Born in Sudbury and living in Gore Bay, Madison Kvaltin will now represent Canada at the Miss Universe 2023 Pageant in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Nov. 18. Kvaltin was crowned Miss Universe Canada on Aug. 19 at the River Rock Resort in Richmond, B.C.
The 25-year-old told Sudbury.com in June that as a teen, she had competed in the local Miss North Ontario Pageant, but had put pageantry behind her when she entered her post-secondary studies.
After graduating from Queen’s University with a bachelor’s degree in business and sociology in 2020, Kvaltin started a couple of business ventures, an athleticwear company called Skilla Athletics and a marketing business called Mad Media Marketing. She also created a community called The Body Love Club, where she uses social platforms, workshops, empowerment retreats, mindful movement classes, mental health walks and self defence classes to empower others through movement.
She also decided to take a stab at the pageantry world once again.
In 2022, she competed at Miss Universe Canada, and as the first runner-up, was given the title of Miss International Canada, giving her the opportunity to compete in the Miss International Pageant in Japan, placing in the top eight. This is the highest Canada has placed at Miss International since 1961, as well as the highest the country has placed in any of the top four pageants since 2009, adding she is one of only five Canadians to make the finals of Miss International.
Hospitalized with an eating disorder in her youth, the news release about her pageant win says Kvaltin decided to “become the light that she and so many others needed.”
For her, pageantry is a way to highlight her philanthropy “in the body confidence and mental wellness space”, aiming to inspire and continue to empower others to love their bodies through all stages of life.
“She now actively promotes her platform of body confidence and fuelling our bodies with movement to the masses, through her businesses and other social means,” the Miss Universe release stated.
Miss Universe Canada delegates are selected each year by competing in local and regional casting calls and pageants held in select areas across the country.
