On Sunday Jan 28th, 2012, forty two young women aged 14-18 gathered together from all across southern Ontario in a hotel ballroom twenty minutes north of Toronto to begin an exciting quest. On that day of discovery, the 2012 Search for Miss Teen Canada – World, Ontario Regional event was held at the Sheraton Center Hotel in Richmond Hill.

Marisa Market, Danielle Cocchetto, Miranda Kennedy and Frances Moreth

The day dawned cold and wet and grew steadily worse all afternoon; the evening performance coincided with the first heavy snowfall of the year, but nobody was going to let a little snow get in the way—as they say, the show must go on.

Rehearsals just hours before the big show...

When the SMOJOE crew arrived, the snow was just starting to fall. By time my assistant Lauren and I parked the car under the hotel (free parking!) at 4pm, it was a full scale blizzard outside with whiteout conditions on all roads leading to the hotel. We stepped out of the storm and into the warm light of golden metal wall sconces on cream coloured marble walls over plush red carpets. In the Sheraton’s elegant conference hall mezzanine there were several teens, their hair all done up in curls, wearing evening gowns and high heels… We knew we were in the right place. Our appearance preceded the dress rehearsal of the night’s big show by a little under an hour; our pictures show the excitement in the final preparations for the first curtain call.

Brenda Longhurst from the AVEDA Institute works on a contestant backstage at the Ontario Finals

Aveda Canada Hair Crew working to make the lovely even lovelier

just a few of the AVEDA Pro Hair Styling Team

The whole Pro Hair Styling team from the prestigious AVEDA Institute really became part of the experience that afternoon. Scattered about the hallways were pockets of beauty tucked here and there with young ladies hastily trying to get themselves ready for the evening performance. While most of the preparations happened inside the large backstage area behind the main ballroom, some of the girls were spotted nestled into their own private corners and enclaves being primped and styled by tag teams of professional make up and Hair Stylists courtesy of AVEDA Team Canada and the AVEDA Institute here in Toronto.

Sean Cuffie, along with the sound and lighting crew setting up for the big show...

Behind the curtain, I found Shawn Cuffie, the Choreographer (more on Shawn later), the Lighting Director and the Technical Director at work tweaking all elements of the surprisingly complex and carefully composed stage show.
James Williams, an acclaimed stage dancer and Shawn Cuffie, the award winning Toronto choreographer have  been working tirelessly to work out the stage routines for the Miss Teen Canada World circuit and have been doing so for the last four years.

James Williams, an acclaimed stage dancer and Shawn Cuffie, the award winning Toronto choreographer

Backstage at the Miss Teen Canada regional finals in Ontario

Backstage at the Ontario Regional competition (the official prelude to 2012 Search for Miss Teen Canada – World), the creative teams are taking a well deserved break after five solid hours of making beautiful hair and skin look like magic.

Makeup Crews at work...

In the center of the room, make-up was studiously being applied by trained professionals, while all around the perimeter were teams of top Canadian Hair Stylists from AVEDA Canada headed up by Creative Director Tristin Morrison and Brenda Longhurst.

The AVEDA hair team was unbelievably talented. The transformations were spectacular and their professional expertise really showed.

The AVEDA hair team was hard at work for more than five hours. The transformations from small town girl next door to beauty pageant queen were stunning. Years of specialized training and experience really pays off.  Their professional expertise really stepped up to the plate and it showed in the smiling faces of each and every contestant. The girls looked amazing—the show was spectacular and they really did make dreams come true for so many girls that day.

Just a silly moment with some of the Rockstar Creative Team from AVEDA Canada

You can see more great pictures and read their own posts on the Aveda Institute Toronto Facebook Page and on the AVEDA Canada blog.

It was a great experience for everyone.

These events are important. Especially for the contestants and the students as AVEDA provided three or four of their top students an excellent mentorship opportunity to experience the glitz and glam of show business first hand right beside the A Team, long before they would ever get this kind of a chance. Its this kind of hands on mentorship experience that sets the AVEDA Institute apart from other hair schools in Canada, and another great reason to consider a career with AVEDA.

