Miss New Jersey USA Celinda Ortega finishes a year with the crown in new documentary

As a teenager growing up in Fair Lawn, Celinda Ortega competed in pageants for scholarship money, racking up titles like National All American Miss and Miss Bergen County.

But in 2018, she started feeling debilitating chest pain. She quit the pageant circle and found a diagnosis: lupus, an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and crippling pain.

“It was really tough,” says Ortega, who still lives in Fair Lawn. “I had to stop working and doing a lot of things that I loved to do in my personal life. I was in so much pain, I couldn’t do much.”

Even so, she returned to pageants and competed in Miss New Jersey USA that same year. She smiled through a flare-up and wound up landing in the Top 15 contenders. A few years later, in 2021, she competed again and won.

Ortega has just passed on her title of Miss New Jersey USA and is a New Jersey ambassador for the Lupus Foundation of America, using both platforms to spread awareness about lupus and speak to young girls about confidence.

Behind-the-scenes: Visual Journalist Mitsu Yasukawa spent time with Ortega over the final two months of her reign as Miss New Jersey USA. View the Yasukawa documentary at the top of this page.

The makings of a beauty pageant queen

Though Ortega is now a pro at public speaking and radiates poise on stage, she admits she was a shy child.

She started competing in pageants when she was 8. “It was kind of just a way to get me out of my shell” she says. National American Miss was her first pageant. “I had no idea what I was doing,” she says. “But, I had so much fun.” She continued to compete in pageants for a few years but eventually stopped to focus on school and other interests.

As an upperclassman at Fair Lawn High School, she realized that pageants could pay off in scholarship money. She grabbed her high heels and dusted off her old skills. In her teen years, she traveled the country as a titleholder. She also gave empowering talks to girls and visited patients in hospitals.

Leading the way with an 'inner beauty pageant'

In 2013, Ortega started a nonprofit with her mother, a community school director in Paterson, called Stellar Role Models, which throws mini pageants for after-school care programs. “We noticed there were a lot of little girls with low self-esteem,” says Ortega. “If we called it a self-esteem workshop, no one would want to join that. So, we called it an ‘inner beauty pageant.’” The nonprofit also allowed girls to experience being in a pageant without paying the high prices that often come with them.

"Being able to work alongside my daughter to empower other young girls to become confident young ladies and be the best versions of themselves is so rewarding," says Celinett Ortega, Ortega's mother.

In the weeks leading up to the pageant, Ortega leads workshops to teach participants “communication skills and how to be authentically yourself,” she says. One workshop teaches the girls public speaking skills. Another shows them how to make a resume and excel during an interview. A third teaches them poise and confidence.

The pressures of social media is also something they cover in the program. “We find a lot of them feel insecure because of social media,” says Ortega. “Social media is not reality.”

Rising above

Winning the Miss New Jersey USA pageant has helped Ortega’s nonprofit expand throughout Bergen County. She also walked on the Miss USA stage, which was a dream.

Of the impact lupus has on her work, she says, "It's not easy, but it's part of my story."

A first-generation Dominican-American, Ortega loves dancing to Dominican folklore and merengue. She’s a well-versed home cook and experiments in the kitchen with recipes handed down from her family like sancocho, a meaty stew popular in the Dominican Republic.

She is also going back to school for biomedical science. Her first degree from Montclair State University was in publicity, but she now aims to become a rheumatologist, and is getting ready to take the MCATs. She hopes to help people with autoimmune diseases through her profession and to inspire them with her advocacy.

“You’re not alone,” she says. “If you’re going through a big struggle, don’t let it stop you from doing what you love.”

Moving on

In April, Ortega took her final walk as Miss New Jersey USA, before handing down the crown to the next title-holder, Alexandra Lakhman.

"It was emotional," said Ortega. "The year just flew by. But, I'm proud of what I accomplished. I had a list of things I wanted to achieve and I crossed off everything."

She's most proud of her work with the Lupus Foundation and expanding Stellar Role Models to schools in New York and South Jersey. Her organization is also holding its first multi-school inner beauty pageant this summer.

For now, Ortega is continuing to study for her MCATs, applying for medical schools and shadowing physicians.

She's also training to compete in the Miss Dominican Republic Universe pageant, which she can compete in as a first-generation Dominican. Every Saturday she works with a pageant coach in New York City, preparing for what she hopes will be her next title.

"I thought I would retire from pageants after Miss USA," she said. "But, it's really exciting to be on the road to Miss DR Universe. It's a bit out of my comfort zone, but I want to be able to say I tried everything without regret."

Rebecca King is a food writer for NorthJersey.com. For more on where to dine and drink, please subscribe today and sign up for our North Jersey Eats newsletter.

Email: kingr@northjersey.com

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This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Behind the scenes with the Miss New Jersey USA 2021 winner