Langley’s Tara Teng is ready to take on the world.
The university student and human rights activist has been crowned Miss World Canada, taking the top spot among 24 contestants in the pageant, held on May 13 at River Rock Casino in Richmond.
She will now go on to vie for the title of Miss World 2012 in Ordos, China this August.
She will also become the official ambassador and spokesperson for Variety the Children’s Charity for the coming year.
Teng, 23, who reigned as Miss Canada 2011, has continued to pursue the cause nearest to her heart, and the platform on which she won her crown — the abolition of slavery and human trafficking all across the world, including here in Langley.
Throughout her term as Miss Canada, Teng organized and hosted a number of events aimed at raising awareness about modern-day slavery — including a Freedom March and a 10-city Justice Tour of Canada — while continuing to speak about the issue at every opportunity.
Teng’s humanitarian efforts, are the driving forces that led her to run in this year’s competition, but she will also be part of a brand new leadership program being pioneered by Miss World Canada chairman Ike Lalji.
The program allows the contestants to be engaged in various leadership opportunities throughout their lives so that the pageant becomes a genuine, ongoing mentorship community even for the girls who don’t take the crown.
Teng who is nominated this year for a YWCA’s Women of Distinction award in the youth category, is also a previous title holder of Miss BC 2010. She was nominated in the Globe and Mail’s most Transformational Canadians and received one of the Canadian Women of the Year awards for 2011.
The Langley woman has been able to use these platforms to bring greater awareness to the growing epidemic of human trafficking and the need to see it come to an end, both in Canada and around the world.
