Jessica Trisko

The 22-year-old Vancouverite of Russo-Ukrainian and Filipino heritage was recently crowned Miss Earth-Canada and will be our entry at the Miss Earth Pageant to be held in Manila next month.

She will be up against 80 other contestants from around the globe.

“My goal is to focus on the important role that education plays in shaping environmental awareness,” she wrote on her blog.

“ Many of us want to change our lives so we can protect the environment, but we don’t know how to start. Empowering individuals to change their everyday lives is the solution to problems such as ozone depletion and global warming.”

The brainy student-athlete with a Bachelor’s degree from Montreal’s McGill University is currently pursuing a Ph.D in political science.

Jessica began participating in charitable fashion shows at the age of 15.

In 2001, Jessica teamed up with Ford Models and L’Oreal to participate in the behind-the-scenes reality television series Supermodels, which featured eight half-hour episodes. Jessica reached the fifth episode as one of the show’s youngest contestants.

Meanwhile, last year’s Miss Earth-Canada, Riza Santos is still turning heads in the Philippines.

Riza, a Filpino-Canadian from Calgary, is on the cover of the Southeast Asian nation’s number one men’s magazine FHM this month.

She is back in the Philippines to campaign for the environment.

She has gone on to head the Coastal Protection Foundation, partnering with the Philippine Tourism Authority to promote eco-tourism, environmental responsibility, and poverty reduction.

Riza says that traveling is a good opportunity for her to explore her roots.

Even if Riza’s job requires her to be sexy, especially now that she’s a star, Riza shrugs it all off. “I already had my boundaries,” she explains. “It doesn’t change my relationship with God, or the way I relate to people, or who I am.”