Queenly Interview with Melanie Renaud, Miss International Canda

Get ready for an exciting Queenly Tea Talk interview with our newly crowned Miss International Canada, Melanie! At 26, Melanie is a powerhouse in pageants, modeling, mentorship, and philanthropy. Learn more about Melanie’s journey as she prepares to represent Canada in the upcoming Miss International competition in Japan at the end of October!

Kimberly: Hi, Melanie! First off, let’s show off the new crown because we love crowns. Now why don’t you go ahead and introduce yourself and let everyone know who you are and what you’re about.

Melanie: I'm Melanie! For those of you who don't know me, I was recently crowned this year’s Miss International Canada. It was actually the first time that the Canadian Beauties Organization has actually held the Miss International Canada pageant. In the past, it was given to the first runner up at Miss Universe Canada. I competed at Miss Universe Canada in Vancouver in August. I made my decision shortly after that I was going to go for this crown because I had done so well. I was very proud of myself and I had a great time. I knew that there was still left of me to give. I knew there was a pageant for me just left this year. So, I signed up a couple of days later. Two weeks later, I was competing, which sounds a little crazy to some people. They're like, “You just did this huge pageant and then you went to another one”. Well, if you know that you're ready, you're ready.

I had a great time. It was actually held in my hometown, which made things so much easier. I traveled all this way to Vancouver and then the next pageant was here in Windsor. I felt like things were just aligning for me. The universe was being like, Melanie, you need to do this pageant, and clearly something worked out.

Kimberly: I'm sure it's a total whirl and going from one national pageant then going straight into another one. But it sounds like you're obviously very well prepared. Which I’m sure only helped you do well in your recent success at this pageant.

Melanie: I'm so excited because this is a very huge title too, and I'm very honored to be representing Canada. I know that I will leave for Japan very shortly. Although I hold this title for a year, I'm competing for the international title in two weeks. I leave for Japan on October 10th. Very soon. Everything's just happening very quickly, but I'm still very thrilled to be able to do the opportunity. Like I said, months preparing, a year preparing led me to this. Three different pageants in three months. That's okay, I can do it!

Kimberly: I'm sure you're just running on adrenaline. We're for sure going to get more into the Miss International Competition, but let’s rewind it back and talk about how you first got into pageantry.

Melanie: So I was about fifteen years old and I was on my family computer. Now this was ten maybe eleven years ago. I saw this ad for Miss Teens Canada. It was Miss Teens Canada World at the time. I really didn't know much about pageantry. I grew up watching maybe Miss USA on TV because that was televised. But other than that, I just wasn't really a part of the pageant world, and I never thought it could be a space that I could be a part of. Out of curiosity, I just signed up for it because I'm a teenager, I'm on my family's computer. What else am I going to do? I signed up for this pageant, and the director ended up reaching out to me and said that they wanted me to compete in their preliminary, which was the Miss Teen Ontario. The next January, so this was in October when I signed up. In January, I competed in my first ever pageant, January 2013. How it works in Canada is they pick about 10-15 girls per province, depending on the population, to go to nationals for Miss Team Canada. I was one of those few chosen and I got to compete at Miss Team Canada and I placed top 10 at my first national pageant.

Kimberly: Wow, not bad for your first pageant!

Melanie: Yeah, I got a kick for it because I had so much fun! I know that a lot of girls say this, but it's really true. There's so many parallels when you meet somebody in pageantry, I was very shy. I had a lot going on in my life when I was 15. When you're a teenager, everything feels like the end of the world sometimes. Pageantry really brought me into this positive environment. As a teenager, I went for another title. The year afterwards, I did Canada's Perfect. I was proud. I competed internationally at World's Perfect. Then I took a break. I decided I was going to go to school. I went to the University of Windsor, where I live now, and I went for digital journalism communications with a minor in computer science, so a broad degree. I do marketing now, but you can work in different spaces, which is really nice too. That break really helps me to grow as a person. I felt like I needed to leave pageantry and just have my foot in it a little bit, but not compete for a few years so I can grow as a person, have that life experience.

I've had so many incredible experiences outside of pageantry that I've brought into my pageant life now. Everyone's journey is different, but for me, I was a teenager, tried something out, loved it, knew that I would come back one day, and I did.

Kimberly That's awesome. I'm sure all the experiences you gathered from taking that break only helped you with your competitions and having a wider, broader perspective.

