Saturday, May 10, 2008

Maryland woman set for her CoverGirl ad in Ebony, story to appear on Lifetime TV


Janice Jackson

The Prince George's Gazette reports that Marylander Janice Jackson, selected in February as one of four women to represent Queen Latifah’s new line of make-up ‘‘The CoverGirl Queen Collection,” will have her story told on Lifetime TV on May 20. She also will be featured in a CoverGirl ad in the June issue of Ebony Magazine.

Jackson, a wheelchair user for 23 years due to a car accident, founded and is executive director of the Baltimore-based Women Embracing Abilities Now (WEAN), a non-profit that helps women who have suffered debilitating injuries learn to adjust to their new situation.

‘‘We mentor women with new disabilities,” Jackson said. ‘‘We help them rehab. We give them hope. We serve as peer counselors for them. We know what they’re going through and we know what they’re going to go through when they get back into the community. We try to tell them that even though you have limitations you still have abilities.”

Jackson said in the Gazette article that CoverGirl was looking for women who had ‘‘overcome major challenges” and chose her from more than 4,800 entries nationwide.

‘‘[CoverGirl] saw my accomplishments as the executive director of the program I started and they saw how my story shows people you can take a tragedy and turn it around into triumph and do great things,” she said.

WBAL-TV also did a report about Jackson.