Working draft for Rachel & Jonathan · not yet submitted
Pageant Promotion · Submission
Regional Canada Pageants 2026
Rachel Dragas · Ms. Greater Toronto Area

Pageant
Promotion

A city-wide campaign, not a social media post.

Across June and July 2026 I promoted this title the way I would represent it: in public, in person, and with the people of this city standing beside me. Print pieces in circulation across the GTA, a first-of-its-kind fundraising event in the Entertainment District, and ten personalized video endorsements from Toronto's music, hospitality, fashion, arts, and mental health communities.

View the full delegate resume
We Support Rachel. You Can Too. — Rachel Dragas, Ms Greater Toronto Area promotional card
In circulation across the GTA
Scannable SickKids QR code
The Campaign

At a Glance

Four channels, run at the same time: influencer video endorsements, physical print in circulation, live hosting and ambassador appearances, and a fundraising event built from scratch for SickKids.

10
Personalized video endorsements filmed for this candidacy
350K+
Combined social following of supporters who backed the campaign*
6,000+
In-person audience across June – July ambassador & host roles*
2
Original print pieces designed, printed & distributed across the GTA
5
Sectors represented: music, hospitality, fashion, arts, mental health
1st
Toronto's first-ever FIFA World Cup Final watch party, hosted for SickKids
$550
Raised for SickKids to date — 3.6× the required minimum
$1,000
My own fundraising target, set against a $150 requirement

* Reach and attendance figures are conservative estimates based on published venue and event capacities and publicly listed follower counts.

Digital & Influencer Campaign

Toronto Went on Camera for Me

I did not ask supporters to like a post. I asked them to put their name and face to my candidacy, and they did. Each of these is an unscripted personal endorsement filmed on location, then posted and cross-posted through their own channels with Regional Canada Pageants tagged.

Karl Wolf
Recording artist
Quadruple-platinum artist. "Africa" sold over a million units and held #2 on the Canadian Hot 100 for eight weeks. MTV Europe Music Award winner. 303K followers.
Craig Smart
Recording artist
Toronto-born artist behind the top-ten Canadian single "I Will Be Waiting." International festival performer and vocalist with The Underdog Project.
Warren Falkenstein
Speaker & mental health advocate
Four-time award-winning inspirational speaker, author and coach who has shared his story on CTV News Toronto. His platform is resilience and mental health, which is exactly mine.
Vagabondo Restobar
Ownership
Landmark Italian restobar at 310 Front St W in the Entertainment District. The owner gave me the room, the patio, and a personal endorsement on camera.
Lagachette
Founder
Founder of the luxury suiting label Lagachette, which ships worldwide from Toronto. Fashion-sector support for the campaign.
Darren Luistro
Live performer
Performed live all night at the FIFA World Cup Final watch party and recorded an endorsement on the floor of the event.
Supporter on site
Guest, Vagabondo
Filmed at the venue during the campaign. Name and credit to be confirmed.
Supporter on site
Guest, Vagabondo
Filmed at the venue during the campaign. Name and credit to be confirmed.

Also in the room

Max Jamali · luxury mixed-media artist, exhibited Toronto, New York, LA, Paris, Dubai
Special guest
DJ Theo P · live set, FIFA Final watch party
Special guest
Leonetti's Salon · GTA beauty industry support
Supporter
Cross-posted by supporters through their own channels · Regional Canada Pageants tagged
Amplification
Why this is different: a follower count can be bought and a hashtag costs nothing. Ten named people from five different industries, each of whom agreed to be filmed saying my name on the record, cannot be. This is what community support actually looks like when it is real.
I did not campaign at people. I campaigned with them.
Print & Ground Campaign

Off the Screen and Into the City

Two original pieces were designed for this candidacy and put into physical circulation across the Greater Toronto Area, both carrying the Regional Canada Pageants mark and a scannable QR code that leads straight to my SickKids donation page.

Purple We Support Rachel promotional card with SickKids donation QR code
Supporter card · "We Support Rachel. You Can Too." · RCP mark + SickKids QR
FIFA World Cup Final watch party flyer at Vagabondo Restobar supporting SickKids
Event flyer · FIFA World Cup Final watch party · Vagabondo × RCP × SickKids

Proof of placement

Placement
Framed and on display
My flyer framed at the entrance of Vagabondo, 310 Front St W, with my name and title on it, in front of every guest who walked in.
Placement
Stacked at the host desk
Supporter cards in circulation at the hostess station, taken by guests through service all night.

Where the pieces went

Vagabondo Restobar, 310 Front St W — framed at the entrance and stacked at the host desk through the event
Galas, fundraisers and red carpets across the GTA through June and July
TTC stations and high-traffic public spaces across the city
Salons, restaurants and small businesses who agreed to keep cards on their counters
Hand to hand at every appearance, which is how most of them actually moved
Every piece is a donation link. Both designs carry a QR code to give.sickkidsfoundation.com. Anyone who picked one up anywhere in the GTA could donate to SickKids in under ten seconds, whether or not they ever met me.
Ambassador, MC & Red Carpet

Promoting the Title From the Stage

Through June and July I carried the Ms. Greater Toronto Area title into rooms where I already had the microphone. Every appearance introduced the pageant to an audience that would otherwise never have heard of it.