Melanie: When you're in marketing and pageants because you can really brand yourself and put yourself out there. For me, it worked out. It's like they work hand in hand.

Kimberly: So for pageants, what would you say is your favorite part of competing?

Melanie: Your favorite part? I mean, I love the interview. I love the interview because you get to really let the judges know who you are on the inside. As much as we love the gowns, we really love the gowns, and we love walking on stage, getting that adrenaline. I love a good interview. It's my favorite part. You get to know somebody, see them for who they are, and really let that light shine through.

Kimberly: Before you go into interviews or I guess even on-stage, Do you have any pre-show rituals or things to get the nerves off?

Melanie: I like music! I actually listen to '80s music when I'm preparing for an interview. I know these music is just really calming.

Kimberly: Do you have a go-to song?

Melanie: There's honestly a few. I have a whole playlist, but just something that gets me in a very good, mellow mood. For one of my interviews that I did earlier this year. I was, “Don't You Want Me, Baby.” I was like, “don't you want me, judges?” It got me in the mindset, just something fun, let loose before you're in there because I know that some girls can get so nervous and that can affect them in the interview room. You really just want to be yourself in there. They're just trying to get to know you. They might ask you something political, but I mean, your opinions. So know yourself, go in there as yourself and listen to some fun music that makes you calm before you go in.

Kimberly: As far as other pageant preparations, at Queenly, we're all about the fashion, we're all about the wardrobe. Where do you go when you’re looking for your pageant wardrobe?

Melanie: What's really interesting is when Queenly actually came about, I was obviously in Canada, so I wasn't able to use it. But I signed up with an American mail address. Because I live at the border, so I can actually use that to ship and receive. I was probably one of the first Canadians there.

Kimberly: I love that.

Kimberly: Yeah! I saw you had a recent sale and your gown will be coming to our office because items over a certain price are first sent to our HQ for quality check. And it's also really fun because I feel like dresses have stories. Because you can buy a dress from someone who competed at Miss International Canada and have that sense of good luck or that sense.

Melanie:Yeah the one I just sold, I was holding on to it but then I was like “no, someone else needs this good luck!”. I actually won an award for it. I won a fashion wear award at Canada Galaxy for it. It does hold some good luck. So, yo the girl that's going to receive that, sending you all that left your way!

Kimberly: Oh, my gosh. What is your favorite gown that you've ever worn?

Melanie: The one that I just won in actually. I had that gown as a rental. That gown was sent back to the designer this week, unfortunately, but it is the most beautiful gown! I have a funny story about it, I actually met this girl by chance because I went to the Miss Michigan pageant and I saw that she had worn his gown at one of her pageants and when I saw it I was like, “Oh my gosh, that's the dress! That is the dress I'm going to wear from Miss Universe Canada.” So I contacted him and I said, “Hey, how would you feel about renting me this dress? I feel like it's a winning dress.” I just felt this connection through the screen and he was very great about it.

He took my measurements and he sent it to me and I put it on and like it's exactly what I wanted. Everything was perfect and when I placed second runner up at Miss Universe Canada and I decided I was going to come to Miss International Canada, I called him up and said, “Hey, I'm doing this other pageant in two weeks. How would you feel about me keeping the dress for a couple of weeks and re-wearing it?” And he was all for it. I said, ”I think we have a win for this one. We're going to get a win. It's a winning dress.” And the next day, like after I won, he was just ecstatic and he's like, we did it. Yeah, just something about that dress.

Kimberly: Was this the white gown with the overskirt cape?

Melanie: Yes! It's so funny because I said I wasn't going to wear any capes. I wasn't going to wear white and I ended up doing both.

Kimberly: Well as they say, “Winners wear white!”

Melanie: Yeah, I don’t know if I believe in that, but I just knew that this dress was pretty. I was like, I said no to white, I said no to capes, but I saw this dress. It was a winner in my mind, so.

Kimberly: What was the designer's name?

Melanie: Yeah, so this is from his name is Luis Lopez. I heard he's from Puerto Rico, so shout out to him. He's incredible. So if you're looking to rent or maybe one of his designs will end up on Queenly. Keep your eye out.

Kimberly: Do you have any other favorite designers?

