Georgia Clark- Beauty, Brains, Inspiration
HUNTSVILLE- If the type of car you drive is any indication of a person’s personality, Georgia Clark is a young person who has an old soul. She also has life experiences that are and can be huge inspirations to girls and young women alike.
Clark drives a powder blue 1978 Thunderbird, which was her first car when she turned 15 at a cost of $5,500. With currently just over 79,000 miles on the car she named “Tina,” Clark can be seen around the North Alabama area driving in grand style. “I love older cars,” said Clark.
As an anchor and reporter for WAAY-TV, Channel 31, Clark arrived in the Rocket City after earning a bachelor’s degree in Political Science with minors in Communication and Multi-Media Journalism from Troy University where for two years where she was an on-camera anchor and reporter for the Trojan Vision News. She also was a print reporter for the Tropolitan.
“I had thoughts of entering politics or law while I was studying at Troy, but something didn’t feel right,” said Clark. “During the summer prior to my senior year I had no idea nor plans of what I wanted to do. I worked at a Publix and thought I could get into store management. I took one additional communication class where longtime Montgomery broadcaster, Stephanie Hicks, took me under her wings and showed me I could work and be successful in TV journalism.”
She finally made her way to Huntsville, a city she had never visited, and met with both the news director and general manager of Channel 31. “They were so nice and just blew me away,” said Clark, as she was soon hired to join the “31 Family.”
Her news content delivery is smooth. She has a mature voice that has full resonance, superb eye contact with the camera and the attractiveness that reflects her years of participating in beauty pageants culminating in 2018 when she was crowned Miss Teen International among contestants spanning the globe. She was chosen after competing in the interview, fitness-wear, fun fashion and evening gown categories of the pageant. She won the crown at age 18.
“Yes, that pageant set me up in my life and gave me a leg up as I trained with a great coach, and my abilities in those pageants, which I began as a young girl, have translated into other areas of my life,” said Clark, who stands 5-foot-10. “I had just graduated high school when the Teen Pageant came along. My mindset was to do the best I could, but I didn’t expect to win. It was a total surprise. A shock to me when I won.”
Performing is nothing new for Clark, now 23. She participated in sports, earned an orange belt in Taekwondo, was part of her Dothan, AL. Rehobeth High School’s ROTC program, a member of the school’s majorettes and was a member of the SGA. Along the way she learned how to play numerous musical instruments including piano and trumpet, and not to mention, can sing.
In the upcoming January issue of the Madison Living Magazine, Clark will tell of her life-long struggles with ADHD and a common behavioral health phenomenon common among women and high-achieving individuals called Imposter Syndrome.
Clark has a message for any young girl or woman who struggles with their own identity. “Don’t hold yourself back. I did that. I was scared. Do what you want. Just do it scared.”
To say Clark is an old soul is evident in her love for old cars, following the words of advice her late grandfather gave her as a young girl and her beliefs in freedom our country enjoys. Her old soul also stems from the fact she celebrates the same birthday of Hollywood’s Marilyn Monroe.
