Our Interview with Kimberly Simpson — Miss Universe Canada Contestant

We are happy to announce that we have sponsored Miss Universe Canada (MUC) contestant Kimberly Simpson!

Simpson truly embodies the term 'altruistic' as her kind-heart and selfless spirit take over the room. Accredited dancer, writer, and humanitarian, she has completed many initiatives in her life and continues to utilize her talents for the greater good of others. A woman of colour who is defying all odds and paving the way for many women in the world. Simpson was given the opportunity to participate in the Miss Universe Canada pageant in light of her many accomplishments. At the end of August, I had the pleasure of interviewing Simpson and getting to know a bit more about her. Continue reading for the interview details!

Q: Could you give us a brief bio of yourself? Who is Kimberly?

A: I grew up in Brampton, Ontario, much of my childhood was consumed by the arts. I worked through my adolescent years to help support the growth of those talents. I ended up more so focusing on dance later on in high school. I completed my bachelors degree from Redeemer University, I studied English and theology with a minor in business. I also launched a summer company through the ministry of economic development in my 3rd year of university and through that I was able to run a dance camp. I relocated to Toronto and built a safe space for children and youth to learn dance and I also taught character building through super hero mythology and social philosophy. The idea behind this was to teach the street styles of dance so popping, locking, break dancing, hip hop, jazz and ballet. I wanted to incorporate character building because it was important for me to find ways to help kids grow in who they are as individuals, help them find their identity, they’re place in the world as well as help them to form their own world views based on information on social phenomena. I ended up becoming a Summer company Ambassador for the ministry and teaching in high school on entrepreneurship as well as super hero mythology. 

Q: What was your reaction when you were asked to participate in the pageant? How did you feel?

A: A sense of duty, calling and purpose; I think there's much in this. Because in the past I've worked on so many different things and this has been the platform that has helped me to tie them all together in accordance to a greater vision.

Q: Which one of your initiatives/contributions to the community was the most life-changing for you?

A: The most impactful thing that I've worked on is the revision of the Ontario law of the child and family services act. So that's titled Child and Family Services Act, R.S.O 1990, c. C. 11. I lobbied various MPs on this issue. It was brought to the table a few years prior to that but no changes were made. So it's imperative to have people continuously pushing for advocacy on issues. Especially when it deals with the most vulnerable who are not legally able to do many things, being able to bridge that gap for youth all across Ontario would be my biggest accomplishment so far. In terms of the impact that it has had on me, is knowing that I am capable of being that force for change and helping in the lives of youths in a much greater way than I ever anticipated.

Q: Your talents are very widespread and diverse. Between dancing, writing, community initiatives, your personal life, and now being a contestant in a beauty pageant, how do you manage to balance your responsibilities and stay organized? Especially with so many of them being catering to others, how do you make time for yourself?

A: That has definitely been a challenge for me. In terms of balancing everything, I just wake up earlier and fit everything into my day. I do a lot of journaling, I'm a very introspective person, also an introvert. In terms of where I get most of my energy from and how I renew myself is usually in my alone time. I journal, I read, I do an analysis as well on where I'm at in terms of happiness, family, confidence, educating myself, health, career, so I do reflections like that every few days just to check in with myself and just to refocus. It definitely has been a major challenge trying to balance a social life, I haven’t had much of that. In terms of how I get everything done, it has always been a matter of sacrifice, so unfortunately we can't have everything all at once, but we can have everything that we desire in life, as long as we sacrifice, and prioritize and make timelines; making timelines are also pretty important for me. Sometimes I don't always get it right, but finding ways to build the life that I am dreaming of, not the one that I settle for. I think one of life's greatest regrets is un-lived potential.

Q: Living in a society that has become saturated with excessive beauty standards, it can be hard for one to maintain a high self-esteem if they don’t look like the average model. Our customers and staff consist mainly of young women who are exposed to these standards on a daily basis. What advice do you have for them when it comes to feeling beautiful and confident in oneself, regardless of what others may have to say?

