Mentor night was held on my second day (July 15th) of the Miss Teen Canada World Pageant in Toronto. It was a great way to end an eventful day filled with photo shoots, video shoots and interviews! The night was truely inspirational. It consisted of 4 speakers:

Dr. Natalie Archer is a dynamic Toronto dentist who began her dental career in 2001. She has managed to have a career and a family while building a career as a hospital dentist. Natalie is passionate about giving back. She believed that women should earn their education. Women should join the 38% of breadwinners. She taught me to make my negitives positive and be completely honest with myself, my education and others. One key point that Natalie stessed was that even in your determination to reach a goal do not forget about having a family!

Melani Chong in fashion and beauty for over 15 years, Canadian Ford Model and mother of two children, Melani Chong developed a personalized skin care line called Soya Boutique. These organic products are a natural skin care collection that is useful for the whole family. Melani taught me that confidence comes in the most relaxed placement. This is something I struggle with sometimes. I try so hard to look my best, act my best and be the best that I can be that I forget to let things just be natural. Her words really helped me realize that I do not have to pretend to act confident, I just have to breath and let confidence be. Meloni jumped from her career as a model to a stylist to a skincare designer. In this she told us that we should embrace the moments that happen. She had never once dreamed her life would turn out like this when she was a sporty teen. But, she let it happen. Meloni really inspired me to take life one step at a time and to never stop learning and growing as a person.

Katrina Hadden is a health and wellness specialist, size 12 model, life coach, motivational speaker and the author of the best-selling self-help book, Making It In High Heels.

Known for her positive energy and contagious smile, she helps her clients get better focused to achieve their goals and dreams . Katrina Hadden Life Coaching for Athletes has been a life coach for over eight years, specializing in Stress Management, Personal Development, Work-Life Balance and Health and Wellness. Katrina was never the most liked girl in school, she was constantly bullied with jokes regarding her height. She tried to ignore her bullies by emerging herself into basketball. Due to an injury she was unable to continue to a university level. So she created a new dream and a new goal. She began modelling. Katrina developed an eating disorder because of the constant need to feel skinnier. Even though this was a very hard time for her she made it through by surrounding herself with nutrition. Katrina eventually found her big break through an agency that embraced diversity. They accepted her as a size 12 model and she became known for her uniqueness. Katrina truely showed me that even if you go through one hard time after another, never give up your goal or dream! Everyone is unique in their own way, and everyone has a place in this world. Showing Katrina’s true character, she read each one of the 62 delegate’s bios and wrote a personalized letter to each of us. That showed me that Katrina is beautiful outside and inside!!

Alexandra Orlando is a highly decorated world-class Rhythmic Gymnast. Her wisdom can be found inside the pages of an award winning book called In Pursuit of Victory.

Alexandra has just published her second motivational book, Breaking Through My Limits: An Olympian Uncovered. She first tried to qualify for the Olympics when she was 15 years old but failed by 1/10th of a point. Before that day all she did was eat, sleep and breathe gymnastics and she had never failed. She felt as if she had hit rock bottom, this influenced her to take a break from gymnastics. When her mom asked her why she loved gymnastics so much she went on and on passionately speaking about her sport. It was then that she realized the reason why she loved gymnastics had nothing to do with the Olympics, it was because she genuinely loved it. Alexandra threw herself back into her old world, learning quickly that her body had changed alot because of puberty. When Alexandea took one step forward with her dream everyone was constantly pushing her back 3 steps more. She quickly learned that rejection made her stronger. She learned how strong her passion was because she was willing to fight for the thing she loved! Alexandra owned her craft and qualified for the Olympics in 2008. She realized it wasn’t all about winning. Standing on the poteum was only a fraction of the Olympics, what really counts is what has happens before. Alexandra followed up the Olympics by gaining a business degree to open more doors for herself. Alexandra taught me to take huge risks, love what you do and to not be afraid of weakness.

All of these ladies showed us prime examples of drive, motivation and success. They know what it is like to fail but taught us to never forget to pick yourself up again. Life doesnt always throw you exactly what you are looking for, but true self discovery and knowledge comes from the fight. I came into this pageant to try and win Miss Teen Canada World, I didn’t know that I would learn so much about myself along the way. This pageant isn’t about a title anymore it is about meeting new friends, discovering your stengths (and weaknesses) and finding a way to be the only you there is. I can not thank these mentors enough. If I walk away from this pageant with or without a crown, I know for sure I still will be walking away a little taller and a little stonger.

Throughout this summer I have been researching ways to promote my anti-bullying platform. A few weeks ago, with the help of my agent, I discovered an anti-bullying campaign called Day of Pink. The name stuck out to me so I decided to do a little research. What I found is that Day of Pink is an initiative that gives students throughout Manitoba the opportunity to discuss bullying and how it impacts a person’s life. It also allows students to learn how they can use their power to make a safe school environment. April 11 is the official Day of Pink, where students and staff show that they are taking a stand against bullying by wearing a Canadian Red Cross pink shirt. However, throughout the whole year the Day of Pink campaign is promoted with presentations in schools all throughout Manitoba. The idea for this program began in Nova Scotia. Two high school students started this movement by encouraging all their classmates to wear a pink shirt, upon hearing about a male peer being bullied for wearing pink. It really shows how just a little act of kindness can turn into something huge. Who knew that these boys were the beginning of a new fight to end bullying?

After learning all this, I knew I had to contact the directors of this program, because this is too great to pass up. So I met earlier today with Rebecca and Tansey, the directors, and I told them all about the pageant and my platform.  They were very interested. They decided to include me in their program. This involves first being updated on the most recent bullying studies and public speaking techniques. I will then tour with them throughout this next school year for their Day of Pink campaign. I am so excited! I would have never expected myself to be going so far with my platform, but that’s the beauty of surprises.

My dream TV show would be a romantic comedy called “Only Olive.”. I would play the lead role, an innocent and shy 16 year old girl, named Olive who is longing to fit into society. Olive has plenty of friends but she never really fits in with the people she surrounds herself with. She is the type of girl who is genuinely nice, but doesn’t know how to be herself. The show would begin filming at the start of Olive’s summer break from school. This summer is not just any ordinary summer for Olive; she is going to be travelling all over Europe for a month on a tour with her mom. When Olive initially gets to Europe and meets up with her tour group she is excited, because she believes this is her chance to find out who she really is. Little did Olive know she would be finding way more than that. The tour group she ends up with is a mixture of students from all across Canada. She fell in love at first sight with boy named Hank, who will be played by Taylor Lautner (because of his charm and good looks). However, Olive is shy to show her true feelings because she is scared. Throughout the TV series, it looks at how Olive’s relationship grows with this boy and the pain it causes both him and her when they have to say goodbye. Also, with the help of this boy, Olive learns who she is and what she wants in life.

I think S-Trip! should fund “Only Olive.” because like S-Trips!’s moto “uniting student travellers on unforgettable adventures around the world”, “Only Olive.” is just that. It shows the building of relationships and the learning of new cultures. I also think Burman Books would be an excellent sponsor to fund “Only Olive.”. SanjayBurman, the writer for Burman books, “believes we can all achieve transformation by breaking through our personal barriers and taking control of our lifes!” This quote really stuck out to me because in “Only Olive.”, Olive transforms her life and her perspectives in less than a month by stepping out of her comfort zone and through this she finds out who she really is.