Former Miss Israel is coming to Cal Poly to promote ‘message of tolerance’

Former Miss Israel Titi Aynaw will speak at Cal Poly next week as part of her college campus tour to promote tolerance and coexistence in her home country.

Born in Ethiopia and raised in Israel, Aynaw won the Miss Israel title in 2013, becoming the first Israeli-Ethiopian to do so. The fourth stop on a 12-college tour, Aynaw is expected to share her personal story Wednesday as part of the Jewish National Fund’s “Positively Israel” campaign that “seeks to promote a positive dialogue about Israel and the ways it makes the world a better place.”

Aynaw was born in the Gondar province in Ethiopia; at 12, having lost both parents at a young age, she moved in with her grandparents in the Israeli city of Netanya. She found success as a model and now runs the Titi Project, which provides extracurricular activities and enrichment to 66 Ethiopian children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Netanya, according to the Jewish National Fund, a registered nonprofit and United Nations Non-Governmental Organization.

“As an Ethiopian, African, Israeli, and Jewish individual, she is able to use her experience and influence to promote a message of tolerance and coexistence among the many groups that call Israel home, and translates this message to a global audience,” Media Watch International founder Sharon Tzur said in prepared remarks.

This marks Aynaw’s third trip to the United States; her previous two tours having been centered on the East Coast.

Aynaw will speak at the College of Engineering’s Advanced Technology Lab, Keck Lab, Building 07, from 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.

This story was originally published October 26, 2017 at 3:03 PM with the headline "Former Miss Israel is coming to Cal Poly to promote ‘message of tolerance’."