growing up in a single parent household for the majority of her life, with a mother she described as a “busy bee.” “She was a health care worker. She was a nurse, not registered,” she explained, noting that her mother had to pause her academic career in order to work and support her family. “I think that’s also why she pushed so hard for school to be my choice,” she said. 

Following a conversation between them, eventually Creary’s mother made a choice to follow in her daughter’s footsteps and go back to school to complete her bachelor’s degree. “I think she went back during my junior year and then ended up graduating the year after me, she’s class of 2023,” Creary said. “It really warmed my heart for us to have that conversation. Basically, she told me she was inspired by me going back to school.” As a first-generation student, Creary had to learn a lot along the way that she was able to share with her siblings and her mom (whom she got to figure some of it out alongside). “There’s so many things that I learned and ended up bringing home to teach her, and it was like a back and forth of a knowledge exchange, which was very fun,” she said. 

When asked what it meant to her to inspire not only her siblings but her mother, Creary first explained how proud she was of her mom, before noting how privileged she feels. “At the end of the day, it’s the utmost privilege, and it’s such a blessing to be able to be the first and to be able to essentially trailblaze a path for people like you to follow. And I didn’t really understand the importance or significance of legacy until I went to Howard.”

A Not So Traditional Path

“I don’t believe in one traditional path to accomplishing your goals,” said Creary. “If you look at my resume, it’s all over the place: I’ve done student ambassadorships. I’ve done health care; health care-related things like medical internships. I’ve done surgical shadowing. I’ve done English tutoring and I’ve met with international students. I’ve done so many different things, and I definitely think that it’s necessary to be a jack-of-all-trades to get to wherever you want to go.” 

Believing that people should take the skills they learn along the way, combine them with their “random experiences,” and go after what they are passionate about, Creary has created her own unique path which has led her to a crown, but more importantly, to a place where she can ultimately use her voice for good. “My experiences have ultimately led me to my platform of championing health equity,” she began. “I think especially in a time like right now — where we’ve already had vulnerable populations that just haven’t been getting the attention that they need in the U.S. — it’s more important than ever to kind of champion that and be the voice for the voiceless.” 

When it comes to her plans for the future (after obtaining her MPH in 2026), Miss Black United States said that if she were asked at the beginning of the year, she might’ve said she plans to be director of population health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but by March she’d have said she fully intends to one day become Secretary of Health and Human Services. She also plans to own and lead a nonprofit. “Ultimately, I know the public health landscape is kind of shifting and moving a little bit right now. So I think that I’m going to have to see where I go. But I do know that ultimately wherever I go, whatever I do, I will make a very large impact,” she said. “I will make waves. Not [just] waves — I will make tsunami waves, globally. That that’s where I’m at.” 

That confidence? Creary says she got it from the Mecca, and she encourages others, especially young Black girls and women who have dreams of attending a certain college, obtaining a particular career goal, or wearing a similar crown, to be a bit “delusional.” 

“I have a pretty delusional approach to life — I don’t think there’s any limitations for me. I don’t think that there’s any room that I can’t walk into. I don’t think that there’s anything I can’t accomplish, and that sense of delusion and confidence was instilled in me at the Mecca,” said Creary.  

She went on to advise to not place limits on oneself, nor to let others impose their limitation on you. “Don’t let anybody put you in a box,” she said. “Don’t let anybody tell you that you can’t accomplish something. Don’t let people project their fears onto you. Be as delusional as you want about your dreams. Strive to do things that you haven’t seen before. Do the thing that feels weird or that people kind of look funny at. Just do it. Who cares? Embarrassment is a state of mind. It’s not real.”