A panel of judges chose Maine native Valerianne Hinkley as the 2022 (Division) World Ambassador on July 30.

The crowning took place at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Florida. The national pageant was livestreamed to thousands of viewers from around the world.

Hinkley, 20, of Wilton, is a junior at the University of Maine at Farmington, where she is majoring in elementary education. She is a member of the Honors Program and Alpha Phi Omega.

As a community member, she has volunteered for many events and organizations both in her community and around Maine. She has been awarded the Gold President’s Volunteer Service Award for 2020, 2021 and 2022, according to a news release from Kristin Thurston, owner and director of the World Ambassador Pageant.

In addition to college and volunteering, she is employed part time by Dollar General and with UMF Campus Police as a work study.

Hinkley has walked the New York Fashion Week runway several times for designers such as Marc Defang, the Parachute Goddess Project and House of La’ Rue, and has walked in the Orlando Beauty It’s Everywhere Fashion Show.

Next February she is due to travel to Mississippi to model in the Couture La Rouge first anniversary fashion show. She has appeared in several modeling magazines and is a studio model for Gondek Photography. In addition to modeling, she has been an ambassador for Sunny Co Clothing in California and has had both eyelashes and lipstick named after her from I.N. Beauty out of Massachusetts.

This was the inaugural year for the World Ambassador Pageant, founded as a competition where the world of pageantry, social influence and modeling combine to highlight women around the world.

For more information, visit worldambassadorpageant.com.

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