Kiera-Dawn Kolson, 26, was born and raised in Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories.

She is a Tso’Tine-Gwich’in artist and motivational speaker.

Kolson has been involved in the arts, the environment and politics since she was a child.

Throughout her life, she has performed poetry and music at events throughout Canada. She has attended the Dreamcatchers Youth Conference, National Aboriginal Day celebrations, and the Aboriginal People’s Choice Music Awards.

She was chosen to represent the Northwest Territories at the March 2006 Arctic Winter Games in Kenai, Alaska and has been the representative for the N.W.T. for the Native Women’s Association of Canada Youth Council.

She also travelled to Haiti in 2006 to the YeleFest. She was among 10 Canadian artists to attend the festival, which was organized by Michaelle Jean, the Governor General at the time.

In 2008, she also sang on Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the Sisters in Spirit campaign, which worked to bring attention to the problem of missing and murdered aboriginal women in Canada.

Kolson was also the second runner-up in the 2011 Miss Indian World competition.

Kolson lives in Yellowknife. She has plans to go to law school in the future.