Yellowknife’s Emma Taylor took home two awards at the national Skills Canada competition in Winnipeg in late May.
Taylor nabbed the silver medal in hairstyling at the post-secondary level and won the RBC Best of Region Award for the Northwest Territories for the second year in a row.
The RBC award is given to one competitor from each territory and province with the best weighted score. The award comes with a $1,500 grant, which Taylor plans to use to attend a hairstyling conference where she can continue to learn and expand her skills.
Last year, the hairstylist won gold in the post-secondary category when the annual trade and technology competition was held in Vancouver, as well as the RBC award.
This year’s two-day event brought together more than 550 students and apprentices from across the country in 45 industry-specific competitions.
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“The competition was fun, exciting, and challenging,” Taylor was quoted as saying in a news release. “The key to my success was hard work, dedication, and going over the competition documents.”
“I’ve always loved hair since I was a kid,” she said. “I got into hairstyling in high school and the rest of history.”
Taylor graduated from MC College’s year-long hairstyling program in Kelowna in 2022, and planned to start working on her Red Seal certification, the highest level achievable.
The NWT sent more than a dozen youth to the national skills competition this year, competing in everything from photography and cabinet-making to robotics and public speaking.
