Mary J. Blige and PepsiCo. Inc. are offering a $30,000 scholarship to one lucky student at Hampton University.
As part of their “Strength of a Woman” scholarship initiative, eligible students must self-identify as a female, be a current college sophomore undergraduate with a minimum 2.5 GPA, and be pursuing a degree in Business Administration, Marketing, Arts, Finance or Creative Design.
The award will be renewable for up to one year or until a bachelor’s degree is earned, whichever occurs first.
The deadline to apply is Monday (October 16) by 3 p.m. All applicants will be notified in December.
The PepsiCo x Mary J. Blige Strength of a Woman Scholarship is part of the beverage company’s $200,000 donation, which also funds local charities.
“The whole mission of this festival is to celebrate and advocate for Black women,” Mary J. Blige said in a statement when announcing the partnership earlier this year. “So to have Pepsi show up and show out in the way they do is overwhelming. With their support for the Strength of a Woman Festival and Summit, we are able to pay it forward in so many impactful ways and to be able to grant an HBCU scholarship for a deserving student is nothing short of incredible.”
As part of the announcement of the scholarship, the Strength Of A Woman Festival and Summit made its return over Mother’s Day weekend with Ms. Lauryn Hill, Jeezy and more.
In other news, Mary is hoping to one day play Nina Simone in a biopic.
The Queen of Hip Hop Soul stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert earlier this year, and said she had long wished to portray the legendary singer, pianist, composer, and activist.
“I always wanted to play Nina Simone because I wanna learn how to play the piano and I love her songs,” she explained. “They’re very dark and moody and I can always find a place for that.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Mary J. Blige spoke about Hip Hop 50 and how the art form still serves as a form of therapy for countless people.
“I think it’s been amazing because Hip Hop has given our culture a voice,” Blige said. “It’s given everybody a voice and a place to speak their truth to. From JAY-Z to Nas to Biggie, they’re all speaking their truth through music, from Rakim to KRS-One.
“Everybody is speaking what they’ve lived and what they’ve done through their music and it’s given them some sort of therapy, and that’s what Hip Hop has done and I hope it continues to do that and I hope it stays around for a long time because the new generations are doing the exact same thing.”