Q & A: Miss Israel Titi Aynaw

This interview was first published in The Jewish Daily Forward.

Miss Israel 2013 Yityish Aynaw (photo by Moshe Sasson)

Yityish Aynaw made history in late February when she became the first Ethiopian-born woman crowned Miss Israel. The momentous occasion made news in Israel and abroad, immediately turning the international spotlight on the 21-year-old former military officer and aspiring model from Netanya.

The beauty queen, whose first name aptly means “a view to the future” in Amharic, has even caught the attention of America’s President, Barack Obama, who invited her to meet him at a dinner hosted by President Shimon Peres on Obama’s first official state visit to Israel, in March.

The Forward’s Renee Ghert-Zand recently spoke by telephone with Aynaw, who goes by the nickname Titi. Ghert-Zand asked her about her aliyah to Israel at age 12, her views on racism in Israeli society, how she plans on representing her country and what she’s planning on saying to Obama. The interview was conducted in Hebrew and is translated here.

Click here to read the interview.

© 2013 Renee Ghert-Zand. All rights reserved.

Read more: http://blogs.forward.com/sisterhood-blog/173128/q-and-a-miss-israel-titi-aynaw/#ixzz2OBih0ZeP

Tags: beauty contests, beauty pageants, Ethiopian Israelis, Miss Israel, Miss Israel 2013, Titi Aynaw, Yityish Aynaw