Sophie Roe, recent graduate of the AVEDA Institute in Toronto

Speaking of top Hair Students—presented here is a photo of 22 yr old Sophie Roe, a recent graduate of the Aveda Institute hair school in Toronto. She was one of the lucky recent graduates who was called up and invited to join this elite team of her friends and classmates here at the Ontario regional finals event. She got the call while working at her day job in a cool and trendy hair salon and spa on Queen St E. in downtown Toronto. Thrilled to be invited to participate in this once in a lifetime event, Sophie worked her curling irons to the max preparing three individual teens with three very different looks.

Miss Teen Ontario Finalists from previous years autographing souvenir programs for the fans

At 7pm, with a massive lineup of family, friends, and supporters itching to get in and see their favourite girl up on stage, the doors opened. The adoring fans began streamed in, programs in hand, hearts pounding as they sought the best seats. The lights went dark, the music began, and one by one, 42 girls marched up on stage in all their star studded glory. Awesome.

On Stage at the Ontario regional Finals for the Miss Teen Canada World competition

It was a fantastic event and a fabulous show. Check back here for the full scoop. Until then, a big congratulations must go out to all the contestants and creative teams for giving it everything they had. It was nothing short of spectacular.

While on the topic of Professional Hair Styling…

If you ever considered becoming a professional hairstylist, working at a top Salon in Canada, working on editorial shoots for the world’s biggest fashion magazines or doing hair and makeup for the biggest television shows, commercials and Hollywood movies, you owe it to yourself to check out the AVEDA Institute. It really is the best place to learn and grow and become a hair and beauty pro in Canada. As a matter of fact, there could not be a better time to consider a career in the beauty industry.

This world famous AVEDA Institute is holding a Scholarship Contest from now until March 31st. If you or someone you know was born to style, AVEDA has generously offered up five free scholarships – one to each of five top hair schools in Canada. There is one scholarship available for each of Toronto, Winnipeg, Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria. The Aveda Institute hair school scholarship video contest is a very big deal and winning it could change your life. The finalists will be selected by a panel of celebrity judges in each city. Contestants will be selected based on the compelling nature of their presentation as well as the content and quality of their submitted videos. This challenge ends March 31st, 2012 so get started today.

The Ontario Regional Event produced the following Finalists:

The Overall Winner was  Sacha Stewart  winning the title of Miss Teen Ontario-World

The 17 other finalists in no particular order are….

Asha DiPaola Miss Teen Toronto-World
Elle Bradley Miss Teen Halton Region-World
Danielle Cocchetto Miss Teen South Western Ontario-World
Krista Flynn Miss Teen Niagara Region-World
Danielle Hawthorne Miss Teen Barrie-World
Miranda Kennedy Mi ss Teen York Region-World
Francesca McFadden Miss Teen Southern Ontario-World
Halle Livingston Miss Teen Durham-World
Christina Logan Miss Teen GTA-World
Lolah Gifford Miss Teen Simcoe County-World
Leigh Mundy Miss Teen Ottawa-World
Kelly Ouderkirk Miss Teen S-D & G County-World
Alexandra Pimentel Miss Teen Peel-World
Jessie Potvin Miss Teen Peterborough County-World
Shelby-Lynn Prioriello Miss Teen King Township-World
Simrat Sandhu Miss Teen Brampton-World   
Jordan Arsenault Miss Teen Markham-World

To all the finalists, this is going to be an amazing year and it is going to fly by faster than you know it. Enjoy every moment of it. Also, please don’t forget to use your titles to try to make a difference with your platforms – you never know how much of an impact you can make on someone’s life. The sash and crown are just too nice to let them collect dust.

To all the delegates, you are an amazing group of girls to have even gotten that far and I promise you are still going to do amazing things in the future.

