Jill Conner Browne

Browne discovered that she lived near Vardaman, MI, self-proclaimed Sweet Potato Capital of the World, and inspiration struck. She volunteered to be the queen for the farmers' annual festival. Although the crowning never materialized, the prospect of being the queen of anything was too good to pass up; so, she entered herself and a few similarly inspired friends in Jackson, Mississippi's St. Patrick's Day parade. The four original Queens all wore green, hand-me-down, ball gowns and tiaras, and waved to the crowd from the bed of an old pickup truck. It was modest, but it was a start. The Queenly costume has undergone several upgrades since then, and now consists of a sparkly size-24 green-sequined mini-dress (stuffed to its voluptuous forty-pound carrying weight), flowing red wigs, Revlon's "Love That Pink" lipstick, and real-life majorette boots.

There are now more than 1.2 million copies of the Sweet Potato Queens' books in print: the #1 "New York Times" bestseller, "The Sweet Potato Queens' Big-Ass Cookbook (and Financial Planner)" published in January 2003, "God Save the Sweet Potato Queens", and the book that started it all, "The Sweet Potato Queens' Book of Love", which has even been translated into German. Browne has initiated more than 2,000 Sweet Potato Queen Wannabe chapters in 14 countries around the world. A sitcom pilot based on the adventures of Browne and the Queens, starring Delta Burke, has been green-lighted by The WB Network and there are rumors of Browne's own daytime television talk show.

Browne has been featured in "Newsweek," "People," "Los Angeles Times," and "Forbes" and has appeared on "Good Morning America," "The Early Show," "CBS News Sunday Morning," "The Wayne Brady Show," "The Caroline Rhea Show" and NPR's, "All Things Considered." She lectures regularly nationwide.