Tiana Johnson: Dedicated to making a change

The following is from the April 19, 2016, edition of D Magazine. SMU graduating senior Tiana Johnson is among seven local women D said "deserve more attention than the Real Housewives."

By Katy Lemieux

Tiana Johnson is a Dallas actress and MFA acting student at SMU Meadows School for the Arts. Maybe you saw her killing it last fall in the Dallas Theater Center’s production of The Mountaintop. 

But she’s more than just an actress. She’s an activist, the daughter of a professional boxer, and, wait for it: a pageant queen. That’s right. You’re looking at Miss South Dallas. The Oak Cliff native is probably the last thing you would imagine when you think of the pageant circuit. 

She’s got the brains on top of her beauty, and she’s dedicated to making a change. She’s featured in the ensemble-based performance called The Burnin’, which is the original creation of her mentor Dr. Cristal Truscott. 

The girl works. Tiana is dedicated to education and undoing the injustices of history. She has loved her time at SMU, and as she prepares for graduation in May she encourages more minority students to attend the school.

Johnson says: “Don’t be afraid to ask for an environment that is conducive to diversity and supportive of your cultural individuality. SMU is a space that thoroughly challenges its students and it, in turn, deserves that same challenge. Bring all of yourself, your culture, your background, your heritage, into that space with you.”

# # #