At least I would get some interview experience and get a taste of what the Beautiful You team was looking for. It was kind of fun to have my own little secret and chances are they would choose one of the other candidates anyway. I decided to keep the whole interview thing to myself. At least I could mix and match and still make it work.
What does one wear to an interview these days? No matter, over the years my wardrobe had evolved into mostly black anyways. Wow top five! To me that was just about as good as winning the big one! We agreed to meet again on June 15 for the interview. When the phone rang on June 4 and Denise Mildner from The Star Phoenix called to see if I could come in for an interview I just about fell off my chair! She said they had narrowed the applicants down to five potential candidates. The open house was held on April 27 and every few phone calls my sister would ask “Any word on Beautiful You?” We both figured the decision had already been made and that we’d chalk it all up to experience. I left that evening feeling proud of myself that I took a step in the right direction. Seeing her incredible transformation was truly inspiring. It was interesting to hear the team members talk about Tina’s transformation, and finally listening to Tina talk about her own journey. The atmosphere was very festive and we took in all the displays set up by the sponsors involved in the Beautiful You program. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. We had to get our pictures taken which I dreaded but after that my sister Dianne and I enjoyed the evening. I struggled with going as I had a conflicting school meeting to attend and putting my needs ahead of my kids seemed wrong….but somehow I got over the guilt and went anyway. After all, what was the point of applying for the program if I could not be real with myself? So after doing some soul searching with my answers we went to the Open House.
No fudging the numbers on the scale (which by the way had not seen the light of day since my last pregnancy!). As we were filling it out I realized it was time to be truthful. I procrastinated right up until the day of the Open House, then after convincing my sister Dianne to join me, I called Jeannie Armstrong (Creative Features Editor at The Star Phoenix) and at 2 pm received a new application by e-mail. As the year progressed and I followed Tina’s story, I kept thinking this could be the year to apply.
Perhaps on some level I didn’t feel like I deserved it. Last year I had toyed with applying for Beautiful You (I even picked up an application form from The Star Phoenix) but I couldn’t bring myself to fill it out. I guess now I have to figure out what I want to be when I grow up! This leads me to the Beautiful You Open House. I always figured I would go back to work once all the kids were in school, but somehow being 14 years out of the work force seems like a bigger hurdle than I originally thought. We’ve now lived back in Saskatoon for five years and our youngest is going into grade two. After having our third child we decided to move back to Saskatoon to be closer to our families (8 hour road trips with three young kids was challenging to say the least). Ultimately we started our family and I became a stay-at-home mom. Meanwhile I dabbled in retail management, worked briefly as a sales rep, and also worked in payroll.
He worked in a fulfilling career first on jet fighters, then on helicopter engines. When that fizzled he wanted to continue a career in aviation, so we moved to Winnipeg. After graduating Brian had an opportunity to work with a foreign aircraft company in Saskatoon. My husband and I grew up in Saskatoon and both graduated from the U of S – Brian from Mechanical Engineering and me from the now defunct College of Home Economics (even if it doesn’t exist anymore hopefully my degree still counts for something). We have three kids: Graham (14), Madeline (11), and Paul (7). I’m 44 years old and I have been married to my husband for almost 21 years (yikes!). Even when I see it in print it is still hard to believe! First I will give you a little background. Hi all! My name is Wendy Korchinski and I have been selected this year’s Beautiful You candidate. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected.