MVSKOKE RESERVATION – Former Muscogee (Creek) Nation 2024-2025 Miss and Junior Miss Royalty have recently taken the title of 2026 Miss and Junior Miss Indian Oklahoma. Janaya McIntosh, Miss Indian Oklahoma, and Olivia Beaver, Junior Miss Indian Oklahoma, have traveled together to many communities and places.
Throughout their experience together of running for the Miss and Jr. Miss Indian Oklahoma pageant, McIntosh had said that Beaver was one of the people who encouraged her to run after they passed their MCN crowns to the next royalty. McIntosh was also motivated by former Mvskoke Miss Indian Oklahoma royalty.
Beaver didn’t want to do this without McIntosh. Beaver felt she had grown so close to McIntosh and wanted to encourage her before she aged out.
“I’m glad she did, and the timing, it was just the timing’s crazy, all of it was on God’s part,” Beaver said.
Beaver explained that not only is she representing herself, her family, and God, but also her Tribe and all 39 Tribes in the state. “It’s just an honor being able to compete with a bunch of amazing girls up there and seeing all the different cultures that are being expressed in one place,” Beaver said.
McIntosh is the eldest in a family of all girls. One of her favorite parts of this pageant was the sisterhood she found among the other contestants. That is what drew McIntosh in, and that was what she took away from this pageant.
She also keeps in contact with the other contestants– both she and Beaver are very proud of them for what they’re doing and that they’re still active in their communities.
“This organization, in general, is just really powerful, helping Native American women and to be with girls who share the same passion for their people,” McIntosh said. “It’s always good to create those bonds and connections with them. Because it’s good to see Indigenous women supporting each other.”
“Just the legacy of this foundation is not only with the girls now but even with former Miss Indian Oklahoma. As I mentioned, there’s a lot of Mvskoke women, so I think it was the legacy of seeing how strong their leadership is today. This is one piece of that journey in helping them get to where they needed to be.”
Beaver feels the same as McIntosh and enjoys the sisterhood. She views it as an amazing thing.
Winning the titles
During the announcement of Junior Miss Indian Oklahoma, Beaver felt it was surreal. She was shocked to hear her name, but it was also an honor because she gets to continue doing what she does on a bigger platform. Sometimes she thinks she can’t believe this is a thing, and that this is where she is in life.
“This is what I worked hard for, this is what I’ve been preparing myself for, and so with the people that supported me: my mom, my dad, Janaya, my Tribe, and my community. I felt so honored that I was able to be up there for them, I was up there representing all of them,” Beaver said. “I just thought about how I can honor them in a respectful way. I wasn’t only representing Creek people, but my Cherokee side and my Seminole side at that point.”
McIntosh is very proud of Beaver for winning her title.
McIntosh was originally the Miss Indian Oklahoma runner-up and received a phone call from the pageant that she would be the new Miss Indian Oklahoma. She was shocked.
“I was very surprised and very grateful. I was still planning to be involved in things like that, but it was very surprising. But again, grateful for the Lord allowing this to happen. It also reminded me to just always be ready. I felt supported when I got that call. I was really nervous and because I’m starting my career soon, I was like I don’t know how I’m going to do all that, but immediately I felt support because once the news broke out, people are reaching out to me, and even the Federation (Oklahoma Federation of Indian Women) was very supporting, so I’m glad to hear that,” McIntosh said.
Current priorities
Beaver said that her platform is cultural expression. She explained that people express themselves in many ways, such as cooking, baking, beading, and making art.
“Doing anything like that, but before we can really express ourselves, we have to retain the culture. We have to know the meaning behind it. So I find it’s important that as our young generation, it starts with us. It starts with us being able to learn our history. Learn our language because without that, who are we as our people?” Beaver said.
“Because we need to carry that on and keep it going so that we know what we’re going to be able to do in the future. Cultural expression, I believe anyone can express themselves as a Native person. They just have to learn the past,” Beaver said.
McIntosh’s platform aims to empower Native voices and implement culturally competent care in Western systems. She explained that she had recently graduated from Northeastern State University with a Master’s in Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) and will continue her career as an SLP.
“Being in this field that I am, according to the American Speech Hearing Association, only 0.3% of all SLPs nationally are Native American. As I was studying in school, I saw a big gap and lack in research on Native American people. Even as Miss Muscogee, what it taught me was how our languages, our traditions, and our culture can be used in education and healthcare systems,” McIntosh explained.