A: Personally, I'm usually the most insecure when unsure of myself. And it's important to be a good steward of the body that we have been given. So that involves taking care of our well being, gut health is also very important in that because it controls a lot of our hormonal and neural activity as well as our bodily functions and our ability to intake minerals and the nutrients from the foods we eat that power our bodies. We really need to eat like we are nourishing, feeding, our bodies for optimal function. One other thing about beauty and feeling beautiful, how our world operates it’s almost like the normative order of how we comprehend others, ourselves, and how we order our own experiences. For me, beauty can be multi-generational, it can be a long happy healthy life, and a lot of these things that are markers for beauty have to deal with the health of our bodies. So that can include the health of our hair, the health of our skin, our mobility as well as our intellect, eye brightness. Those are all by-products of how well we are taking care of ourselves.

Q: Your organization Suit of Armour is catered towards exposing women to the finer details of the tech, auto and finance industries. What are the ways that women can utilize your platform to be informed on these topics? I.e one-on-one consultations, workshops, internships, etc.

A: My startup has 3 different sectors to it. The first is membership based. That will include discounts at various partnering organizations. As well as subscriptions to online live talk shows. The 2nd part that I will be launching hopefully by the end of next year are subscription boxes. The last part are the live talk shows. The live talk shows are not exclusive to women. But it is a global community, it is important to have men to also help champion this issue, so finding ways to keep them involved and it's also a goal of mine to create a global community where the live talk shows are accessible to everyone.

Q: Entrepreneurship has, for lack of better term, become a “trend”. Many false realities are uploaded onto social media which can make being an entrepreneur look much easier than it really is. Do you have any tips for the upcoming generation and how they can be successful when it comes to running a business?

A: The first tip that I would give to the next generation of entrepreneurs is to find who you are. To be introspective, take some time and find your identity. It's important to know your place in the world. And from there, it becomes so much easier to find which direction in which you should go, and that also includes vocational things that you do and what you do does not define who you are, you have specific character traits you have likes and dislikes that differentiate you from other people… also build on your character, who do you want to be in the world? It's also okay to change your mind, and it's okay to use plans B through Z to all lead back and to work on plan A so keep the main thing, the main thing. Its very easy to get discouraged when you're trying to work as an entrepreneur, there will be many hardships and hurdles especially if you do not have a strong support system, so those things are inevitable, but sometimes it's a little bit harder for some, so understand your situation and your context of your life, and find ways to reach that common goal that you set out for yourself, always learn, and always build. 

Q: Being a contestant for MUC has given you a new found network. How do you plan to use your extended platform for professional development?

A: In terms of networking, I would say that regardless of the outcome, although I am working towards obtaining the crown indefinitely, one thing that i have been learning a lot about is modelling, beauty, and of course my appearance. So I think refining those things and having that polished image will be something that I will take with me for the rest of my life. I think that has been the major networking prospect for me. 

Q: Do you have any future plans or initiatives aside from the MUC pageant that you would like to let people know about?

A: I've always been someone with projects on the go. Something that I have been working on for over a year now is a health and fitness event called Health is Wealth. This was set to take place this spring that passed, in North York and it was supposed to be a two day event and some participating organizations would be hosting events for potential clients throughout the week, and this is essentially a health and wellness convention that would encompass workshops with partnering organizations, guest speakers, a panel, as well as promotional offers as well. So unfortunately, right before the official dates were set and promotional material was ready, that's when Covid had happened. So I wasn't able to continue with that but because I've been working on it for such a long time, it's not something that I would be so readily willing to give up. I believe that more so now, it has become even more relevant for something like this. So this is something that I will try and continue to push forward regardless of the outcome of the pageant, but I am hoping to set this forward for spring or summer next year 2021.

Many thanks to Kimberly for a great interview. On behalf of all of us at Cloré I'd like to congratulate Kimberly once again on all her accomplishments. We wish her the best of luck in Miss Universe Canada Pageant!