2025 Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc court: King Charles VII portrayed by Scott Tilton, Joan of Arc portrayed by Life Sacco, Queen Yolande of Aragon portrayed by Megan Holt
The Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc selects three community leaders each year to portray three featured characters in our parade: a young Maid Joan, a King Charles VII, and a Queen Yolande.
2024 Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc Royalty:
Maid of Honor (Joan of Arc): Life Sacco, Isidore Newman School
Queen Yolande of Aragon: Megan Holt, One Book, One New Orleans and Words and Music Festival
King Charles VII: Scott Tilton, New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures “Nous Foundation”
MAID OF HONOR:
The young Maid of Orleans will be portrayed by LIFE SACCO, a senior at Isidore Newman School in New Orleans with a multifaceted identity rooted in academics, community service, and her cultural heritage. Proficient in Spanish and fluent in French and English, she began her education at Lycée Français de la Nouvelle Orleans and studied there for 9 years, learning French. Her annual trips to Puerto Rico to visit family deepen her connection to the island and the Spanish language. She has earned the Prix d’Excellence Union Française and a scholarship to the prestigious ASM International Camp for Engineering, and she plans to study biomedical engineering. As the founder of Canvassing Life, Life raised $3,200 to support small businesses in New Orleans during the pandemic, and through the ACTIONS community service organization, she has led the Vulnerable and Poverty subcommittees, where she raised $8,300 for Covenant House through the Sleepout to combat youth homelessness.
“To represent Joan is daunting,” Life said in her acceptance speech. “She was extraordinary, yes, but also human. She made mistakes, cried, doubted herself, and kept going anyway. When I think about Joan, I don’t just think about the saint in shining armor. I think about the girl from a small village, scared out of her mind the first time she picked up a sword. Her story should remind us that vulnerability and courage can exist at the same time.” (Read her full speech and bio.)
Look for our young “Maid of Orleans”, Jeanne d’Arc, on a tall white live horse in the parade. Midway through the parade, she will receive her sword after a blessing at St. Louis Cathedral. The sword she receives was a gift to the Krewe de Jeanne d’Arc from the city of Orléans, France, whose 500-year parade tradition was a model for our selection of a young Joan. Finalists receive an interview in French and English by the Cultural Attaché/ Chargée de Mission Culturelle of the Consulate General of France in New Orleans. The annual contest is open to all young women in the Greater New Orleans area ages 16-19 who have demonstrated outstanding community leadership and have French language experience and skills. The young women portraying the French “Jeanne” and our “Joan” participate in a cultural exchange, thanks to a travel scholarship from the New Orleans Rotary Foundation. (More about the program)
Past Maids of Honor include: Marley Marsalis (2024), Emmeline Meyer (2023), Ava Wilkes (2022), Zoe Kanga (2020), Alyssa Fortier (2019), Martha Pinney (2018), Héloïse Trumel (2017), Margaux Schexnider (2016), Emma Martello (2015), Clara Bajeux (2014), Gretchen Neuenhaus (2013), Aggie Bell (2012), and Blair Davis (2010).
QUEEN YOLANDE OF ARAGON:
Queen Yolande, the mother-in-law of King Charles and supporter of Joan, will be portrayed by MEGAN HOLT.
Megan Holt is Executive Director for One Book One New Orleans and the Words & Music Festival. She received a duel degree in English and Spanish in 2003, and a Ph.D in English and Comparative Literature in 2013. Also in 2013, she began her work in community literacy. In 2015, she was named one of Gambit’s 40 Under 40 and one of New Orleans Magazine’s People to Watch. Her 2021 TEDx Talk, “Becoming Part of the Story,” focuses on her work as an adult education advocate. Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities recognized her efforts in 2023 with the Light Up for Literacy Award. Her most recent professional accomplishment is founding a book club inside Orleans Parish Jail, connecting local authors with incarcerated readers. When not working, Megan can be found hanging out with her husband and sons, reading a good book, or listening to live music.
“Saint Joan was illiterate and by today’s standards lived in poverty,” Holt said in her acceptance speech, “but Queen Yolande knew that her current circumstances did not define her future potential… Though it would be wonderful if illiteracy had been eradicated since Saint Joan’s time, unfortunately that is not the case. Still today, there are so many people in our community who cannot read and write. Yet, like Saint Joan, these folks are doing incredible things with the talents they’ve been given….I hope to champion them the same way that Queen Yolande championed Saint Joan.” Read her full speech here)
Queen Yolande will be riding in a royal “horse-drawn” pedicab, dressed in a cloak composed of the coat of arms and heraldic colors of the historical Queen Yolande. Past queens are: Hannah Kreiger Benson (2024), Beth Arroyo Utterback (2023), Ti Martin (2022), Margarita Bergen (2020), Liz Williams (2019), Kristin Gisleson Palmer (2018), Camille Whitworth (2017), Sandra Dartus (2016), Simone Bruni (2015), Mary Beth Romig (2014), Betsie Gambel (2013).
KING CHARLES VII:King Charles VII will be portrayed by SCOTT TILTON, executive director of the New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures (Nous).
Scott Tilton is a lifelong advocate for Louisiana’s unique French and Creole-speaking cultures. He is inspired by his family’s own history, including his great uncle, Homer Dupuy, who accompanied General De Gaulle during his visit to New Orleans and helped bring the Joan of Arc Statue to New Orleans; and his father, Gregory Tilton, who inspired him to learn French. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a B.A., Scott went to France’s prestigious Sciences Po University, where he received his Master’s degree in international relations. Scott lived in Paris for six years before returning to Louisiana. He worked as a consultant at EY France on projects for the European Union, the UN, and the French government. Along with his husband, Rudy Bazenet, Scott had the opportunity to launch and spearhead the initiative that saw Louisiana join the International Organization of the Francophonie in 2018, the first time a U.S. state joined an international organization. Since 2020, he has served as the Executive Director of the New Orleans Foundation for Francophone Cultures (Nous), co-founding the organization and helping build it into a leading Francophone cultural institution in North America. He is also a Commissioner on the Vieux Carré Commission – a regulatory body charged to protect, preserve, and maintain the distinct architectural, historic character, of the French Quarter – and a Board member of the neighborhood advocacy group the Vieux Carre Property Owners, Residents, & Associates (VCPORA).
In his acceptance speech in French and English, Tilton said: “When we speak in French – and about French – here in Louisiana, people listen. For over 300 years, Louisiana’s past and present have been written in French – and now the time has come to write our future – and people around the world are eager to know more. So, just like Jeanne, let’s show them and let’s find the courage within ourselves to carry the torch as far as we can.” (read his full speech here).
In the parade as King Charles VII, Scott Tilton will also be in a royal “horse-drawn” pedicab, and he will wear a robe inspired by one of many paintings of the King’s coronation at Reims Cathedral, at which Joan of Arc was present. At the king cake ceremony stop in the parade, the king will be ceremoniously crowned by the young Joan Maid of Honor. The two will then cut the first king cake of the season, representing Joan of Arc’s birthday cake as well as Carnival season tradition. Joan Past kings include: Louis Michot (2024), Joseph Dunn (2023), Joseph Mistrot (2022), Simon Hardeveld (2020), Alexandre Vialou (2019), Pierre-Loic Denichou (2018), Jean-Luc Albin (2017), Eric Belin (2016), Patrick van Hoorebeek (2015), Jacques Soulas (2014), René Bajeux (2013), Damien Regnard (2012), Lilian Cadet (2011) and David Villarubia (2010).