Aynaw began her pageantry career after a friend had registered her for the Miss Israel 2013 competition; at the time, Aynaw had no modeling experience. She went on to win the competition in February 2013, and received massive national and international recognition for being the first black Israeli woman to be crowned Miss Israel. Her win was seen by many from the Beta Israel community as a positive sign for the representation of black Jews and specifically Ethiopian Jews in Israel. While reigning as Miss Israel, Aynaw raised awareness for the difficulty of Ethiopian Jews to make Aliyah to Israel, and helped several of her relatives come to Israel after having their immigration requests denied numerous times.