Juliette Powell

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Juliette Powell is a Canadian television host and producer, who made history as the first black Miss Canada in 1989 and represented her country at Miss Universe 1989 before embarking on her career in television. Powell originally entered the Miss Canada pageant at her boyfriend's suggestion, after expressing her anger at a media comment suggesting that a woman of colour could never win a beauty contest.

Powell, a fluently bilingual anglophone Montrealer, was born in New York City and moved to Montreal with her French-Canadian mother at the age of eight, following her parents' divorce.

After her reign as Miss Canada, Powell joined MusiquePlus in 1992 as a VJ, while also studying finance and business at McGill University. She was host of MusiquePlus' weekly dance music show, Bouge de là! until 1996 .

That year, she moved to Toronto, transferring to MuchMusic and becoming host of Electric Circus and French Kiss, while also studying economics at the University of Toronto.

In 1999, Powell began working for CablePulse 24 as a business reporter and founded Powell International Entertainment Inc. (PIE Inc.) which has since grown into a successful integrated media production and development company, engaged in producing special reports and interviews with newsmakers and celebrities such as Nelson Mandela, Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, Sir Richard Branson, Tim Burton, and Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Janet Jackson, Tina Turner, Rosie O'Donnell and Prince Charles. In 2001, Juliette co-authored the media section for the UN Plan of Action. In 2002, Powell co-founded The Gathering Think Tank Inc. (http://www.thegatheringwebsite.com) to provide a forum for innovation, research and development. 2003 – 2007 PIE Inc. provides consulting services for new programming strategies and Specialty Programming for: The Biography Channel, Women's Entertainment Television and E! Entertainment Television, Cirque du Soleil, the National Film Board of Canada and Bravo. And Strategic Alliances for Red Bull, Mozilla, Bacardi, Bell, the YWCA, Microsoft, Compaq, VNU (Billboard, AdWeek, the Hollywood Reporter), the Fashion Institute of Technology, Trump International, the Department of Justice, Heritage Canada and Nokia.