Fayetteville native Alyna Aidee Ortiz Acosta will be representing the Latin community for North Carolina on a national stage after being crowned Miss North Carolina Latina last year.
Born and raised in Fayetteville, Ortiz is proudly half Panamanian and half Puerto Rican and got her start in pageants as a teenager in the Miss Fayetteville Dogwood Pageant in 2020 at the age of 17.
“I was always really shy growing up and I didn't really do any pageants. I didn't do much to get myself out there and in high school, I decided that I wanted to do more,” shared Ortiz. “So I was already an older girl going into the whole pageant world, and competed for Miss Dogwood Festival and I won that pageant, then I went on to go into the Miss North Carolina Outstanding Teen organization. I didn't win there but I am now here as Miss North Carolina Latina, competing for this new title of Miss U.S. Latina.”
The first and longest-running national pageant system for Latinas in the United States, Miss U.S. Latina was founded in 1983 to recognize the outstanding Latin women of the U.S. and as a celebration of their beauty and culture.
Ortiz shared that she and her mother found the Miss U.S. Latina organization and later went on to apply. Following a successful interview, she went on to compete and be crowned for 2022-2023. During her reign, she has focused on the message of being proud of your culture and confidence in representation.
“It's just been amazing to be able to work with them and to be able to show off my culture, my Panamanian side of myself and compete with them. I feel like with other organizations that I've worked with, I've not been able to do that and show off who I am and who I'm made from,” shared Ortiz. “And so with this organization, I'm able to do that. They want to show off my dance, my Salsa. I'm able to talk how I want, in Spanish, and nobody is going to judge me about that.”
Now, Ortiz is moving on to the Miss U.S. Latina pageant to compete against 49 other Miss U.S. Latinas from around the country in Miami, Florida from Aug. 4- 6.
The national pageant will be an opportunity to represent the USA on a world wide platform with the winner being the official USA Delegate to Miss Latin America of the World, a pageant also produced by the Miss U.S. Latina organization.
At center, Chancellor Darrell T. Allison and Juanette Council, Ed.D., vice chancellor for student affairs, cut the ribbon to celebrate the grand reopening of Fayetteville State University's newly renovated Spaulding Building, joined by campus leaders
FCEDC has officially moved its staff and operations to 611 W. Russell St. The 35,800- square-foot center was previously home to Homemakers Furniture and Interiors. Renovations began in the fall of 2025 and are expected to be completed in the next six to eight months. Currently, FCEDC staff are working within an open 7,500-square-foot floor plan as initial improvements progress.
Inset: Systel’s first corporate headquarters was a small rental house turned office on Fort Bragg Road in Fayetteville in 1981. Large photo: The company’s new corporate headquarters reflects years of growth into a multi-million dollar company that pr
