Waianae High counselor motivates, inspires students with Ms. Hawaii Plus crown

Nikki Kiliona, a Waianae High academic counselor, was crowned Ms. Hawaii Plus in April and has been motivating, inspiring, and encouraging her students and colleagues with her infectious positive attitude and self-esteem.

Born and raised in Waianae, Kiliona is no stranger to the adversity and struggles of her community, including working with high-risk kids on behavioral, social-emotional, and truancy issues. Now as Ms. Hawaii Plus and leading by example, she’s found another way to introduce a world of positive possibilities to her students.

After scrolling on Instagram and finding out about the Miss Hawaii Plus pageant, Hawaii’s first and only plus-size pageant, she decided to enter after thinking about how it could help her students who often struggle with low self-esteem.

“As a school counselor, I run student groups where we do a lot of skill building and social-emotional work. There were two girls in my group who had low self-esteem, and I was thinking, ‘I can be a role model for them.’ The pageant advertises being beautiful in your own skin, no matter what the size, and I thought, ‘I can help all my girls be that person on campus,’” Kiliona said.

To run for Ms. Hawaii Plus, Kiliona first earned the title of Miss Waianae Plus, a one-year term that began in February. She describes representing Waianae as “so rewarding” since she was born and raised there.

Most of the community service work required of the Miss Waianae Plus title happened virtually because of the pandemic. Using technology to her advantage, Kiliona started using social media as a platform for her Ms. Hawaii Plus run.

She received an overwhelming amount of donations and sponsorships for her Ms. Hawaii Plus run from businesses in her community and said, “I think they saw the bigger picture, and when I felt the support from the community, I realized my vision had to be greater. I didn’t realize how many people actually were cheering me on and supporting me and were in my corner,” she said.

While practicing for her Ms. Hawaii Plus pageant day, Kiliona recalls the camaraderie she experienced with other women as they first rehearsed on the catwalk.

“The first girl walked out and we just started cheering everybody on. It was incredible. It was a chicken skin moment for me because we didn’t even know each other yet. We barely knew each other’s names, let alone our insecurities as bigger women. But you couldn’t even tell. None of us were insecure and none of us were shy. We were there to make a very bold statement and represent where we were from.”

On pageant day, April 14, Kiliona competed with thirteen other women in the areas of interview question, bathing suit, evening gown, and talent. During the talent portion, Kiliona performed a special hula dedicated to her family and husband. Kiliona was crowned Ms. Hawaii Plus that evening in front of family, friends, and her community.

She returned to school the Monday after the pageant with her crown and sash, spreading joy and positivity around the Waianae High campus.

“I walked around during lunchtime, and I took pictures with my kids, my friends on campus, and the teachers hanging out outside doing yard duty. I just wanted to spread this infectious positive attitude that I had. I was just radiating with excitement and pride. I was so happy that I did this, and I didn’t do it for me. I did it for everybody else, and it was just such a beautiful thing.

“It’s just a very prideful thing to be a positive hope, or positive light in our community, especially after a lot of sad things have been happening, a lot of crime and violence in our Waianae community. So it feels really good to be this positive pillar of hope,” Kiliona said.

As Ms. Hawaii Plus, Kiliona represents the state and her duties include completing one community service event monthly. She’s already hosted a mental health awareness walk and a school supply drive.

Kiliona continues to support and inspire all her students, however, her passion is to connect with low self-esteem girls to show them to be confident and empowered in their own skin.

She has her sights set on helping restart the Miss Hawaii Teen Plus pageant, which hasn’t been held in the past three years due to the pandemic. She aims to start a program at her school to help build students’ self-esteem while “introducing them to a world of possibilities or opportunities.”

“I’m going to use my resources and try to start up a teen program where I help recruit and kind of teach and encourage and help with fundraising or getting financial support for these girls to experience what I got to experience,” Kiliona said.

“To be able to help young girls, build their self-esteem, build their self-confidence and have that just to empower them, I think would be a rewarding thing for me, my heart, you know, just to help other people. It’s just about sharing that you can be anything and do anything if you put your mind to it.”

“I’d like to extend a heartfelt mahalo to my husband, Andrew Kiliona, my two sons, JJ and Jaison, my parents, siblings, and all of my nieces and nephews. I’d also like to thank my five sisters and besties for their outpouring of love, support, and encouragement.”