Step aside, Oprah. Grace Wallace is coming through. Wallace, just shy of 20, is a communications major at UNC-Charlotte who has big plans—first, graduate school for broadcasting and then, star in her own talk show. “I think America should be exposed to who I am through me,” she says with a laugh. 

She has plenty of fans who agree. Growing up in Asheville, she was voted Miss Asheville High, elected her senior class president and was captain of the varsity cheerleading squad. She got several scholarships for her civic and academic achievements, and Wallace is attending college on a full four-year scholarship from the Asheville-based Building Bridges, a non-profit that facilitates “serious dialogue on race.” Though Wallace is just learning about broadcasting, it’s not a stretch to say the camera loves her, and she loves modeling and performing. She recently danced her way to Radio City Music Hall and the finale of the Pulse Dance Convention in NYC, in a number choreographed and coached by the Rockettes. 

Now in her second year at school, Wallace is a volunteer with SAFE, Students Advising For Excellence, a peer mentoring program designed to assist freshman through their first year. Being a role model is part of Wallace’s mission, she says, just as Oprah has been one for her: “I want to stand for a young person who tries to do everything with a spirit of excellence.” And when she has her own talk show, what will she call it? Grace, of course.