Jaime VandenBerg

VandenBerg spent much of her childhood in Coaldale, and graduated from the University of Lethbridge with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, concentrating in legal reasoning.^[2][3] She applied to Law School in 2025.^[4][5]

In 2021, after surviving gender-based violence in Colombia, she advocated and campaigned to raise funds and awareness for women's shelters in Canada and Mexico. She received the Diana Award for her advocacy.^[6][7][8]

In 2022, she co-founded Canadian Herstory, a non-profit focused on Canadian women's history, and received the Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal for her community work.^[8][9]

In 2024, she launched Peaks for a Purpose under the Miss World Beauty with a Purpose program.^[10]

VandenBerg had previously competed in the Miss Universe Canada pageant twice, first in 2015 and again in 2020.^{[11][12][13][14]} She withdrew from Miss Earth 2018, citing sexual harassment during the competition.^[15][16][17] In 2020, she was named Miss International Canada.^[18] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent postponement of the Miss International pageant, she was unable to compete.^[19] On 3 October 2021, in Vaughan, Ontario, VandenBerg won Miss World Canada 2021, and went on to represent Canada at Miss World 2023, where she reached the top 40.^{[20][21][22][23]}

On 9 August 2025, in Windsor, Ontario, VandenBerg won Miss Universe Canada 2025.^[24][25] She represented Canada at Miss Universe 2025, and finished in the top 30.^{[26][27][28][29][30]} After the pageant, she revealed that she had competed while being 4 months pregnant.^[31] The Miss Universe Canada organization had relaxed its long-standing eligibility requirements in 2024 by eliminating the 28 year old age cap and allowing both mothers and married women to compete.^[32] On 2 March 2026, she announced that she was four months pregnant. VandenBerg kept the pregnancy a secret in order to keep the attention focused on her advocacy work.^[33] The timing of the pregnancy was reported to coincide with the Miss Universe 2025 competition period.^[34][35][36]

Vandenberg is in a relationship with Aaron Hernandez, and they have one child.^[37][38]