Astorville’s Melanie Champagne is now Mrs. Regional Canada.
She won the title and crown at the Mrs. and Ms. Regional Canada Empowerment pageant in Sudbury.
“I was holding my friend’s hands, who was the first runner-up, closed my eyes and never thought that my number and name would be picked,” Champagne says. “When it was, I just cried. The overwhelming feeling of I did it, I really did it.”
Champagne says the event is not a typical pageant, noting it’s for women ages 25-65.
“If you think you can’t do it, I’m here to tell you absolutely can,” she says. “This is not anything about your looks. It’s more about who you are and how you feel in your skin.”
The three-day retreat was filled with empowerment-focused workshops and activities.
“The whole weekend was so empowering,” says Champagne. “We cried, we laughed, we went down to the bottom of our emotions and we became new people after this pageant. None of us are the same.”
She says there were interviews with the judges, speeches, formal gowns, fashion shows and more.
Champagne also won public speaking, fundraising ambassador and pageant promotion honours.
Jennifer Proulx, who is also from East Ferris, won Mrs. Elite EmpowerHER Woman of Influence.
Rosalind Russell, from our sister stations Moose FM in Espanola and Algoma-Manitoulin, won Ms. Elite fundraising and public speaking titles at the pageant.