Melanie: I’m also a big fan of Jovani. I intend to wear a lot of Jovani gowns. I wore a blue sparkly Jovani to my prelim. It was a gown that I've worn before so I kept that one in my closet. Maybe it'll end up on Queenly! So we'll see because I've worn it a few times now and maybe I'm willing to give that luck to somebody else. But yeah, I love so many there's so many different gals and so many different designers. There's probably too many to name here.

Kimberly: Okay! Without giving too much away, how would you describe your gown for Miss International?

Melanie: Okay, it's in the works. I don't know that I can give you much information because I'm still learning new things every day about this gown. So I'm gonna have to leave that one as a surprise, unfortunately. But with things happening so quickly, that's also something that's ongoing. I think you're gonna like it. I think everyone's gonna be surprised and the color is incredible too, so I'll say that much.

Kimberly: I can't wait to see! Speaking of Miss International Canada, how was that competition going straight from Miss Universe Canada, Miss International Canada?

Melanie: It's the first time it's been a national pageant in Windsor, of that scale I would say I know that they did a prelim for Miss Universe Canada in Windsor back in the day. But for me, this was just kind of surreal to be in my city, this is where I live. My apartment is five minutes from the Capitol Theater where we're performing. If I forgot anything, I could just stop by home. I will say I felt very at ease. I think that for me, it was like I just did this huge pageant in Vancouver and I'm coming here now and I already had that out of the way. So just more at ease, more calm with myself and different that it was in my hometown, but a lot of fun. The girls were great. Some of them did come from Miss Universe Canada as well. So I was like, “Hey, we just met at Miss Universe Canada and you're here!” It was kind of like a two week little vacation, and then we got to see each other. One of my roommates was Kim and she was at Miss Universe Canada too, so we had a great time. The girls, the staff, the experiences, we had like dinner, galas. They were restaurants I've been to before, of course, but we have great food in Windsor, so you can't go wrong.

Kimberly: Amazing. So you're getting ready to leave International, is that correct?

Melanie: Yes, so I don't have too much time.

Oh, I forgot to tell you this! So a fun story, and this was actually in my final question. I answered it this way because it had just happened and it was pretty crazy. And I can't believe I didn't bring it up before. But my eye contact actually broke right before I had to go on stage. And I did not have a spare. So I went on stage for Miss International Canada with only one eye contact in my eye. And I don't know if you wear contacts, but it's weird adjusting. My eye was constantly back and forth. And I was like, oh my gosh, this is the worst thing that could happen to me before going on stage. And I had to really change that and be like, well, you know what? I could have lost both of my contacts. I could have been blind on stage because it's not something I can just take. I need glasses or contacts to see. It's not something I can go without. So I was like, I am lucky enough and grateful enough that I have at least one to go on stage with. And I'm going to do my best with what I'm given.

And during my final question, it wasn't even related, but I'm like, I'm up here with one eye contact in my eyes. This is not what I expected. I'm doing my best. And I think that that really made the audience laugh a little bit. But you never know what will happen in pageantry. You have to roll with the punches. There's always going to be something that might happen, and you just have to go with it and do your best regardless of what happens.

Kimberly: I love that's an amazing story. Well, how does it look like now preparing for Miss International!

Melanie: Well I ordered more contacts just in case! So we're good there for Japan, I've been having back and forth calls with different designers. There's like day events and night events that we have to have different outfits for. I've been added to chats with some of the girls. I've gotten to know some of them already, and some of them are still getting crowned actually. So I wasn't the last to get crowned which I know it's happening so fast. So a lot of us are in a similar boat, so that's good for me to know that we're in this together. Yeah, so just the girls are incredible, they're excited.

I've never been to Japan, so I'm excited about that. And Japanese food is probably one of my favorite foods. I'm constantly craving sushi, so this is a good place for me to go. And the organization is amazing. They do so much for philanthropy, and I'm very involved in philanthropy. I'm a global ambassador for the Starkey Hearing Foundation. I work with the autism community because my brother is on the spectrum. So I love that they're very philanthropic and involved in volunteering and community service. That's something I'm really looking forward to being a part of when I'm there.

Kimberly: Yes. And you mentioned and I read in your bio that your brother has autism, and you've done a lot of advocacy for the autistic community so can you share a bit about that?

