At the tender age of 18yrs, Lauren Howe was crowned the 2011 Miss Teen Canada World on July 16th at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, Exhibition Place in Toronto Ontario. Wearing her Miss Teen Ontario sash and crown and representing the province, she bested 74 participants from other provinces, regions and cities all across the nation. She used her charisma in her interview with Judges, her natural beauty, her evening gown and her skill at keeping a WordPress blog as part of the official Miss Teen Canada Blog Network to win the national title. She was a leader backstage and on stage during rehearsals – when it came time to walk the walk and strut her stuff in front of hundreds of strangers and dozens of cameras, she ‘brung’ it all with her to the front of the stage.
On July 27th we were privileged to have Lauren Howe visit us at The Distillery District, 55 Mill St, Toronto, Ontario. While the pageant director was off doing business with her web development toronto, and she left me in charge! I was free to do what I wanted with Lauren and teach her the benefits of blogging and social media blah blah – we just went out and had fun. Now I’m blogging about it. This blog post is me teaching by example!
The Distillery District really welcomed Lauren with AWesome Gifts
It’s a tight knit bunch of people down here and when certain people heard she was coming to the historic venue they bent over backwards to make space and bequeath praise and recognition. But Miss Teen Canada had some official business to do first.
Wearing her sash and crown, Lauren spent thirty minutes with Farid Omar explaining exactly how she wants to use her platform and her title to raise money and awareness for the plight in Somalia that so many young people are not even aware is occurring – there was more press for Amy Winehouse dying than the thousands suffering slow agonizing deaths in east Africa, for example.
Farid published his article on Digital Journal earlier today, Miss Teen Canada-World Gives Voice to Somali Humanitarian Cause.
Next stop, Miss Teen Canada – World visited the pool area of the Pure Spirit Condominium 33 Mill St which was empty on account of an earlier rain shower. But it was a hot day in Toronto; it was one of those days where there is no wind, and after it rained the cement was dry again twenty minutes later because it was so frigging hot. It rained like that off and on all day, but Lauren didn’t let that spoil her visit – she’s not a princess that worries about her hair or her dress getting wet; she’s a cool young person that seems somehow wise beyond her years. But she did have trouble walking in high-heels on those cobble stones.
Chopped fruit for popsicles and summer fun
While hanging out at the pool, the staff at Lenzr Corp asked Lauren to pose with some freshly chopped fruit that was made to appear much more attractive than you see here by a professional photographer hired for an online marketing campaign for Onyx Containers stainless steel popsicle molds and how infinitely superior they are to crummy plastic molds – I include this information for frozen dessert lovers.
Lauren was terrific and brought a lot of natural energy to the shoot which was otherwise uneventful except that we all got to eat the fruit afterwards.
Lauren’s campaign platform as Miss Teen Ontario was to use her position as Miss Teen Canada World to remedy starvation, and malnutrition wherever its found, all over the world and right here in Canada. To that end she hopes to add her considerable media appeal to fundraisers and charity events as they occur throughout her year in office.
Segway Of Ontario donated a free lesson and Mobile experience.
Lauren had seen them on television, and in TV shows set in California, but she had never seen the rig up close, or taken one for a spin. The staff at Segway of Ontario was confident she could manage, and after a brief lesson with Jason, they went off together on a whirlwind tour of the entire complex. She loved it, because young people love this kind-of-stuff; it’s a fast moving experience with just a hint of danger presented by uneven surfaces, numerous potted plants and small unpredictable pets.
Pikto presents 2011 MIss teen Canada World with a free photo book
Lauren Howe’s segway tour of The Distillery ended at a unique photography services store; at Pikto realizing your photographic vision. these guys have absolutely mastered the art of photo finishing and photo publishing and making cool coffee table books. Their custom photo books printing press present a unique product to the market, and this in addition to all their other numerous photo finishing, publishing and editing services offers customers a chance to get all their pictures on a certain theme published in a real life book. Depending on the photos, it makes a great gift that’s worthy of any bookshelf, or coffee table and it’s slick as heck for wedding albums.