She wants to spread this awareness among others, one of the main pillars of her career, and the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) is culturally competent care and empowering everyone with a voice.
“That’s why I wanted to make families aware that you can ask therapists, you can ask teachers, even though they may not be Native, you can still ask them like, ‘Hey can we use this part of our language in our therapy, in our schools, in our classrooms’ or even not just our language but our traditions, our cultures, just educating them like can we use this to help my family. I think that was the big driving force behind my platform. I’m grateful for the title now, because it’s setting me up to do bigger plans for advocacy for Native people,” McIntosh said.
McIntosh wants to help not just the Mvskoke people but all Native voices. She feels that Native American people are the heartbeat of the State of Oklahoma.
“We’re vital, we’re essential to the state, we’re part of Oklahoma history. I’m very fortunate to be graduating as an SLP and to be in this state to continue to advance and empower Native American voices because they do matter. Again, not just in the health care or education field, but that’s in art, that’s in government as well. I feel like using our cultures, our traditions, and our language is essential to modern leadership today,” McIntosh explained.
Representation
Beaver felt like in everything she did, she was always representing her Tribe. “This just puts it on a bigger platform to realize that I’m representing my Tribe, but also all 39 Tribes as well. It’s important that we equal ourselves out and, like we go to stomp dance, but now it’s our jobs as in this platform to go to powwows, and to just learn about their cultures,” Beaver said.
McIntosh also added during their conversation that it involves a lot of understanding and learning about other Tribes and what they’ve done. She believes that it is an honor.
Beaver included that they both want to do right by everyone.
“We’re both in leadership roles, she’s in Mvskoke Youth Council, and I was in Mvskoke Youth Council too, and I do plan to be in tribal government one day. When we help our Nation, we don’t just help our own people. We want to help all Native people because not only is it a win for our Tribe, but for all Indian Country. That’s our main goal is to help and serve. Like I said, Indigenous people are so vital and essential to Oklahoma’s heartbeat as a state. That’s what we love about it, it’s so unique, it’s so diverse and that’s what makes us stand out from everyone else as a state,” McIntosh said.
“The representation that they’re allowing us to represent all these people, and so we’re here to let them know that Native American people are still here and we are still strong, that we are thriving here in Oklahoma. So it’s just a great honor to do this,” Beaver said.
One piece of advice
One piece of advice Beaver would like to give young girls who want to run for pageants is to just do it. “This is an honor itself, just being able to go up there and have the confidence to speak in front of so many people and just willing to represent your community,” Beaver said.
“This crown doesn’t define who you are, it doesn’t make or break you. You’re going to have people that are going to support you no matter what, win or lose. As you’re going through this, you’re going to meet so many different people and you’re going to learn so many different things. I don’t want to sound like the Nike logo but just do it. It’s already a great accomplishment that you’re willing to try and put yourself out there and get out of your comfort zone,” Beaver said.
For McIntosh, you will always gain something from experience. “You never walk away empty-handed when you do things. Again, don’t be afraid to try things. I was very nervous when I got into pageantry because I was an athlete the majority of my life. I also encourage girls, your ideas or willingness to learn about your people and your culture is always good. You’re always going to gain something from this experience,” McIntosh said.
Beaver would like to thank the Oklahoma Federation of Indian Women for their support for both of them. She acknowledges that this organization has done a lot for them. Beaver says it’s amazing that the sisterhood they’ve already had is seeing its legacy continue to grow.
“All these girls, they come together, and they’re here for your needs because I know I’ve had a wardrobe malfunction before, and I’ve had 5 girls text me later that night saying, ‘here I can help you, I can help you out with this’, and it’s just an amazing thing to see and what they have going on in that organization. It’s a real bond that they have, and they really do care a lot about their princesses,” Beaver said.
Beaver would also like to thank her Tribe and her family; she believes that they’re the biggest support system here. “It’s just an incredible honor, and the Lord’s timing with all of this it’s an amazing thing. He works in amazing ways, that’s for sure,” Beaver said.
“Again, giving all the honor and glory to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, for allowing this to happen, not just now but for the bond that we had before, it’s very rare. We don’t want to take it for granted, and our mission as Junior Miss Indian Oklahoma and Miss Indian Oklahoma is to do our best to work with each other and with the organization,” McIntosh said.
