Justina Miles: The Real Super Bowl Winner

ASL interpreter Justina Miles was in her bag the night she blessed the screen with her incredible performance during the Super Bowl Halftime show! What a great way to end Black History Month and an even better way to introduce Women’s History Month because Miles’ performance will most definitely go down as one that everyone will never forget.  

Come through black woman excellence!

You may have seen the face and heard the name Justina Miles before being that she went viral in 2020 after participating in the TikTok trend “#CrushOnYouChallenge” where she signs a portion of Lil Kim’s “Crush On You”. 

Miles is a 20-year-old deaf American Sign Language performer and Philadelphia native who attends Bowie State University majoring in nursing where she makes her impact there as well. Miles is a very involved student as she is a part of the university’s cheerleading team as it helps live out her passion for performing. 

Miles tells CBS News that she went to an audiologist to take a test to figure out if she would be considered deaf or not although still having the ability to hear, and her results stated that she unfortunately was, which is why she goes so hard for her community. 

Miles wants to be a representation for black deaf people around the world and she’s studying nursing to help fulfill that want by making sure that there will be more representation of people that share the same struggles as her in hospitals. 

Miles also performed “Lift Every Voice and Sing” alongside with Sheryl Lee Ralph and according to CNN, Miles says “It’s not only for me to share this experience with the whole world, but to really bring that empowerment to millions and millions of Black deaf people all over the country, who’ve never really seen that before.”

The Super Bowl is not Miles first and will not be her last rodeo. 

The young mogul has plenty of accomplishments and according to the National Association of the Deaf, she has “performed dazzling ASL renditions of music at various concerts throughout the country”. Miles was a part of the USA Team that made it all the way to the Deaflympics in Brazil in 2021-22. 

Another one of Miles accomplishments is her being the valedictorian at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington D.C. as well as winning a silver medal for being a part of the women’s track relay team. 

One may think that preparing for such a big show, with even some of the biggest names in the music industry, will take lots of practice and without a doubt Miles nailed it being that she only had five days to prepare herself. 

Miles Tells CBS News that she, like most of us, is already a huge Rihanna fan so most of the songs she had already memorized, it was making sure the watchers could feel the beat rather than hearing it that she had to work on and kudos to her for knocking it out the park.

Miles is now officially the first black female deaf ASL interpreter to perform at the Super Bowl Halftime show.

• ASL
• deaf
• music
• super bowl
• Women's History Month