Just two months after being edged out of the Maxim Cover Girl Canada contest, B.C.'s Brandi Hansen is bringing her message about inner beauty to a much larger competition.
The student pilot and volunteer search-and-rescue technician made headlines earlier this year because of her decision to stay completely covered up in the Canadian contest.
In the end, it didn't stop her from making it to the semi-finals – something that came as a complete surprise to the Penticton resident.
"I never anticipated that I'd make it that far," Hansen told CTV News. "I felt like we were victorious because we got such an important message out, and that's what it was all about. I never anticipated I would win the contest."
While she didn't quite claim the $10,000 prize, Hansen said she's now setting her sights on something much bigger – Maxim's international competition, where thousands of contestants, including many beautiful social media influencers, models and actresses, will be vying for a prize of US$25,000.
Just like the first time, Hansen has pledged to donate all of the prize money, half to the Wounded Warriors Project and the other half to scholarships for young women looking to become pilots.
In Canada, women reportedly only make up about six per cent of private pilots.
Hansen said she was inspired to jump back into the competition because of the overwhelming response she received to her first entry. She recalled one touching interaction she had during a trip up north for her volunteer work, where a woman recognized her as "Brandi the pilot."
"She said, 'That's you, I know it's you, because my sister cut all of your articles out of the paper,'" Hansen said.
It was also a thrill to be cheered on by her own 12-year-old daughter, Hansen added.
"When I didn't make it to the finals initially, her first reaction was she was a little upset," Hansen said. "She was like, 'You lost!' And I told her it wasn't about winning or losing."
Her message in the international competition will be the same as it was in the Canadian one – though Hansen stressed that she's not criticizing any of her fellow contestants who choose to show more skin.
"I'm not shaming anybody who's taking off their clothes," she said. "My message is that it's OK to be a sunflower in a sea of roses, doing your own thing."
Voting in the Maxim Cover Girl competition begins on Sept. 2.