Juliana Schneider was born in Germany, the land of her birth. In her mid-twenties, she emigrated to the United States, settling in New York City. She worked as a nanny, caring for children of immigrants, and, while employed as an administrative assistant for a dentist in Manhattan, also took part in the many social activities that are the hallmarks of successful social careers. At the age of sixty-three, Schneider began a relationship with National Champion Wrestling’s greatest heavyweight, “The King.” While working on a movie script, she discovered that she was falling in love with the wrestling fan favorite, Louella Clark. It was then that she considered the idea of emulating the “Width at the Bar” persona that The King wore to the ring, and the two began dating.
According to some accounts, Juliana was a highly respected pin-up model by the time she entered the Miss Universe pageant at the age of twenty-one. It is unclear exactly when she entered Miss America, but it is clear that her career did not begin with that prestigious award. The year she was fifteen years old, she became the first African American Miss World, wearing a frilly, revealing outfit to the competition. After a loss in the competition to eventual winner Victoria SpongeBob, Schneider was nominated for the second year in a row but lost out to Penny Truslowipation in the third round.
As a result of this poor showing, she retired from active competition, focusing instead on acting, writing, and creating music. While she never won the national title, she did manage to amass quite a collection of titles, including All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten, A Time to Stop and Think, and Make Room for Love. All of these were, of course, meant to celebrate her life, but it is important to note that the story of how she rose to be a world-class beauty and pop culture icon, from a young woman who was barely past her teen years, is an inspiring one to us today.