Tara Teng

Tara Teng (born August 16, 1988)[1] is a Canadian former pageant winner. She was named Miss Canada in 2011 and Miss World Canada in 2012. During her title reigns she was an advocate for human rights and spoke about human trafficking.

Tara Teng
Teng wearing her Miss World Canada sash in 2013
Born (1988-08-16) August 16, 1988[1]
Alma materTrinity Western University
OccupationFormer pageant winner
Years active2010–2012
Height1.63 m (5 ft 4 in)[2]
TitleMiss BC World
Miss Canada
Miss World Canada
Beauty pageant titleholder
Hair colourBrown
Eye colourBrown
Major
competition(s)
Miss World 2012
Websitetarateng.com

Early life and education

Tara Teng's father is a Chinese Singaporean church pastor, her mother is European Canadian, and she was raised as a Christian.[3] She was homeschooled until the age of 15.[4] She received a Bachelor of Education from Trinity Western University.[5][6][7]

Teng spent four months studying at TWU's Laurentian Leadership Centre (LLC) in Ottawa, participating in the Laurentian Leadership Program.[8][9] While in Ottawa, she had a year-long internship with Joy Smith, Member of Parliament (MP) for Kildonan—St. Paul in Winnipeg, who had been working to implement laws to reduce the demand for prostitution in Canada and on improving awareness about human trafficking.[10]

Pageants

In 2010 Teng won the Miss BC World contest[11][12] and the pageant's online People's Choice Award.[13] In 2011, she was crowned Miss Canada.[14] She won the Miss World Canada pageant in 2012, and represented Canada at the 2012 Miss World pageant,[4] although she did not place as a finalist in the Beauty with a Purpose segment of the competition[15] or as a top 30 quarter-finalist.[16]

Tara Teng is now one of the directors of the Miss British Columbia pageant.

Activism

In Canada

In October 2010, Teng met with Canada's Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, to discuss human trafficking.[7] In November 2011, Joy Smith and Bruce Stanton, Assistant Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons, hosted a reception in Teng's honour, at which she gave a speech to Senators and MPs about human trafficking.[8]

Teng participated in "Buying Sex is Not a Sport", a campaign during the 2010 Winter Olympics.[13] After participating in Toronto's second annual Freedom Walk in March 2011, she organized the Freedom Week campaign in the Lower Mainland, British Columbia with Todd Hauptman.[17][6][14] That August, she participated in the Ignite the Road to Justice Mission Tour, beginning in Vancouver.[18][19] The tour continued across the country eastwards.[7]

Teng participated in an anti-human trafficking task force in her hometown of Langley, British Columbia, producing a report on measures the community could do to tackle it.[20] In April 2012, Teng and Hauptman presented Langley Township with an "action plan" and asked the township to accept the plan's first two stages, dealing with prevention and education.[21][22]

Teng partnered with World Vision International[23] to give speeches at events raising funds for International Justice Mission, which rescues children from brothels.[24][25]

In Asia

In June 2011,[26] Teng visited towns and slums in Cambodia and Thailand where families had sold their daughters to sexual slavery.[19][27][7] These included Patpong, Thailand where she partnered with Rahab Ministries Thailand to spend time with female human trafficking survivors.[28] In Chiang Mai, Thailand, Teng spoke to an audience of 40,000 people at the MTV Freedom Concert in support of MTV EXIT, a campaign to end human trafficking and exploitation.[10][29] The Cambodia trip was supported by the advocacy group Traffic Jam[10] and World Orphans.[29]

In February 2012, Teng was a keynote speaker at the Freedom and Honor Conference in Seoul.[27] Later in the year, she travelled to Sri Lanka. There, she visited World Vision's development programs in Thanamalvila Divisional Secretariat and Bogawantalawa to help fundraising efforts.[30]

Honours

In 2011, Chatelaine named her one of Canada's "Hot 20 Under 30" women.[31] In 2012 she was one of 30 Langley residents to receive the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal.[23] That same year the Joy Smith Foundation recognised her work in human rights by giving her its International Freedom Award,[24] and she was added to the Catalyst Conference's Young Influencers List.[32]

Personal life

She married husband Chris Yamauchi in May 2013.[33] They had two children together.[34] In November 2017, she announced that her marriage had ended and she had been living as a single mother for a full year.[35]

Since her divorce, she has come out to the LGBTQIA2S+ community[36] and became a self-proclaimed embodiment coach.[37]

