ONE of the beauties vying for the Miss South Pacific crown is 24-year-old Melanie Amanda Gosselin.
The Cook Islands beauty, works as a management trainee at a resort hotel in Rarotonga and also studying towards a Bachelor of Arts degree in Tourism and Hospitality from the University of the South Pacific, in Fiji.
"I was born in Australia," Ms Gosselin said.
"My father is French Canadian and met my mother while on a tour of the Northern Cook Islands.
"I have two brothers and two sisters," she said.
Ms Gosselin was raised in the village of Arorangi, and had her primary and secondary education in the Cooks before she went to USP in 2003.
She lists her hobbies as cultural performing arts, reading and exercising.
Her ambition is to complete her university degree and to achieve a management role in the Cook Islands tourism industry.
She's looking forward to participating in the South Pacific pageant in Suva next month.
Other contestants: