By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
Scarlett ᎩᎦᎨ Guy will join 21 other Native American women in vying for the 2025-26 Miss Indian World (MIW) title later this week. Guy, a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) who served as the 2023-24 Miss Cherokee, will compete at the pageant being held April 24-26, 2025 in conjunction with the Gathering of Nations Pow Wow (GON) in Albuquerque, N.M.
“I first became interested in running for Miss Indian World after visiting the Miss Indian World pageant during my reign as the EBCI 2023-24 Miss Cherokee. After this trip, many community members asked if I planned to run for the title. Their encouragement gave me the confidence to step forward as a candidate to represent the EBCI.”
2023-24 Miss Cherokee Scarlett ᎩᎦᎨ Guy is shown speaking at the ribbon cutting ceremony of the Cherokee Speakers Place (kalvgviditsa tsalagi aniwonisgi tsunatsohisdihi), located adjacent to the New Kituwah Academy in Cherokee, N.C., on the morning of Friday, Feb. 16, 2024. Guy is running for Miss Indian World in a pageant that starts in Albuquerque, N.M. on Thursday, April 24, 2025. (SCOTT MCKIE B.P./One Feather photos)
Guy was the valedictorian of the Cherokee High School Class of 2018. She furthered her education at Duke University where she graduated in 2022 with a bachelor of arts degree in evolutionary anthropology, with a minor in linguistics and a certificate in documentary studies.
Each contestant will perform a traditional talent during the opening night of the pageant on Thursday, April 24 at the Kiva Auditorium at the Albuquerque Convention Center in Albuquerque, N.M.
Of her talent, Guy noted, “My talent presentation is titled ‘ᎢᎩᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ: Our Language, Our Worldview’. I plan to give a presentation on the Cherokee language and discuss how Cherokee worldview, such as culture, history, and philosophy, is embedded within the structure of our language.”
Guy is a second language learner of the Cherokee language and is a graduate of the CLMAP (Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program). She is currently the adult language educator in the CLMAP of the Kituwah Preservation and Education Program (KPEP).
She is excited to share the Cherokee language on the national stage that is the Miss Indian World pageant. “It is important to me to share how learning the Cherokee language has helped me and other second language learners gain more insight into how our ancestors viewed the world. I believe this is true for all Indigenous languages. I want to inspire everyone across ᎠᎹᏱ ᎠᏰᏟ to learn their people’s first language so that all the knowledge held by our languages continues on.”
Each Miss Indian World has a platform that they advocate for during their year-long reign. “If chosen as Miss Indian World, I want to use the role as an opportunity for me to meet with the respective Indigenous language programs, first-language Speakers, and learners across the country, and maybe even the world, to learn about the revitalization methods they employ, so that I can have a direct positive impact in our community as one of the Adult Language Educators in our Cherokee Language Master Apprentice Program. I also wish to share the efforts our Tribe makes to revitalize and document the Cherokee language.”
Guy, right, is shown in the MMIR (Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives) Awareness Walk in Cherokee, N.C. on May 5, 2024.
Guy is looking forward to bringing Cherokee culture to the forefront during the pageant. “I am most looking forward to sharing with the Miss Indian World contestants and crowd at GON the strong connection and commitment our people have to implementing our language and culture into our daily lives. Despite colonization, indoctrination, and modern globalization, our people still hold on to what’s important to us, and our community values learning and teaching each other our language, culture, arts, and history.”
The preparation for the Miss Indian World pageant takes months, and Guy said many people have helped her. “To prepare for the Miss Indian World contest I have consulted with many community members whom I look up to, including our first-language speakers, to get advice and opinions on what I should talk about or highlight during the competition. Additionally, the Qualla Boundary Public Library hosted an event to help me sell MIW raffle tickets and to help me practice for the dance competition portion of the pageant. Having so many women from our community come together to give me advice was incredibly helpful, and I am very grateful to them.”
She added, “I feel honored and humbled knowing that so many people in our community are rooting for me. There are so many people who I would like to thank for helping me make this dream a reality. It is hard to name everyone! I am thankful to everyone who bought MIW raffle tickets, to Amy and Johnny Postoak and their family, Nancy Maney of Sew Tsalagi, the Qualla Boundary Public Library, my students, the KPEP CLMAP program, Nakoa, Talutsa, Ugidsde, Etsili, my family, first lady Marsha Hicks, the Office of the Vice Chief Alan B. Ensley, and the Office of the Principal Chief Michell Hicks. I would especially like to thank all the first-language speakers who took the time out of their day to help me and encourage me. With special acknowledgement to the late John Long, who was so excited to hear that I would be competing. ᎤᏙᎯᏳ ᎢᏨᏯᎵᎡᎵᏤ ᏂᎦᏓ ᏣᎳᎩ ᎢᏥᏬᏂᏍᎩ. ᎦᎵᎡᎵᎦ ᏂᎦᏓ ᏍᎩᏍᏕᎵᏍᎪ! I will do the best I can to represent our Tribe!”
The crowning for the Miss Indian World pageant will occur on Saturday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. in Expo New Mexico at 300 San Pedro NE in Albuquerque, N.M.
The other contestants in this year’s Miss Indian World pageant include:
- Analynn Olney – Yakama Nation
- Waurica Miller – Warm Springs/Wasco/Paiute
- Thomlyn Billie – Seminole Tribe of Florida/Miccosukee
- Tatiana Korthuis – Yup’ik
- Shavaughn Titla – White Mountain Apache
- Cynthia Bond – Paula Band of Mission Luiseno
- Phoenix Tekatsitsianekon Thomas – Mohawk
- Niagara Rockbridge – Navajo
- Cece Thomas – Seminole Tribe of Florida
- Laney Lupe – White Mountain Apache
- Bianka Gardner – Alabama Coushatta
- Kelsey Quintana – Jicarilla Apache
- Begonia Brazeau – Anishinabe
- Huntre Jamison – Mohawk
- Aurora Ominika-Enosse – Ojibwe/Odawa/Potawatomi
- Dystnee Rope – Shoshone-Bannock/White Mountain Apache
- Alice Keats – Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
- Dania Wahwasuck – Prairie Band Potawatomi
- Alexis Odjick – Algonquin/Anishinabe
- Malene Avila Miller – Ute Tribe
- Nizhoni Edgewater – Navajo
