Since winning the title of Miss Cama’i this spring, Joeli Angukaranaq Carlson said that she’s spent most of her time cutting fish at fish camp, softening furs to add to her regalia, and learning about history and traditional clothing from Elders and community members in her lower Kuskokwim village of Kwethluk.
In mid-July, she headed to Fairbanks to represent the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta at the Miss World Eskimo-Indian Olympics (WEIO) competition. And all that time spent with family and practicing her Yup’ik culture paid off. She won the competition.
“I was shocked. I didn't really expect it,” Carlson said in an interview with KYUK's Mathew Hunter on morning show "Coffee at KYUK."
Carlson was crowned by last year’s Miss WEIO, Tatiana Taanka Korthuis of Bethel and Emmonak.
“And I asked her, ‘What do I do?’ And she was starting to take off her sash and her crown, and that's when I realized, like, ‘Oh, okay, yeah, I've actually been crowned. I couldn't believe it. I was so shocked,’' Carlson said.
It’s the second year in a row that the reigning Miss Cama’i has gone on to win Miss WEIO. In 2024, Korthius won Miss Cama’i and was crowned Miss WEIO later that year.
The Miss WEIO competition involves a traditional talent competition, personal interviews with judges, a panel discussion, and a photo shoot. For her talent, Carlson performed yuraq, Yup’ik dance. Her brother, Hayden, drummed and sang her chosen song "Tarvarnauramken," the blessing song, for her.
“Me and Hayden, we both have been dancing and drumming and singing since kindergarten, because we went to the Yup’ik immersion school,” Carlson said.
An important part of Carlson's performance was her regalia. “The regalia that I was using was really representative of who I was,” Carlson said. “I was using a qaspeq that represents the Guy family with the mountain pattern on the pocket and on the wrists. And the nasqurrun that I wore was one that my grandma made for me in first grade to perform at Cama’i. And then my brother's drum was his own drum that was gifted to him in elementary school too.”
In addition to her Miss WEIO accolades, Carlson won the separate open regalia contest in the Eskimo Cloth category, wearing another qaspeq with the family design and nasqurrun made by her grandmother, and piluguqs passed down through her family.
Like her run for Miss Cama’i, Carlson’s platform for the Miss WEIO competition was one of living gracefully between the Native and
Western worlds so that Indigenous people can thrive for generations to come.
“By saying this, I include, like, our languages that hold our perspectives and all our knowledge systems, our cultures, our traditions, our values, and everything else, while also blending in and weaving in career opportunities, education, and technological advances,” Carlson explained.
It’s a platform inspired by her own life – Carlson’s maternal side of her family is Yup’ik, from Kwethluk, while her dad’s family is from Minnesota. Carlson said that she’s been touched by how her platform has resonated with families throughout the state who are balancing those cultural differences, like the parents of two girls she met at the World Eskimo-Indian Olympics.
“They told me that they had listened to my previous KYUK podcast for winning Miss Cama’i. And they said that they were so inspired by my platform of living and walking gracefully in both the Western world and the Native world so that we can thrive for generations to come,” Carlson said. “And they were so inspired by that because they thought of their daughters immediately.”
Carlson credits her family and community support, as well as the early childhood education she received at Ayaprun Elitnaurvik, Bethel’s landmark Yup’ik immersion elementary school. An Ayaprun education is a common thread between most of the previous Miss WEIO winners from the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta.
“I'm really proud of that part of all of us who've become Miss WEIO that have been Ayaprun Elitnaurvik alumni,” Carlson said.
Carlson said that she’s excited to attend statewide meetings like the Alaska Federation of Natives and the Elders and Youth Conference as the reigning Miss WEIO.
“And I'm also really excited to be inspiring all our youth and everybody of all our Native people alike, that they can live in both worlds, in the best of both worlds, the Native world and the Western world, and uplifting them and seeing them succeed in both worlds,” Carlson said.
And as Miss WEIO, Carlson will also compete in the Miss Indian World competition later this year, bringing that platform to an even wider stage.
Listen to the full interview with Miss Cama'i and Miss WEIO Joeli Carlson here.