Here are the finalists that will be representing Ontario at the National Pageant in July;

Jordan Arsenault Kivell                 Miss Teen Markham-World

Elle Bradley                                     Miss Teen Halton Region-World

Danielle Cocchetto                         Miss Teen South Western Ontario-World

Asha DiPaola                                   Miss Teen Toronto-World

Krista Flynn                                    Miss Teen Niagara Region-World

Danielle Hawthorne                      Miss Teen Barrie-World

Miranda Kennedy                          Miss Teen York Region-World

Francesca McFadden                    Miss Teen Southern Ontario-World

Halle Livingston                            Miss Teen Durham-World

Christina Logan                              Miss Teen GTA-World

Lolah Gifford                                 Miss Teen Simcoe County-World

Leigh Mundy                                  Miss Teen Ottawa-World

Kelly Ouderkirk                            Miss Teen Stormont County-World

Alexandra Pimentel                     Miss Teen Peel-World

Jessie Potvin                                 Miss Teen Peterborough County-World

Shelby-Lynn Prioriello               Miss Teen King Township-World

Simrat Sandhu                             Miss Teen Brampton-World

Sacha Stewart                              Miss Teen Ontario-World

Congratulations again girls!

First and foremost, be yourself. All that matters is you go into this pageant rested, relaxed and just being you! Sorry for the ‘cheesiness’ but I cannot emphasize this enough. It is completely understandable that everyone gets nervous (I fully do!) but please do not ever believe that you are not capable of anything. Every person processes qualities that unique and incredible – embrace them and do not try to change them. For example, I have never exactly been a ‘girly-girl’ but I originally went into the Ontario pageant as myself – the girl who loves sports, adores to travel and has no problem getting my hands dirty (or breaking a nail) on service projects. After all, the pageant motto is “Be Your Own Kind of Beautiful” – yours, no one else’s.

Myself competing in the Miss Teen Ontario pageant last year

Secondly, HAVE FUN! You are going to be meeting so many wonderful people and I promise that many of them will end up being your good friends! Try your best to embrace every moment of this experience.

Lastly, be sure to bring some snacks – you want to make sure you keep yourself energized throughout the day.

If any you (contestants or potential contestants) have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. You can either send me a message on Facebook, post on the Miss Teen Canada-World page or comment on this post.

All the best and good luck to everyone! See you Sunday! Xo

If there is one thing I would love to see more in the following year between peers and strangers is kindness. Everyone has a story to share, so please take the time to listen. Sometimes, the smallest acts can make the biggest difference in someones life. To make the effort to speak out against bullying, to offer a meal to a homeless person or to lend a helping hand to anyone in need are only a few of the small steps that will help make the world a better place.

I hope that all of you have an amazing, healthy, happy 2012 full of blessings! Embrace every second of it and good luck with your resolutions! xo

"I Am Silent"

Many of us are beyond lucky and we don’t even know it. We we’re lucky enough to be born in a land where children can go to school, where children have a voice. Thousands of children around the world have been born into a situation in which they are not given the chance to have a choice of their own.  Many are forced to work for less than minimum wage in inhumane, unjust conditions.

In fact…

101 million children worldwide are not receiving an education.

215 million children are forced to work as child laborers and half of these children work in dangerous condition.

One third of children in developing countries is malnourished.

Today, thousands of youth take a stand for vow the silence. Even though this takes place once a year, that doesn’t mean you cannot help with your school. The smallest amount can make the largest difference in someone else’s’ life.  To read more about this campaign, visit Free The Children’s webpage here.

For a pumpkin, he's kind of cute

Happy Halloween readers! I hope everyone is getting ready for a night full of fun and lots of candy. They say there is an age limit for trick or treating but I strongly disagree! I mean candy is great (in moderation before it hits you’re thighs or teeth obviously) but I am also talking about trick-or-treating for a good cause. Below I’ve mentioned just two ways you can help out on Halloween and have fun!

1. UNICEF

Love these UNICEF boxes -- SUCH a good cause!

I remember when I was younger, the whole “UNICEF trick-or-treating” was a really big deal. Basically it is kids going door to door collecting spare change in homes that will be donated to UNICEF – a charity aimed towards helping children world wide. I don’t know if it is still popular, but it always puts a huge smile on my face when I see kids with the little orange boxes in hand. I think that’s a fair reason for anyone of any age to trick-or-treat…

Even Selena Gomez supports UNICEF!

2. Halloween For Hunger & Trick or Eat

Alright so these are my personal favorites. Both of these are aimed towards collecting non-perishable foods on the festive night (even after for a week!) that will be delivered to local food banks and shelters.

Hunger has always been an issue that bothers me and that is why I chose it as my platform. I am not only talking about hunger overseas, but the thousands of people in our very own backyard who can’t afford a meal. According to Food Banks Canada, over 850,000 Canadians used food banks for a meal which is the highest level of food bank use to date!