Lauren is going to get free publishing from Pikto – Jessie holds a blank book. Lauren will fill it and replicate hundreds of copies. She will use it to display all the great pictures from this ‘summer of her life’. There will be a lot of photos taken next week, August 1 – 5th, when she’s down competing in Houston Texas at the Teen World competition. Down there, and all across the southern United States, people take teen pageants very seriously. Whether she wins or loses, Lauren will have a stack of pictures to add to her memories from Toronto and her Miss Teen Canada World crowning achievement. It will be a good book.
A Tasty Lunch at Pure Spirits
Lauren wanted to eat at Pure Spirits before I even told her we were going there for lunch. She passed it twice during the Segway Tour and must have either smelled the grub when she passed kitchen or seen people in the windows, cause the patio was empty due to the inclement weather. That’s a shame – the Pure Spirits patio is the nicest in the distillery, although Archeo is better on a windy day, and Boiler House is great on a hot night, with a big group of friends. Anyway… we ate inside.
I couldn’t resist getting a picture of Lauren with the entire restaurant in the background. This picture really shows off the quaint atmosphere and cool vib inside the culinary hotspot, which used to be a barrel room. There are pictures, and commemorative plaques and even antique machines on display everywhere throughout The Distillery District complex. Would you believe that I remember this exact space back when it was a barrel room? Or rather I remember this space when it still had railroad tracks in the cement floor. 
For of course I used to work as a grip in the Toronto film industry and we shot a scene from The James Mink Story in this room. For three days in the summer of 1995 it was staged to look as it did in the 1800s. James Mink was played by Lou Gossett Jr and Peter Outabridge was a young villain who abducts Mink’s beautiful daughter (Rachel Crawford) to sell her into slavery in the deep south. So it’s really a personal story for me when I look around at this place and see how much better my own media contribution to society is now that I get to chronicle a visit from 2011 Miss Teen Canada – World to an amazing world class restaurant, instead of setting flags and lamp diffusers and humping sandbags… a personal anecdote. Some might argue that telling James Mink’s story in any capacity outweighs a visit by Lauren Howe to Pure Spirits, and I wouldn’t disagree, but so far I think people are enjoying this particular post so let me finish.
Our meals were more than delicious.
I had six mussels on ice, three from some Atlantic region and three from out west – they arrived via air freight earlier in today at Pearson Intnl in Toronto and yes I’m sure they were that fresh because I asked the chef, (who took the group picture you see below, nice work) to make sure they were as fresh as possible as Lauren wanted to try one, and I didn’t want to be the one to poison her before she goes south on what will surely be the ultimate test of her constitution.
Lauren herself enjoyed the Thai salad and applied only a modest dressing. She was busy eating and crunching away on the medley of green and yellow vegetables nodding and licking her lips frequently as the conversation turned to other things including her dress in the upcoming costume component of the Teen World competition. Its going to be quite an unveiling – they do it differently down in Texas where the ladies unveil their ‘native costumes’ to the Judges one by one on the big night. Lauren will have a snow white gown emblazoned with red maple leaves but that’s all Michelle Weswaldi will say before the night of the big reveal, August 5th 2011. She is hoping Lauren will bring home the Miss Teen World crown – that feat would certainly bring heaps of honour and respect to the native Miss Teen Canada – World organization, which is steadily growing a small but dedicated following with more and better sponsors each year.
Finally, let me say thanks to the Farid Omar and his article expounding Lauren’s platform, and Segway Canada, and Pikto and finally to the great staff at Pure Spirits! Thanks – you gave Lauren an amazing afternoon she will never forget.
Rob Campbell, is CEO of Lenzr Corp. We built the Miss Teen Canada World Blog Network, which is a powerful association of teen bloggers including Lauren Howe that use their blogs for the forces of good, to help Free The Children, and do independent community projects. Their blogs foster involvement, and they are charged to be good citizen journalists and wherever possible bring media attention to people without voices.
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