By Spencer Sterritt

Former Miss Nanaimo hoping for provincial spotlight

Apr 16, 2017 | 8:39 AM

NANAIMO — A former Miss Nanaimo is now a candidate for Miss BC.

Krista-Lee Spivey, a VIU nursing student, was crowned Miss Nanaimo in October 2015. When the next winner was crowned the following year, Spivey said she knew her time helping the community wasn’t finished.

“I realized I didn’t want to stop, I was having a lot of fun,” she said. “I thought why not, I’ve got nothing to lose, might as well see if I can make it to the next level.”

Making it to the next level involves being a candidate for four months, taking part in local events, volunteering and preparing two speeches.

In her first week as a candidate, she attended five different events.

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“I want to do everything and I don’t have enough time to do everything, nor the ability, so picking and choosing what I can do and what I can handle is the biggest challenge,” she said.

In her time as Miss Nanaimo, Spivey said travelling to the Philippines with her family, where pageant culture is ingrained in the community, was the most wonderful part of her experience.

Her biggest success was looking back once she was no longer a city representative and realized how far she’d come. “You don’t realize how much you’ve grown until it’s over,” she said.

Becoming Miss BC doesn’t involve any of the fanfare attached to larger pageants.

“It’s really based on community involvement and I think we need more programs like that,” she said. “Not necessarily pageants but things that are targetted towards building self-esteem and helping girls and boys find things to do in the community to build their references and resumes.”

Three Miss BC’s, who all share the title, will be crowned July 22.

spencer.sterritt@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit