Winning a ‘beauty’ pageant today is not really about ‘outer’ beauty – it now has far more to do with one’s ‘inner’ beauty instead. It is not about being a model, a singer or how well a swimsuit fits. It is about charity and consciousness, using one’s voice to bring awareness to social issues, inspiring people, spreading hope, kindness and positivity in all that they do. And Katherine Rose, winner of the Miss Montreal 2020 pageant, embodies all those qualities and will soon take it to the next level – representing the city when she competes for the title of Miss Canada 2020. The winner will go on to represent Canada in the Miss World pageant, although it is most likely to be postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Katherine has raised money for PlanCanada, a charity that empowers women and children in Canada and overseas, personally donating over $1000 of her own money. She supports the Joy Smith Foundation, which is the leading charity for human trafficking prevention and support in Canada – an issue that is very important to her and one she plans to focus on throughout her life. At 28 years old, Katherine has already made a significant impact. With many things on hold for now due to the pandemic, she is still managing to find ways to ‘pay it forward’.
On April 12th, Katherine decided she wanted to support the essential services workers in her area. “The brave workers at my local pharmacy put themselves in danger every day to serve my community; to make sure we can still have access to our medications, toiletries and household items. So I made care packages for them with lots of candies, lotion, lip balm, scented tea lights (vanilla, of course!) and messages of hope and thanks. I am not the only one with this sentiment; messages of gratitude have appeared all over Montreal”. And she did not stop there.
On May 12th, she was driving around and enjoying the sun, when she heard on the radio that it was International Nurses Day. Katherine decided to pick up some large pizzas and then delivered them to nurses at St. Mary’s, Jewish General, Lakeshore and Montreal General hospitals. “They were all so sweet and so excited to take pictures with ‘Miss Montreal’… when I was the one who was honoured to meet THEM… thank you to all the nurses who are putting their lives at risk during this pandemic – all for their love of humanity and their selfless need to help others. Nurses are our heroes, especially here in Montreal where 55% of Canadian COVID19 cases are,” she wrote on her blog and then added, “We don’t have to wait for International Nurses Day to show appreciation to nurses. I encourage (everyone) to come up with their own ways that they can spread kindness and positivity to not only nurses, but to every person in their lives”.
Katherine is currently studying to become a medical aesthetician at a Beauty School. Before that, she studied Hotel Management, leading to an internship where she worked at the massive 5 star Lebua hotel in Bangkok, Thailand in 2019. However, once she immersed herself in it, she realized the hotel industry was not her true passion and had to be honest, asking herself, ‘Did I really have a passion for the hotel industry? Or did I just want to travel?’. Once she made up her mind, Katherine wasted no time on her next step, which was to follow her heart and soon returned to Canada. It was her studies at school that inspired her to get involved with pageantry. “Beauty pageants are all about finding ambitious young women who want to impact the world,” she said. “Therefore, each delegate is required to have a ‘platform’, a social issue that she is passionate about, and mine is human trafficking. I chose human trafficking because it is so misunderstood; society believes that prostitutes are simply bad girls making bad decisions, but they’re not, they are victims of a terrible crime… I also want to bring awareness to my platform and make a career in public speaking where I educate the public about this horrible crime.” Katherine is presently living with her parents in the Beaconsfield area and is ‘focusing on spiritually… and learning how to cook’!
Each delegate who is accepted to compete to become Miss World Canada is required to raise at least $400 for the Make a Wish Foundation.
Other articles from mtltimes.ca and totimes.ca
