A Chatham woman has earned the title of Miss Universal Petite after competing for the crown on a Caribbean cruise last month.
Chelsey Banks was judged against women from all over the world in a series of competitions.
She says the pageant is an opportunity for shorter women like her to take home an international title.
"The Miss Universal Petite pageant is for women five-foot-six and under, so it's giving an opportunity for those women who don't qualify to be in the taller pageants to have a chance at winning an international title," says Banks. "Just because we don't have the height, doesn't mean that we don't have everything else."
Submitted photo
Banks says she never thought tearing her ACL as a cheerleader in her younger years would begin her journey into the world of pageantry and lead her here.
"It just wasn't working out. I kind of thought to myself, I think I should pursue something else, and that's when I was scouted for Miss Canada Globe," she says. "I was like okay, this is something new, this is something I've never done, this is something completely out of my comfort zone, so why not try it and see how it goes. And I ended up falling in love with pageantry."
The 21-year-old says she has no plans to compete once her reign as Miss Petite is up, but rather end her pageantry career on a high note.
However, she'll still have a role to play representing Chatham -- both on the global stage and behind the scenes.
"With the Miss Canada Globe productions, I am the national assistant choreographer so I help train the girls," says Banks. "We've just started our Miss Canada Globe pageant for the 2016-2017 year."
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