Aiyana Jacy Martin is an Afro-Indigenous, 23-year-old model, activist, and student. She is Mohawk. Turtle Clan from the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ohsweken (OSH-WE-KEN), Ontario Canada. She was born and raised in Buffalo, New York. As the grandchild of a Native residential school survivor, Aiyana has held a passion for being a voice of activism for her community from a very early age. She serves as an ambassador for the Dream Catchers Foundation founded by Buffalo Bills, Eli Ankou, and his fiancé, American cyclist, Shayna Powless, where Aiyana aims to raise awareness for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women and People (MMIWP). She also attends Buffalo State University, as a Murial A. Howard Honor’s student studying Africana and Indigenous Studies. As an advocate for MMIWP she has hosted her Conversations with Aiyana Jacy Podcast with special guests, Eli Ankou and Shayna Powless, was a featured speaker for the WNY Peace Women March in 2023, and a featured speaker at the Inaugural Haudenosaunee Flag Raising at Buffalo’s City Hall. She has also been a guest speaker on Senator Kennedy’s Morning Show on WUFO 96.5, WBNY 91.3 Radio, and a presenter at the 716 Music Awards. Additionally, she is a graduate of the Open Buffalo Emerging Leaders Program. Her advocacy work has been highlighted in a featured article in the local Young and Ambitious Magazine. Aiyana will be featured in the Portraits of an Activist documentary this fall. Most notably, she is the founder of the Walk in Her Shoes Fashion Show which will be hosting its second show in October 2024. In August 2024, a condensed version of the show will also be featured at the Erie County Fair’s Nya:wëh Indian Village. The Walk in Her Shoes Fashion Show brings awareness to the MMIP crisis across the United States and Canada. Aiyana uses modeling and fashion to help reclaim Indigenous visibility and hopes to continue to be a voice for her people. This November she plans to walk in the Seneca Niagara Resort & Casino’s Where Tradition Meets Trend Fashion Show and continue to use her platform to raise awareness on the MMIWG2S crisis.