Melanie: Yeah, so my little brother was diagnosed when he was about two years old, and that kind of changed the dynamic for my family a bit. But what I found is he's my brother, I love him, and everyone on the spectrum should be treated with the same respect. Yeah, I have two little brothers. I'm the big sister just because it's so close to my heart. That's why I wanted to get involved. And my mom and I and my brother are currently writing a book right now, so that's going to be released probably next year since I'm so busy with Japan and Miss International Canada. But we did start on that, this year, so I'm really excited for what that means for advocating about autism. And obviously, my brother is amazing, and his story is incredible. So we want to shed light on that as well. And as a family, we raised money for autism, cancer this year too. We held a ride for them trying to help out where we can advocate and really promote inclusivity for everybody, not just those on the spectrum.

Kimberly: Can you tell us a little about your book?

Melanie: So I'm going to leave that up to Max, my brother.. He's the one spearheading the creativity for it, so I can't share too much about it because I want it to be more on his for him to be more of the spotlight of it. But probably by next year we'll have something else.

Kimberly: Okay, we'll definitely keep a lookout for that. So now I kind of want to shift gears in our interview, and we're going to go into a little rapid fire questions segment. So I'll just throw out a bunch of random questions, and then we'll be this or that or, like, what's your favorite, so first off: pizza or poutine?

Melanie: I have to say pizza, and Windsor has the best pizza. I will put that out there because our Italian community is incredible. So if you can come to Windsor and try our pizza, it is the best.

Kimberly: Next, cats or dogs?

Melanie: Oh, my gosh. I have both and I hate to say this but I love cats. I’m such a cat person. I grew up with cats like farm cats and grew up on a farm so cats just have a special place in my heart. But I also love dogs so don't hate me

Kimberly: What’s your favorite Disney movie?

Melanie: Little Mermaid! It was my favorite growing up and it still is.But I'm a huge Disney girl. So honestly my Disney movie will probably change here and there depending on how I feel.

Kimberly: Sunrise or sunset?

Melanie Sunset I think… Sometimes I don't make the sunrise so I feel like sunset is probably the best. I'm like a cat. I could sleep all day if you let me.

Kimberly: What is one place you would love to travel?

Melanie: Japan has been up there for my entire life because my aunt actually taught English in Japan and several of my family members have gone and so I grew up learning a little bit about Japanese culture and the food.

Kimberly: Heels or Sneakers

Melanie: I don't want to sound crazy for saying this, but I am going to say heels. Weird fact is I have short tendons and I never got the surgery to help with that because I was a dancer, I did pointe ballet. So I'm actually more comfortable in heels. And I know that sounds so weird to people, but I can run in heels better than I can run in sneakers.

Kimberly: Swimsuit or evening gown?

Melanie: Evening gown, hands down.

Kimberly: What’s the piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Melanie: The best piece of advice I've ever been given was to always look for the positive in life. And that's exactly what I had to do when I went on stage with one eye contact in my eye. It's funny because that advice came from my grandpa and he actually passed away right before my pageant. And when I was on stage for that first pageant, I felt like I could hear his voice and he was a big part of that journey and he still is a big part of my pageantry journey. And right before I got crowned I felt like I could hear him telling me to stay positive, Melanie. That's so surreal to me. He's been gone now for eleven years but I still feel like he's still around. And that advice, as simple as it is, has carried with me throughout the years of my life. And I still try to look positive no matter what is going on.

Kimberly: Beautiful, and that’s so applicable for every aspect of your life. And here’s my last question: if you could describe how you feel about going to Miss International in one word, what would it be?

Melanie: Definitely excited! Excited is definitely the best word to use because everything is happening so quickly, so I’m running on adrenaline. Excitement, it's all excitement.

Kimberly: We’re excited for you too! Also just to plug Melanie’s closet is available to shop from on Queenly. Anything else you would like to add before closing out?

Melanie: Well, thank you for having me! I’ll be posting more on my Queenly closet, I have a whole boxful of things to upload. I’m so excited to be a Queenly Spokemodel, which is an award I was given at Miss Universe Canada and there’s going to be big things happening there. So I’m honored to be a part of the Queenly Team this year and I’m excited to share this journey with you for Miss International!

We loved having Melanie as a guest on our instagram live series, Queenly Tea Talks. At Queenly, we’ve committed ourselves to promoting sustainable fashion while making it affordable for everyone. Join our community of Queens who have listed outfits in their online closet. It’s as easy as signing up for a free account, snapping some pics, and uploading the details- that’s it!