Pageant News Bureau - Ms. United Nation International

P a g e a n t N e w s B u r e a u

Wife in the water

Photos courtesy of Jodi LaBossiere

We know you hate those "dry" pageant stories. They go on endlessly about a beauty queen's good deeds but make the woman herself sound about as interesting as an old PR release.

Well, there's nothing dry about this story. And there's nothing dry about Jodi LaBossiere. She's positively drenched just about every time we see her, even though she hails from the Canadian prairie. She's a swimsuit model, she's in the swimsuit business, and she swims like a mermaid.

Swimsuit model Jodi LaBossiere has represented both Canada and the Turks and Caicos Islands in international pageant competition.

She's also married, and that has made a big difference in her life. In August 1999, Ms. LaBossiere was crowned Mrs. United Nation International. Now she's passing the title to a new winner, but a year of representing a myriad of married women has given her the opportunity to contribute to many worthy causes.

But what more worthy cause could there be than looking terrific in a swimsuit? Ms. LaBossiere not only looks good herself, having appeared as the cover girl of Swimwear Illustrated magazine. She helps make other bathing beauties look good, as the CEO of Ujena Canada. (No wonder the dolphin is smiling.)

Ms. LaBossiere, not surprisingly, has held a number of swimsuit titles. She has been featured on swimsuit calendars, and she has appeared on television. Her modeling career seems destined to carry her well beyond the pageant world.

We could tell you about the extensive charitable work that Ms. LaBossiere has done, especially for children, during her reign as Mrs. United Nation International. But we won't. You will just have to find out about it somewhere else. Most of that work was done on dry land. And this story is 75 percent covered in water. Just like the Earth. Just like Jodi LaBossiere.

Four women with heart

We haven't spotted these women in the water, but we wanted to tell you a tidbit about what each has done in the Mrs. United Nation system:

Christy Passoth of Los Angeles County started "Books for Babes." We thought that meant supplying romance novels for Hollywood starlets to read while waiting to get a part. But it's something much more important than that. It offers resources to low-income mothers who want to expose their children to reading at an early age. Three cheers for the mothers, and four cheers for Mrs. Passoth.

Photo courtesy of Christy Passoth

Ronna Jayne Haskins of Kentucky, who is both a model and a photographer, knows that life is more than beautiful images. She started "Operation Happiness," an organization that brings food to the homes of the less fortunate. When she brings something to a home, she says, she finds something even better. It's called joy.

Photo courtesy of Ronna Jayne Haskins

Tricia Jensen, who lives with her family in a log cabin in the Idaho woods, started a program to help schoolgirls deal with peer pressure and acquire self-esteem. It has been running for eight years. She's also a camp counselor for girls, putting her hard-won backwoods skills to good use.

Photo courtesy of Tricia Jensen

Martha Redfearn, a former Miss Rodeo California and Miss California World, is from Newport Beach. She brightens other people's smiles as a dental hygienist, and she makes their extremities sparkle in her job as a jewelry sales consultant. She and her husband are raising two young sons.

Photos courtesy of Martha Redfearn

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