References

  1. Michele Young (August 16, 2011). "Miss Canada stops by to talk about serious cause". The Kamloops Daily News. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  2. "Tara Teng". Miss World. Archived from the original on August 29, 2012.
  3. "Q&A with Tara Teng (Miss Canada)". Converge. Converge Magazine. September 7, 2011. Retrieved November 11, 2015.
  4. Charlene Chua (September 1, 2012). "Short in stature, but not on performance". The New Paper. Retrieved July 6, 2013.
  5. "Miss World Canada 2012 Tara Teng ready for 2012 World pageant". UK Today News. August 17, 2012. Retrieved May 14, 2013.
  6. Hannah Sutherland (February 24, 2011). "Miss Canada speaks in South Surrey". Peace Arch News. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  7. Jenny Yuen (August 13, 2011). "Former prostitute calls for trafficking strategy". The London Free Press. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  8. "Tara Teng addresses Members of Parliament and Senators". Trinity Western University. February 20, 2012. Retrieved May 13, 2013.
  9. "Student Profile: Tara Teng" (PDF). Mansion Musings. Trinity Western University: 1. October 2011. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  10. "Miss Canada 2011 Takes the Fight for Justice Across Canada". The Gospel Herald. August 4, 2011. Retrieved April 8, 2013.
  11. "Fort Langley activist crowned". The Vancouver Sun. February 1, 2011. Archived from the original on April 22, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  12. "BC's Tara Teng is Miss Canada". The Filipino Post. February 1, 2011. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  13. "Tara missed". CanadianChristianity.com. July 8, 2010. Retrieved May 20, 2013.
  14. Brenda Anderson (March 3, 2011). "Crying freedom". Langley Times. Archived from the original on October 3, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  15. "Miss World 2012: Top 10 Beauty with a Purpose Contestants". International Business Times. August 18, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  16. "Miss World 2012: Top Seven Finalist Contestants and Winner of Miss World Beach Beauty". International Business Times. August 18, 2012. Retrieved August 17, 2016.
  17. "Free-Them fundraiser". Oakville Beaver. August 10, 2011. Retrieved April 6, 2013.
  18. Barbara Kay (August 3, 2011). "Barbara Kay: Prostitution is an affliction, not a profession". National Post. Archived from the original on April 11, 2013. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  19. Miranda Gathercole (August 10, 2011). "Cause going across Canada". Langley Times. Retrieved March 28, 2013.
  20. Miranda Gathercole (May 9, 2012). "Innocence for sale". Langley Times. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  21. Matthew Claxton (April 26, 2012). "Young duo fighting against exploitation". Langley Advance. Archived from the original on June 15, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2013.
  22. Miranda Gathercole (January 30, 2012). "Tara Teng continues to shine a light on human trafficking". Langley Times. Retrieved May 12, 2013.
  23. Troy Landreville (November 27, 2012). "Jubilee Medals: Langley's diamonds". Langley Advance. Archived from the original on April 25, 2014. Retrieved April 14, 2013.
  24. Moira Brown (November 13, 2012). What Is Real Beauty?. 100 Huntley Street. Retrieved May 15, 2013.
  25. John Gordon (January 31, 2011). "Langley's Tara Teng named Miss Canada". Langley Times. Archived from the original on September 27, 2013. Retrieved April 7, 2013.
  26. Ann Mainse. Tara Teng. 100 Huntley Street. Archived from the original on February 3, 2014. Retrieved May 21, 2013.
  27. Dylan Goldby; Daniel Sanchez; Matthew Lamers (March 20, 2012). "'Girls Are Not For Sale'". Groove Korea. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  28. Vancouver Missions Fest 2012 – Tara Teng. Converge. February 13, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2013.
  29. Heather Colpitts (June 16, 2011). "Voyage for justice". Langley Advance. Archived from the original on June 23, 2011. Retrieved April 9, 2013.
  30. "Miss World Canada 2012, Tara Teng to visit Sri Lanka". ELankanews. Retrieved May 18, 2013.
  31. "Hot 20 Under 30". Chatelaine. 2011. Retrieved April 13, 2013.
  32. "Young Influencers List, March Edition". Brad Lomenick. March 13, 2012. Archived from the original on August 24, 2012. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  33. CNBC Horizon (February 2014). "Clearly Canadian". CNBC Horizon: 23. Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  34. "About Tara Teng". Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  35. "Instagram Post". Retrieved June 7, 2020.
  36. "One TWU on Instagram: "Welcome to the stage our next guest speaker for A GIFT TO MY YOUNGER QUEER SELF, @misstarateng !!! Tara Teng. She/her 2007-2011. School…"". Instagram. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
  37. "Meet Tara". Tara Teng | Embodiment as a Spiritual Practice. Retrieved January 30, 2021.
Preceded by
Sandra Gin
Miss BC World
2010
Succeeded by
Cheryl Dietrich
Preceded by
Mélanie Paquin
Miss Canada
2011
Succeeded by
Jaclyn Miles
Preceded by
Riza Santos
Miss World Canada
2012
Succeeded by
Camille Munro
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