Quinn Teechma knows what it means to go above and beyond to achieve a goal. Born and raised on Lasqueti Island in Canada, Quinn’s family lived “off the grid” in a home with limited electricity and no indoor plumbing. At 12, Quinn started traveling with her mother between Lasqueti Island and Vancouver Island in pursuit of her acting and modeling goals. She took acting classes in Nanaimo and pursued modeling after moving to Kelowna. Quinn’s mother drove her from Kelowna to Vancouver often from modeling and acting opportunities. This dedication and tenacity towards chasing down a dream became part of Quinn’s modus operandi.
“Every little girl’s dream is to be on TV,” says Quinn, “Despite not really having a TV growing up, I still fell in love with the arts and dreamed those big dreams. My dreams morphed through many different phases, acting, modeling, photography, back to acting. I knew I wanted to make an impact on others.”
Quinn’s ability to apply extraordinary effort to anything she pursued has paid off in spades. In addition to appearing in the 2022 movie February’s Dog, Quinn is currently a finalist in the 2022 Miss Universe Canada pageant.
Telling Her Story
It’s hard to picture the daughter of hippies from a hardscrabble born-in-a-cabin childhood becoming a crown-wearing pageant queen, but it’s that path that Quinn is hoping empowers other women.
“When people ask me where I am from, I used to just say “Vancouver, or maybe Vancouver Island”, because they would know where I was talking about. I didn’t want to have to explain this odd story of how my sister was born on a sailboat, and I was born in a little cabin on a tiny island with no indoor plumbing.” explains Quinn.
These days, however, Quinn tells her story with pride. She’s open about her childhood, which also included bullying, and her path to embracing her dreams, body positivity, and her desire to instill confidence in others.
Empowerment Found in Pageants
Quinn is still relatively new to the pageant scene but has found her place in an industry that is often maligned for being harmful to women and feminist ideals.
“The pageant world is often misunderstood and misrepresented,” says Quinn, acknowledging how others may view the pageant scene.
Quinn prefers to view pageant participation as an opportunity for women to gain self-assuredness, confidence, social skills, and poise, all useful attributes for pageant performance and other areas of life.
“Pageants help women with a variety of skills. It’s not just about being able to walk confidently in heels,” says Quinn, “It’s also about honing in on your interview skills. It’s about being well-spoken and confident with your words. We spend hours preparing, and it’s about getting to know yourself on a deep level.”
Getting to know oneself is the bedrock of Quinn’s other venture, her boudoir photography company Queen Studios YYC. Through pageantry and boudoir photography, Quinn hopes to help women become comfortable in their own skin.
“When you do these dives into a self-reflective space, the confidence will follow. Knowing yourself deeply and standing up for your beliefs is what creates a strong woman,” she says.
Although the women who wear the pageant crowns may seem other-worldly, Quinn believes everyday women can take cues from pageants when looking to gain confidence in their own lives.
As part of her pageant training, Quinn has spent years working on not only outward fitness and beauty, but honing her mindset. Coming from a background where she was bullied and didn’t always feel beautiful, the confidence she has built in her own life through pageantry is something she hopes to help instill in others.
Giving Back Beyond Confidence Building
One could see that empowering women is a laudable goal all on its own, but Quinn has no intention of stopping there.
In addition to her campaign to instill confidence in women of all kinds, from any background, Quinn has become involved in a number of charity ventures close to her heart, such as SOS Children’s Villages.
Quinn traveled extensively as a child, and seeing children in need in Nepal inspired her to look beyond herself and elevate her work to help others.
“It inspired me to work hard to build a platform for myself, so I could effect change on a global scale,” she says.
Whether it’s encouraging women to embrace their inner beauty along with their outer beauty or giving back on a global scale, Quinn Teechma is well on her way to changing the world. Diversifying her platform across pageant work, photography, acting, and teaching allows her to reach as many people as possible.
