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Honoring Black History: Catching up with Peoria's Juneteenth Queens

Honoring Black History: Catching up with Peoria's Juneteenth Queens

Yahoo19-02-2025
PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Peoria's Miss Juneteenth Alynceia Boyce and Miss Teen Juneteenth Ameana Monet came to WMBD News at 4 to share what has been rewarding about their experience during their reign and how they're working to leave a legacy in the community.
Monet is currently pursuing a healthcare career.
'I currently work at a nursing home. I enjoy seeing them and seeing that I can make their day by the little things that I do,' she said. 'Healthcare is really easy. You just have to have a passion for it.'
Boyce runs a mentoring program called Sunflower Mentoring Services. The focus is to empower individuals through mentorship.
'Really focusing on finding our divine purpose in this world and learning to come together with other young women and embrace each other,' Boyce said.
2024 Miss Juneteenth Peoria Pageant Winners | Good Day Central Illinois
Monet and Boyce hold the inaugural titles for Peoria's Miss Juneteenth pageants. They have found their reign to be gratifying as they look to inspire people in their community.
'I'm a community servant at heart,' said Boyce. 'Just being able to use the Miss Juneteenth platform to bring awareness and to encourage younger individuals and middle-aged women to run for Miss Juneteenth.'
'Being the age that I am, I just want to be a role model to everyone around me. It's also helped me gain my confidence,' said the teen queen.
Applications for the 2025 Miss Juneteenth Pageant open on March 1.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Her decisions, her instincts, whether it was references or just the ideas with casting — it was always so graceful. It's one of her superpowers. She adds this layer of grace to anything. Whether you're playing Marcus or we're seeing you at a premiere, your aesthetic is pretty consistent, mostly sharp lineups and hats. But tell me a bit about how your own relationship with your hair intersected with what people saw onscreen. I have an aunt who's a beautician. She's owned beauty shops since I was a kid. So I think that's just a person you understand is a pillar in the community. Barbershops, beauty salons, they're third spaces. You see different people you know at different points of your life in there. The power of a haircut makes you feel invincible. You go in feeling on the fritz, and then you come out, you're like, 'Yeah, I can do anything. I can tackle this world.' Chantel, Syd's braider, is both her hairstylist and her actual family. 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I also loved how time didn't seem to really exist in the episode, which I felt very keenly — mostly because I was braiding my hair while I was all know how long it is. I remember being a kid, like six years old, and I don't go to school that day because my mom got to get her hair braided. You get there at seven in the morning, and you're there all day at this person's house you don't know. You playing their son's Super Nintendo and like, 'What games they got?' Time and space don't exist. So if you've ever gone through the experience, you just know it takes a minute. It wouldn't be if there weren't a cooking scene — and that sort of nostalgia continues when Syd shows TJ how to jazz up Hamburger Helper. What's your version of that instant-comfort nostalgia food?Low-key, Hamburger Helper. The beef stroganoff one, or the mac and cheese one. That's what I was living with. There's such a specific time where that ruled the world. Like, Nineties to early 2000s. And when you're really young, you get mad, like, 'Oh, we gotta eat this?' And then as you get older, it's like, 'No, I want that. That's what I'm looking for.' When's the last time you had it? I haven't had it in years. Every once in a while I'll think about it, like, 'It'd be good to get it.' but I don't want to make it. It's, like, got to be made by my mom, because I know it's not gonna be the same. It's like boxed yellow cake. I love it, and I can make it all alone. But there's something she does to it. Or maybe it's just the fact that she makes it. Is your dynamic with Ayo as co-stars different from your dynamic as co-writers? When we started doing this show, I was like, 'This is cool. I feel like we're on the same wavelength.' I feel that way about pretty much everyone who collaborates on the show, like the writers, the actors, even behind the cameras, it's such a tight-knit family. But with Ayo, we had a lot of friends in common. It's no different than Tyler [the Creator, Boyce's former bandmate in Odd Future] or any of my friends who I collaborate with. Having a professional community, you have friends that you want to work with and always just feel like, 'I respect and admire your work, and we don't even know we don't know each other.' So I think having that thing and you just also can be stupid together, it just made it so much more fun. Do you think that friendship and connection changes the final product for the better? It's funny. With creative people, it's sensitive. A lot of their time is trying to feel something out before they jump in. So when you have a shorthand with someone you already feel comfortable with, you can just get right into it. It just becomes much more of a singular voice when you have that shorthand. Because it's like we speak the same language. I love the mention of creativity, because one of the moments I found so pivotal in the season is in Episode Seven, when everyone crawls under the table at the wedding and goes around sharing their fears. Marcus says his fear is 'running out of creativity.' Is that something you found yourself relating to? That's a fear of mine. You've tapped the well and you're like, 'Is this it? Was this thing I did the last time I have it in me?' It's a fear of running out of passion. Where you feel like a hack or you're rehashing ideas or whatever. Fears are things you can't control. As long as you want to be open and let things in, you'll always have a well that doesn't run dry. But it is a fear. It's a fear of disconnection to me. 'Will I just close myself off to the world and let nothing else in?' Well, if disconnection is the fear, and this episode is an example of you being connected with friends, with collaborators, what was most exciting or joyful about actually watching the finished product?As I watched it, I texted Ayo because I was so impressed with Arion. That was the thing, when we wrote it, Chris [Storer, creator and showrunner of The Bear] was like, 'Yeah, I love it, but you gotta find a great kid.' Jeanie Bacharach, who's the casting director, and everyone did such a good job at finding Arion. Because that relationship is a tentpole of this episode, and you'd see it unfold. Watching it, it felt lived-in, and it reminded me of my sister in ways. I loved the moment when we get to the house and Syd's getting her hair done and Chantel is like, 'Where's the hair upstairs?' And Arion goes, 'There ain't none. Damn!' And it just holds on everyone's face. You don't have to explain it. Everyone understands and it's such a universal thing. I love that moment. In this episode alone, you get Arion as the scene-stealing newcomer, and two standout voices with Deadwyler and Bravo. At this point, people know to expect starry cameos from . So for you, was there a favorite of the season? Jamie Lee Curtis. Even though she's already been in it and doesn't count as a new one, all of her scenes were incredible. And Rob Reiner. I didn't get to meet him, but watching his scenes with Ebraheim [Edwin Lee Gibson] was so cool. I loved seeing his arc this season. The charts! Ebraheim was not fucking around. Yeah, he came in ready to handle business. Being on a show all about food also means the joy of some pretty gorgeous prop foods and the pain of plenty of desserts that you can't eat because they're fake. But sometimes there's a sweet treat for you in return. What's the most delicious thing you had on set this season? It wasn't even made for shooting! I'd sent this video I'd found on Instagram of someone making a cinnamon focaccia to [The Bear culinary director] Courtney Storer. She's like, 'Someone else just actually sent me that. We got the kitchen here — let's make it.' That was delicious. Marcus has also had a pretty incredible and skyrocketing arc through this most recent season, being named as one of 's best new chefs in America. What do you think it does for him emotionally at the end of the season to receive that recognition at the same time that his mentor, Carmy — the person who challenged him creatively — is planning on leaving? That's a good question. In that moment he wins, and he looks around, he's like, 'Yeah, winning the award is cool. But getting to share it with this group of people is the thing.' That's why I'm curious. I always say I'm a fan first of this show. So I have all of the same thoughts that other people do. Like, 'How does this affect things?' 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