She travelled the international circuit, held court at chi-chi functions and acted as a peacemaker—that was just part of her life as a beauty queen. When Jennifer Hosten—who held the Miss World title in 1970—became one of the youngest female envoys, she knew youth and good looks weren't nearly as valuable in the diplomatic world

By Maria McClintock

The journey to Kandahar: Hoffmann tests out ink used in the presidential election in Afghanistan; handing out backpacks to school children. Hoffmann had a two-year posting in Afghanistan, before heading to Bangkok to represent Canada in Thailand.

It's no secret that retired diplomat Jennifer Hosten is a beautiful woman. But for most of her international career, the Carleton graduate kept her Miss World beauty queen title under wraps.

Almost four decades after she was crowned, Hosten says the experience—including entertaining U.S. troops at Christmas in 1970 with comedian Bob Hope—provided valuable skills that enabled her to deal with different kinds of people and to be diplomatic in difficult situations.

"As Miss World, I travelled extensively. I also met high-profile people, including politicians, actors and others. My travels increased my cultural understanding and knowledge of the world," says Hosten. "Later on, preparation and a willingness to take on challenges were equally important factors in whatever relative success I may have achieved."

Hosten, whose memoirs Beyond Miss World were published last year, shares her time between her native Grenada and Canada. She first came to Canada from the Caribbean in 1973 and started part-time studies in political science at Carleton. Five years later, then-Grenadian prime minister Eric Gairy appointed her Grenada's high commissioner to Canada at a time when the political landscape didn't include many women. Her appointment, at the age of 31, caused a sensation.

"There was an awful lot of inquisitive media, and people were anxious to know what I was really like," she says. "There were women in diplomatic posts, but not as the heads of the mission," she says. "I found, initially, my colleagues were curious. But it didn't take more than five or six months for them to get to know me and realize that I was quite serious and knew how to get a job done."

As a former beauty queen, Hosten says she felt she had to prove herself. For that reason, she decided not to talk about being Miss World when she started her diplomatic career. "As a woman, you have to work harder to be taken seriously. We always have to prove that we know what we are talking about. It was the case in my time and I think it is still the case."

Following her stint as high commissioner, Hosten worked for the Canadian government in the Department of Heritage, the International Development Research Centre and the Canadian International Development Agency. In 1998, she was seconded as technical advisor on trade to the Caribbean Community and the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States. Her final post as a Canadian diplomat was in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 2002 to 2004.

Throughout her career and while raising a family, Hosten continued her studies at Carleton, earning her BA in 1990 and her MA in 1992. It's at Carleton University, she says, that she made many valuable contacts in the federal government—a network that came in handy. She stayed mum on her Miss World experience until writing her memoirs.

It wasn't until a book signing in Ottawa last fall that she realized how well she had kept the secret. "A woman who worked with me at CIDA for five years came over and said, 'And to think I worked with you all those years and never knew you were Miss World.' It wasn't something that I talked about."