A crowning personality

Winning the title of Miss Personality Canada is one challenge; embracing it is a tougher one. Payton Maffioli knows this by heart, as her numerous ambitions require a mindful balance and effective time management to succeed. Even with her busy schedule, Maffioli sat down with the Omega to discuss her development in pageantry, strategies she relies on to balance the crown and campus life and her future ambitions.

Back in 2021, Maffioli’s original dream was to walk the runway. That’s why, when she first encountered pageantry while scrolling on Instagram, she jumped at the chance to compete, believing it would open doors for modelling. As the event progressed, Maffioli did so too, ultimately achieving second place. 

Before she even started to reflect on whether her second-place finish meant she lacked the abilities for the field, Maffioli was once again called into action by an advertisement for a different type of pageant organization, Personality Pageants.

Luckily for Maffioli, her persistence and drive paid off when she competed in their provincial event as a teenager, ultimately winning the title of Teen Personality B.C.

“[After winning provincials] I went to Nationals, and that was more for experience and bonding and connecting and getting to know the pageant system,” Maffioli said. 

Even though she wasn’t able to obtain the national crown, she was motivated to do better next time. Soon after, the young lady was offered an opportunity to compete in Teen Universe.

“I ended up being the first Canadian girl to place at this pageant ever. And it really kick-started my passion for wanting to keep doing better […] that’s also the point where I wanted to take pageantry more seriously,” Maffioli told the Omega.

And take pageantry seriously, she did. This year, Maffioli realized her goals, winning both the provincial and national Miss Personality titles. But even with those achievements, Maffioli still endured her fair share of challenges.

When discussing her demo audition tapes, Maffioli opened up about how her speech impediment made filming a bit troublesome for her. Not only because of the physical implications of it, but also the emotional scars left from verbal mockery when she was a child. Since then, she said she’s come a long way. 

“At Nationals, I just decided to go in as me and to feel everything that I was feeling. Feel the nerves, feel the passion, feel the confidence, feel the fire. ‘I have to win Miss Personality Canada,’ [she told herself], and that’s what I did,” Maffioli recalled.

Winning the crown was a massive victory for her, but Maffoili remained aware of the responsibilities outside of her pageant life and those that came with the title of Miss Personality Canada, including studies, career, and content creation.

Starting a new semester at TRU, Maffioli rededicated herself to her work on the equity committee and within the Botanical Club while studying natural resource science. When the Omega asked about her work on the committee, Maffioli mentioned Indigenous rights and the environment as focus areas.

“…indigenous rights are so strongly connected to our lands that we live on… and protecting our ecosystems, our wildlife, impacts Indigenous rights. It impacts their culture [and] their traditions,” she said. 

Outside of pageantry, Maffioli remains busy. Currently, her schedule includes six courses while working for the Southern Interior Land Trust. Her ultimate goal, Maffioli told the Omega, is to become an environmental lawyer, an occupation she desires to use as a vehicle to spread information about environmental sustainability, as she already does through her Instagram accounts.

Being the owner of not just one but two accounts—the latter being The Wild West Naturalist, where she advocates for ecosystems and wildlife—Maffioli juggles content creation across her platforms, from stories that showcase her lifestyle to reels highlighting her dedication to pageantry. When discussing how she manages it all, she said, “I just love what I do, and I try to balance what makes me happy with getting stuff done.” 

When Maffioli isn’t studying, working, or preparing for a pageant, the back-to-back winner finds relief in other activities, such as songwriting, karaoke sessions and video games. When asked about which games she preferred, she mentioned poker and the daily games inside the New York Times game app, sharing how she enjoys engaging in these because they stimulate her mind while she is physically resting.

While she believes she knows the destination her future is headed, Maffioli admitted that the path the journey may take is not set in stone.

“I was thinking about maybe taking a gap year between my undergrad and going to law school,” Maffioli said, adding that pursuing bigger international crowns may also be an option.

Either way, no matter where Miss Personality Canada is headed next, Maffioli knows her ambitions, discipline and passion will guide her heart to the right place.