Tia-Lynne McCann is from Tecumseh, Ontario, and she has just completed her 3 years at St Clair College in the Child and Youth Care program. She is the first in her birth family to graduate from college and obtain a degree. Her dream job is to work with children in the foster care system at the Windsor Essex Children’s Aid Society. Tia was in the foster care system for 3 years along with her two siblings. She was adopted when she was 3.5 years old along with her 6-year-old brother and 2.5-year-old sister. She was blessed to have found her forever family who has taught her that blood doesn’t make you family, but love does.As someone who has been through the foster care system and who has experienced many different types of losses, she wants to be a voice for those who feel unheard. When Tia entered the pageant world in 2018, she chose as her platform to volunteer with the Windsor-Essex Children’s Aid society and to spread the message of the critical need for foster and adoptive homes in our region as well as in our province.

As a young child in the foster care system, she learnt what it meant to live out of a garbage bag as she moved from one foster home to the next. She wants to teach those who are struggling with mental health problems that they are not alone and that there are people out there who love and want to care for them. Tia is passionate about sharing her story as she wants to show others that a better life is possible and to motivate to never give up but always have hope for a better future.

Since Tia started competing in pageants, she has learned a lot of things about herself, and has been able to step out of her comfort zone to try new experiences. One of the new experiences that opened for her was to becomes a public speaker. Through pageants, Tia has been asked to be a guest speaker at various events and one of her biggest accomplishments has been to speak in front of over 600 people on behalf of Windsor-Essex Children’s Aid Society. Tia has competed in both local and national pageants and she has developed a deep appreciation for the pageant system as it has allowed her to grow, to explore new opportunities, to better herself, and to meet many amazing girls from all across Canada with whom she has formed beautiful bonds of friendship.

One quote that Tia lives by was written by Carl Bard “Although no one can go back and make a brand-new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending”.