“I started my journey at the U in 2017 intending to study pre-med and go on to medical school. However, once I got to college, many other things caught my interest and one of those things was multidisciplinary design.

I come from a very creative family. My mom and sisters create outfits for powwow dancing and my grandma is a rug weaver. I am an illustrator, as well as a weaver. During my introductory design class, I realized I could take that creativity that I loved and what I had been learning in my pre-med classes and bring those things together to solve problems.

The design program allowed me to do many creative projects and incorporate my Native identity into my work. For one of my favorite projects I did, I partnered with my sister who teaches Navajo in the Davis School District to create a learning tool. I designed letter blocks to feature the Navajo letter system and some vocabulary and included an audio component as well, since Navajo is a more orally based language. It was really cool to create a resource to connect kids to their culture.

During my undergraduate degree, I interned at the Utah Department of Health. After I graduated, I was hired full time. Currently, I work as a health program specialist and am focused on the opioid and tobacco programs. In my role, I get to work with tribal leaders from across the state. One of the projects we are working on right now is a program to educate people about the difference between commercial tobacco and its harmful effects and the role traditional tobacco plays in Native communities.

Currently, I hold the title of Miss Indian World. As a cultural goodwill ambassador, I have the opportunity to represent not only the Navajo people but all Indigenous people around the world. My favorite part of this role has been visiting tribal communities across the United States and Canada and learning about other people’s stories.

My Miss Indian World experience is helping not just my work with the health department, it’s also helping my work as an artist. As artists, we tell stories, but as Native artists, we tell legacies. Whether we intend to or not, the work we do connects to a lineage of history. The experience of weaving my own story together and seeing how other people connect to it has been very empowering.”

— Kassie John, B.S. Multidisciplinary Design ’22, Miss Indian World 2024-25, Rock Point, AZ