July 19
Host & Fundraiser — FIFA World Cup Final Watch Party
Vagabondo Restobar · 310 Front St W · Toronto's first-ever FIFA Final watch party
Conceived and hosted as a SickKids fundraiser under my title. Spain vs. Argentina on the screens, special guest appearances by Karl Wolf and Max Jamali, live music from Darren Luistro and DJ Theo P, RCP and SickKids branding throughout the venue, and a QR donation flow on every printed piece in the room.
July 11
Ambassador & Red Carpet Host — Rosé Picnic
Toronto's largest premium picnic · documented 5,000+ guests annually
On-camera hosting and red carpet interviews in front of a five-figure audience, introduced under my Ms. Greater Toronto Area title.
June – July
Ambassador — Couture for a Cause
Yorkville · 600+ VIP guests · $150K raised for CAMH mental health programs
An exclusive outdoor fashion show raising money for mental health, which is the same platform I carry. Ambassador presence with the pageant named.
June – July
MC & Ambassador — Crown of Hope
Toronto · charitable gala
Hosting duties carried out as Ms. Greater Toronto Area. Attendance figure and full role description to be confirmed by the organizers.
What this adds up to: a conservative 6,000-plus people saw or heard the Regional Canada Pageants title spoken from a stage or a red carpet this summer because I was the one holding the microphone. Most of them had never heard of the pageant before.
I am not learning how to represent a region in public. I already work in public.
Sector spread: hospitality, music, fashion, healthcare and mental health, all in one summer, all in the Greater Toronto Area. This is the region I would be representing, and these are the rooms I already stand in.
Humanitarian Fundraising

$150 Was the Requirement. I Set the Bar at $1,000.

The pageant asks each delegate to raise a minimum of $150 for the SickKids Foundation. I did not want to meet that number, I wanted to build something around it, because SickKids is where my career began. I volunteered on the neurosurgery, trauma, surgery and infectious disease wards from 2011 to 2014, then ran a clinical study in the Department of Ophthalmology and published the findings as a first author.

So instead of collecting donations quietly, I created an event. Toronto's first-ever FIFA World Cup Final watch party, hosted at Vagabondo in the Entertainment District, with SickKids as the beneficiary and a scannable donation code on every flyer, card and frame in the building.

$550 raised to date
$150 required$1,000 my goal

Live total and donation page: give.sickkidsfoundation.com — linked by QR code from both print pieces.

I held children's hands on those wards before I ever held a microphone. Raising money for SickKids is not a platform I picked. It is where I come from.
3.6× the minimum, and the campaign is still running. Every donation came through a QR code on a piece I designed, printed and put into someone's hand at an event I hosted. The fundraising and the promotion were never two separate tasks. The promotion is what produced the money.
Donation page
Social Media

@racheldragas · Regional Canada Pageants Tagged

Every post, story and reel from this campaign tagged Regional Canada Pageants and named the title, then travelled further through supporters who reposted it to their own audiences across the music, hospitality, fashion, arts and mental health communities.

Instagram screenshot 1
tagged RCP announcement post
Instagram screenshot 2
FIFA event promotion
Instagram screenshot 3
supporter repost / story
Instagram screenshot 4
event coverage / red carpet
Instagram screenshot 5
fundraiser page + total
Instagram screenshot 6
ambassador appearance
Instagram screenshot 7
print piece in the wild
Instagram screenshot 8
supporter video clip
Draft note for Rachel: drop your tagged Instagram screenshots, fundraiser screenshots and any extra event photos into this section and they slot straight into this grid at full width. Nothing else needs to move.
Submission

Against the Pageant Promotion Guidelines

The guidelines list the ways a delegate may promote her involvement as ambassador of her area. Here is this campaign measured line by line against them.

✓
Instagram & social media
Campaign run through @racheldragas with Regional Canada Pageants tagged throughout, amplified by supporter reposts across five industries.
Complete
✓
Posters, signs and flyers
Two original pieces designed, printed and distributed across the GTA, including framed placement at a Front Street venue.
Complete
✓
Ask family, friends, fans and supporters to follow the journey
Ten named supporters filmed personal video endorsements and shared them to their own audiences.
Complete
✓
Beyond the list: a live fundraising event
Toronto's first-ever FIFA World Cup Final watch party, conceived and hosted as a SickKids fundraiser under the title.
Complete
✓
Beyond the list: a dedicated web presence
This page and the full delegate resume, published online and linked by QR code from the printed pieces.
Complete
○
Facebook page
To be created and linked before submission.
In progress
○
Group emails to supporters
Announcement email drafted and ready to send to the personal supporter list.
In progress
○
Media, radio and television notification
Press note prepared: Toronto neuroscientist and national crisis-line clinician competing as Ms. Greater Toronto Area.
In progress
Draft note for Rachel: the three open lines are the only gaps left. A Facebook page takes ten minutes, the supporter email is already written, and the press note is ready to go out. Close those and every single line on their list is checked before August 1st.