This is a group of AWESOME kids who participated in Halloween For Hunger!

Both Free the Children and Meal Exchange have amazing programs that can are centralized around this idea of donating the non-perishable foods on Halloween. Free the Children’s Program is amazing and donated more than 600,000 lbs of food last year alone! To check it out, visit the side for Halloweeen For Hunger (click here).  Meal Exchange’s program (“Trick or Eat”) doesn’t end until November 7^th so check it out and see how you can help!! They accept donations online and you can even win 2 WestJet Tickets to fly anywhere you like in North America or the Caribbean! More information is on their website (http://trickoreat.ca/) and they even accept donations online.

It’s Never Too Late!!

I may be a little late on this post however, I want people to keep in mind that helping out these causes doesn’t necessarily have to be on a holiday. If you raid your kitchen cupboards (with your parents’ approval of course) and check out what you don’t use or what you think a family may need, simply put a bag together of the items you want to donate. To find a local food bank, you can use the website http://foodbankscanada.ca/. Remember, kindness can be at any point in the year and doesn’t always have to have a reason!

HAVE A HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

We Day is essentially when thousands of like-minded youth gather together who are all inspired to make a change in the world. The event itself includes performers and a vast array of incredible speakers. In Toronto, this included Joe Jonas, Nelly Furtado, Danny Glover, Mary Robinson, Nina Dobrev, Rick Hansen, Shawn Desman, Robin Wiszowaty,

With Joe Jonas!

Spencer West and many more! Personally, I can vouch for how their stories made an impact on my opinion. I am not going to go into the details of what they spoke about (surprises are always fun!), but if you get the chance to watch some of the speakers online, it is 100% worth it.

A total of 20,000 people were in the Air Canada Center that day and I cannot even begin to describe the feeling that comes over you as you enter the stadium. The fact that every individual there is dedicated to helping others is a very powerful symbol representing the “generation of change”. You can feel the energy radiating from everyone, from the passion in the eyes to the stories they have to tell.

The Dalai Lama spoke at the Vancouver We Day in 2009!

Living in a developed country, many of us are lucky enough to have everything we need and want at nearly the drop of a dime. Necessities for life (healthcare, water, food, sustainable income) are not hard to come by. It is easy to forget how millions around the world are not given the same opportunities that we are.  Many must work many harder, longer hours only to make less than one would here resulting in an extremely high disparity rate. Those who are involved in We Day, all understand injustice in these situations and they want to make a change.

I was actually privileged enough to have spoken as well. I am not the type of person to get star-struck, but I must admit I was at a loss of words when I met Craig Kielburger. I mean this is a person that I had grown up knowing as being an amazing individual who truly has made a difference in so many lives. Throughout this past year as Miss Teen Ontario, I had learned so much more about the amazing things Free The Children does and it is truly incredible.

Speaking at We Day! -- definitely one of the best moments of my life

The most important thing I learned that day, is that change really is possible. Free The Children all began when Craig was twelve years old, he read a headline in the newspaper that said “Battled Child Labour, Boy, 12, Murdered”. The more he tried to make a difference, the more people told him that he was “too young” and couldn’t really make

When Craig Kielburger, was only 12 years old, he travelled to Southeast Asia to look into the problems with the child labour trade

much of a difference. Free The Children is now the world’s largest network of children helping children.  Clearly, a change was made and since then as over 55 million children have access to education everyday and $15 million US dollars of medical supplies have helped more than half a million people throughout the world. Many more people have benefitted on both a global and local scale but this is the result of passionate, inquisitive minds.

So all in all, if you have some kind of idea about helping others, just do it. Nothing should hold you back and you should always believe in yourself, believe that change is possibly.

Please take 30 seconds (literally!) to like the We Day page on facebook. For every person that simply clicks that button, one dollar will be donated to Free The Children.

For every like on Facebook, $1 will be donated to Free The Children

A huge thank you to Free The Children for this amazing experience and I hope to see any of you if you go to the Winnipeg or Montreal We Day’s!

P.S. I apologize for the time gap between this blog and the actual Toronto We Day date…. University Exams are much harder than I ever thought they would be, but on the bright side I officially finished Midterms!

