Vancouver belle wins BC beauty crown

After a grueling weekend of rehearsals and training, Vancouver’s Hasti Vahidi was crowned Miss BC World 2008 in a Fort Langley pageant that raised over $1,300 for Cops for Cancer charity.

The five-foot-nine beauty from Deep Cove in North Vancouver says she was caught off guard when she realized she had won the title that will see her move into the Miss World Pageant in March 2009.

"I didn’t feel anything as I was in complete shock," said Vahidi who competed against 25 other young women inside the Chief Sepass Theatre. "I have never experienced such an exhilarating experience in my life."

Vahidi, who is a legal assistant with prestigious downtown Vancouver law firm, Davison Wiebe Douvelos LLP, embodies this year’s pageant theme, "Beauty With a Purpose."

Born in Iran, Vahidi recently finished writing a novel about the aesthetic qualities to be found within her home country. She says that despite common presumptions that "Iran is an ugly nation," there is much beauty to be found in its culture, history, women and art.

The newly minted author, who also plays piano and paints, sees herself with a career in either law or journalism, just as long as she "has a voice that makes a difference in the world."

As Miss BC World 2008, Vahidi says she will use her crown to raise money for cancer. Inspired by her father’s friend who was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer, Vahidi wants to raise awareness about the terminal disease. And so far, she’s apparently already made an impact.

"The highlight of winning was when I got off stage to meet my family and a little girl that had survived brain cancer came up to me to ask to take a photograph with me," she said. " It melted my heart. I was so proud of her and she said that she was so proud of me. I have never felt so blessed and so privileged at that exact moment."

Although completely gorgeous, Vahidi is not without her klutzy side.

Two things she never leaves home without: Eye drops and Band-Aids. "For some reason things always get into my eye," she laughed.