"Six Nations youth to compete in Miss Teen Canada"

Former Miss Teen Six Nations Aleria McKay is thrilled to be representing the community when she competes in the prestigious Miss Teen Canada competition this summer.

The poised and well-spoken teen, 15, recently competed in the Miss Teen Ontario competition and came back with a sparkling crown securing her position as the representative of Six Nations at the national pageant this August in Toronto. She made it as a finalist in the top 20 and gets to move on to Miss Teen Canada.

The friendly and smiling teen has been performing on stage since she was a little girl and got her start with Michelle Farmer's Studio of Dance and Modelling here on Six Nations.

McKay is a quadruple threat: she's a singer, model, actor and dancer. She started competing in pageants at age 11. She was recently signed to Vogue Models in Hamilton.

"I wanted to do pageants for a long time. When I was 11, I finally convinced my mom to enter me into one."

Her first pageant was Miss All-Canadian where she was the first runner-up in the 10-12 age group and she was Miss Teen Six Nations in 2013-2014.

McKay trains with her mom. The 5'9" teen finds walking in heels on stage the hardest part of being in a pageant.

She is an accomplished public speaker, which is a really big part of being successful in pageants, she says.

Public speaking was something she'd always excelled at in school.

"I did really well in those so that gave me a lot of practice for that."

McKay, who is currently a grade 10 student at Brantford Collegiate Institute, went to I.L. Thomas Elementary School, where all students take their courses in Cayuga immersion.

Culture and language are very important to her, she says.

Contrary to popular perception, pageants are not all about external beauty, says McKay.

"There are some pageants that are mostly about beauty but this isn't really a beauty pageant. There is an interview portion. The evening gown portion is judged on poise and stage presence. It's not always judged just on your gown or just on your face."

She's going to dance at the nationals as part of her talent.

She will be judged in this summer's competition on a variety of factors, including personality, talent and commitment to charitable/volunteer work.

Her lifelong dream is to be a famous singer.

McKay says she doesn't really get nervous on stage except for the moments right before crowning.

"I love being on stage. I just love performing in front of an audience. That's something I've always enjoyed doing. I've danced since I was two. My mom tells me about my first time I was on stage, the whole time, instead of doing the dance, I just stood there and waved at people in the audience."

She is looking forward to representing Six Nations at the Miss Teen Canada pageant.

"That's really important to me. I really wanted to revolve the whole thing around my culture. I tried to do that a lot with the pageant this past weekend. In my interview, I mentioned my heritage and they (judges) asked me to speak some Cayuga for them. I said a few words from the language and they really enjoyed that. I talked about environmentalism and I related it back to the culture; how seven generations ahead, we're making a better future for them."

McKay is only the second youth from Six Nations to make it to the Miss Teen Canada competition.