TOLEDO, Ohio — Ms. Black Midwest USA 2024, a Toledo native, aims to inspire others no matter their background and turn pain into purpose.
Aleanya Moore, a 2002 graduate of Waite High School and current dean of students at an Indianapolis charter school, said her own background informed her goals later in life.
"I call it pain to purpose because from preteen I had pain from my dad not being there. And mom didn't show up for me like I thought she should," she said.
Moore, 40, spoke to an all-girls group at Scott High School earlier in March about her journey from low-income housing in east Toledo to royalty.
"I was raised by my grandmother. My mother was schizophrenic and was on drugs," she said. "(There were) a lot of things my grandmother couldn't provide for me. Today, I can stand here strong as the woman that I am to say I overcame a lot of those things that people try to take me through."
Moore said she was bullied for her clothes and hair when she was younger, too.
But that only served as motivation. She went on to become the first person in her family to attend college when she stepped onto the University of Cincinnati's campus.
"That was the best decision of my life because I was able to shift the entire trajectory of my bloodline," Moore said. "That was able to make a change nobody in my family had seen before because nobody had done it."
Moore is currently pursuing a doctorate in education alongside her charter school position.
In August, she will compete for the title of Ms. Black USA in Washington.