While in Toronto at our hotel we had a mentor night which was when we got to listen to four amazing, accomplished people talk about their journey’s to success and the road blocks that they had to over come in order to achieve their dreams. Models, an Olympic athlete and dentist were among the people that shared their stories. I will be sharing everything that I learned from these four incredible people in this next post.

Melani Chong

Melani Chong was the first speaker. She has been professionally modelling since the age of 18 and currently opened up her own all natural skin care line called Soya Botique made from organic products. She was first introduced to the idea of modeling when her dad insisted that she try out at a Ford model search at a mall near her house. After she waited for two days to hear back from the agency, they finally called and her career took off after that. She also said that once she did start modeling she was rejected by a lot of agencies and it was just something that she had to over come and get used to. “The modeling world is about a lot of rejection and you will hear NO more than YES, she said Melanie.” One of the main messages that I got from her speech was to never give up and to also be persistent, confident and focused, then you will achieve what you want. She also put a huge emphasis on passion. Without passion there can be no drive, and without drive you will not have core actions to lead you to your dreams!

Katrina Hadden

Katrina Hadden was the second speaker that delighted us with her presence. She is a size 12 model, motivational speaker, and author of a book called “Making it in High Heels”. She spoke about how she was once bullied in school for being a bigger size and was called names such as “Big Bird” or “The Green Giant” for being so tall. Basketball came into Katrina’s life at an early and she excelled at it due to her tremendous height and ability to rebound. After 13 years of playing Katrina’s basketball career and dreams of playing for a university team soon came to an end after a knee injury causing her to switch her career plans, never expecting that she would ever become a professional model.

Once Katrina decided that she would give modeling a try, she noticed the size difference between her and the other models and decided it was time to lose weight. She soon developed an eating disorder while trying to pursue her dreams but over came it by surrounding herself with people who loved to eat healthy, nutritious foods. When Katrina decided that she couldn’t lose the weight she began to notice that she was only focusing on her own imperfections, rather than all of her other perfect qualities. By building enough confidence and accepting rejection from modeling agencies she eventually found an agency that accepted many different sized models and selected Katrina and began to get her work. She soon was seen on commercials for companies like “Dove” and many others even as a size 12 model.

The main message that I obtained from her presentation was that even though one may have low self confidence for whatever reason or have been through rough times, it takes time to build confidence. Once you build confidence, you can accomplish anything. “You are unique in your own way.”(Katrina) She also read all of our blogs and learned things about us before coming to speak and wrote each and every one of us a letter about what she found interesting and what we had in common as well as a wish good luck! Thanks Katrina!

Alexandra Orlando

The third speaker was Alexandra Orlando who is a rhythmic gymnast who was one of the olympic athletes that competed in Beijing. The first time Alexandra tried out for the Olympics she did not qualify and was 1/10th of a point behind the girl in front of her who made the olympic team . SHe spoke about how disappointed and heart broken she was that she did not qualify but also spoke about how passionate she was about the olympics and wanted to make it. After she pushed herself beyond her limits, she qualified for the olympics. Her main message was that, “you cannot be afraid of failing, give it all you’ve got!”

Dr. Natalie Archer

Finally, Dr. Archer spoke to us about her success as a Toronto dentist who began her career in 2001. She spoke about how difficult the journey to success had been for her and how fortunate she had been to have a supportive husband and friends while she made several crucial/life changing career decisions. She gave some excellent advice about how to always keep your opportunities open and ensure that you educate yourself. She spoke about how many women cannot support themselves and it is important to be educated. She said that, “approximately 38% of women are bread winners”. In other words, less than half the population of women bring home more money than their spouses which is why education is key, especially before you have children.

It was definitely a fun night listening to all the different speakers speak about their experiences, successes, up, downs and passions. Each and every one of them was unique in their own way and had found different ways of achieving their dreams, even through all of the rejection. Very interesting and inspirational! I hope to somehow follow in their foot steps by following/achieving my dreams.