Visiting the Community of Shuid:

The first community Danielle visited was Shuid.  Here she was given numerous opportunities to help out, as was the case throughout her trip – there is so much work to be done!  But in Shuid she was not there just to build a school – at this destination, and all through her journey, she learned about leadership and responsibility.

Danielle was put in charge of delegating tasks and making sure that the team’s spirits were high while working towards their goal. The trip focused on building schools, but Free the Children wanted to focus on life lessons. The group was divided into teams given the challenge to provide for their “family” on a budget. After assessing their responsibilities the team was left with $0.77 to provide a meal for 7. With their money, they were able to buy two bags of rice and 2 stems of broccoli. This was a big wake up call to Danielle as she recalls spending $20.00 daily on a meal for herself. She recognizes the struggle of others and writes, “Overall this was an incredibly impacting opportunity, as I now will be more careful when it comes to not wasting food.”

Danielle at The Community of Chismaute:

The second community Danielle visited was Chismaute. This is where she met a young woman named Maria.  This lady was a very special part of her community, because she’s part of a small group of local girls that had the opportunity to get an education and graduate from school. This is very difficult for a woman to do in the community because women do not receive the same rights as men. Talking to Maria and sharing in her experiences was very motivating.

Danielle wrote about Maria and her struggle to become the President of the Community in her blog. Maria won the majority of the votes because people wanted to see her fail. Instead, Maria rose to the challenge and has been very successful with her title.

After meeting Maria, the team went on to building the school in the community.

Danielle was put in charge of drawing the mural in the cafeteria. Danielle decided to draw water bubbles to promote cleanliness and add some color to the room.

Experience at the Amazon Rainforest:

The next day, Danielle along with the team had to be up at 6 AM for their 10 hour drive to the Amazon Rainforest. Danielle wrote about her experience in the Amazon saying “Walking in the jungle was an experience I’ll never forget. The sounds, the smells, the animals we encountered, it was really amazing to have so much biodiversity around us.” While at the Rainforest, she also got to meet an indigenous Medicine man and took part in a cleansing ceremony. After, she learned how to cook and clean fish and bugs.  After leaving the Amazon, Danielle and her team headed towards Quito to begin her journey home.  You can read more about this trip-of-a-lifetime in Danielle Frebrowski in Ecuador with Free The Children.

For any of you who are heading off to university very soon (or a boarding school), I have found out many things that you are definitely going to want in your residence/dorm room/apartment. I’m sure I will discover more things as my time goes on here. Anyways here are my top three things;

Good Luck for everyone trying to figure out what to pack for school!

1. A mattress comforter — you feel like you are sleeping on a cloud but it really doesn’t help when you need to get out of bed in the morning

2. Tea, Tea, Tea. I don’t know why, but I just love to have this when I am studying – it helps me relax and focus.

3. Air Freshener  - Sometimes the ones you put in your car really do the trick quite nicely! Even if you don’t consider yourself to be a “smelly” person, you will love the smell of your room.

I actually had to move in a week early for the university’s Varsity Field Hockey team try outs, and I am very happy right now that I made the team! To any of you college/university seekers out there looking to play sports at university, be prepared to be dedicated. I mean it.

This is myself playing field hockey at my high school - Varsity Girls vs. Boys

Not only are try outs going to be a way to whip you into shape after a lazy (yet lovely!) summer, but practices during the season are intense too. Put it this way- for field hockey, they consist of three 6:30 AM practices a week plus fitness training sessions in the gym. Now I am not trying to scare you out of this, at all. It is an amazing opportunity to not only to stay in shape (especially to avoid those freshman 15) but also meet people who share the same interests as you. From what I have heard, your team basically becomes your family -  you train together, sweat together, win together.

Anyways, tomorrow morning is our first early morning practice and it is also the first day of school. I have no idea what to think right now. For the first time I am starting to feel very nervous. I mean I have massive lecture halls of about six hundred people! This is for classes such as biology, chemistry, calculus and physics since I am currently in the Biomedical program (still trying to figure out to transfer to engineering but that is a whole other boring story since I just got new advice from a person called an “academic advisor”).

Until later, now I am off to my next practice.