Shawne Morgan and Monique Pryor have a thirst for adventure.
It makes sense, then, that the two university alumnae became close friends while studying abroad in Nairobi, Kenya.
It also makes sense that the pair will be competing on the 16th season of CBS’s The Amazing Race, which premiered yesterday.
“Since Shawne and I have traveled together throughout our lives … we’re very adventurous and fly-by-the-seat-of-our-pants,” Pryor, 39, said. “When I first saw the show, I knew that I had to do it … and the first person I could think to do it with was Shawne.”
Pryor, who majored in journalism as an undergraduate, cited the pair’s shared experiences — their dealings in sorority life, studying abroad together, practicing law, being mothers — as reasons they never considered running the race with anyone else.
On the show, Morgan and Pryor’s relationship is listed as moms/attorneys, which has led to some branding them with the “super-mom” tag: women who succeed in both the working and domestic worlds.
Neither woman is averse to the label.
“We’re always looking for ways to inspire other people, in particular women and mothers,” Pryor said.
However, Morgan — a government and politics major while at the university — stressed that though they may represent the “super-mom” archetype, they’re not the only ones out there.
“I think we’re all super-moms,” Morgan, also 39, explained. “We say that because we’re taking on many different tasks at one time, but just to be a mom in general is a super task.
Some folks may underestimate it, but we say that just in the sense of trying not only to be moms but to still remain career-minded business owners.”
The two highlighted this aspect of their personalities in their original audition tape, which featured Pryor’s visit to the bustling Morgan household during President Barack Obama’s inauguration weekend juxtaposed with video of the women in gowns at Illinois’s inaugural ball in Washington.
“We were like, ‘This is our life as mommies, and then here we are as sexy women again,'” Morgan said, laughing. “We wanted to show the different sides, and that we do wear these hats, that we can still dress up and look nice.”
The video apparently worked because the duo soon snagged spots on the show Pryor had been pining to be on for years. The experience, according to Morgan, was “absolutely amazing.”
“It definitely was the most exciting thing I’ve ever done mentally and physically, being able to push ourselves beyond the limitations that we thought we had and knowing that we have so much more in us to do it,” Pryor said.
Morgan and Pryor’s previous experiences with each other also aided them in the race, though they were unable to disclose any information about how they finished. Pryor noted Morgan’s sense of navigation and memory helped, as did her own ability to “drive like a bat out of hell.”
However, one of their most important preparations for the race was actually — and inadvertently — their time at the university, which gave them the ability to interact with a decidedly diverse community.
“When I came [to the university], I was overwhelmed by so many different cultures,” Morgan said. “And that is a great parallel for the race. You’re experiencing people from all over the world.”
Added Pryor: “I think that was the first thing Shawne and I thought of, and then secondly to inspire other people. No matter what sacrifices we’ve gone through, we just hope throughout all of our experiences that we can encourage somebody else to do something different — to live outside the box.”
jwolper@umdbk.com
