Mina Khtaria is a 21 year-old born and raised in Port Alberni, British Columbia. Growing up, Mina was one of only a handful of Indo- Canadian girls in the small town. With little exposure to Indian culture, Mina felt separated from her cultural roots until she moved from Port Alberni to the lower mainland in 2008. While Living in Surrey, Mina quickly learned to embrace her culture. Mina enrolled in Punjabi language courses and participated in cultural activities in and around the city. Mina’s connection to her culture has grown rapidly especially after experiencing her first Vaisakhi parade in Vancouver.
Currently, Mina is attending Kwantlen Polytechnic University pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. She hopes to one day enter the teaching profession and be a strong role model for children.
Mina is an outgoing and energetic people-person. She loves to help others and has volunteered with a wide range of service organizations. Most recently, she travelled to Ghana in West Africa where she spent four months volunteering in an orphanage and teaching primary students English. Mina’s experiences in Ghana were truly rewarding, she was able to gain insight into the Ghanaian culture and discover more about herself.
Now that Mina has returned to Canada, she is eager to learn more about other cultures especially those that represent BC. Mina’s desire to learn more about other cultures is her stepping stone to travel the world and learn as much as she can.
Mina’s future plans include pursuing modeling at a professional level. Modeling has always been a dream for Mina ever since she was a child. Since participating in the Miss BC pageant, Mina’s dedication to the modeling field has grown tremendously. Mina has recognized the level of hard work required to become successful in modeling and strives daily to achieve her goals. With strong hopes of becoming successful in the modeling profession, Mina hopes that she can act as a strong role model for other young Indo-Canadian women thinking about entering into modeling.
In Mina’s Free time, she enjoys working out and staying fit through yoga and Zumba. Mina also finds time to enjoy the outdoors by exploring new hiking trails and parks. Mina’s passion for the outdoors shines through in her constant efforts to keep her community ‘green’ by increasing social awareness on environmental protection.
In May, Mina will travel to Toronto to compete against the 65 national hopefuls for the title of Miss Universe Canada. The delegates will be judged in the traditional categories of swimwear, evening gown, and interview questions.
Help Mina advance to the top 20 semi-finals at the 2012 Miss Universe Canada Pageant by voting for her for the People’s Choice Award!
You can vote 5 times a day per IP address
http://www.beautiesofcanada.com/muc/vote/
