Ashley Callingbull, a 25-year-old member of the Enoch Cree Nation in Alberta, is a member of the Cree First Nations. Through her volunteer work with community elders and aboriginal adolescents, she has demonstrated her deep devotion to her native Cree culture and the people of her village. Ashley had earned all of Enoch’s princess crowns in a row by the time she was 10 years old. She has appeared in the Nutcracker and has extensive training in ballet, jazz, and pointe.
Ashley’s passion for the theatre led her to star in a commercial for The Hudson Bay, and she has since made guest appearances in TV miniseries, performed in innumerable stage productions, and provided her voice for animated films. She has recurring roles in the shows Blackstone (APTN), Showcase (Canada), Maori Television (New Zealand), and Hulu (USA).
Ashley had recurring roles in two CBC shows: Catch The Dream and the 8th Fire Series. Her early commitment to performing and dancing was indicative of the career path she would follow as a young adult. Ashley competed in the Miss Universe Canada 2010 pageant in June of 2010 and came in second place. She breaks new ground as the first woman from the Cree First Nations to accomplish this.
She reached out to the community as a contestant for Miss Universe Canada in 2010, visiting hospitals and schools to share her story. Ashley’s personal experience with loss has motivated her to give back to her community by volunteering at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, participating in the Walk for the Cure and the Run for the Lung, and mentoring disadvantaged Aboriginal youngsters.
In addition to working as a paediatric nurse at the Stollery Children’s Hospital, Ashley is also the Youth Representative for the Stollery Family Centered Care Network. In 2010, Ashley was crowned Miss Canada, and she travelled the world competing in beauty pageants for Canada in places like China, Europe, and Barbados. Ashley also serves as a keynote speaker and role model at events such as conferences, workshops, and award ceremonies throughout the world.
To name just a few of her speaking engagements, Ashley has been the featured speaker at TED Talks and WE Day, as well as at Harvard University in Boston for an All Ivy Native Council. Ashley earned the Role Model Award at the Dreamcatcher Gala and the Top 20 Under 30 Award in Canada in recognition of her hard work and charity activity. When the United Nations celebrated Global Dignity Day in October 2015, Ashley was honoured as a role model.
This year’s Mrs. Universe, Ashley, is also a staunch advocate for First Nations’ rights and environmental problems in her own Canada, where she resides as the reigning Mrs. Universe. Ashley works as a model and spokeswoman for the Nike N7 group.
Life and career
The son of Cree parents, Callingbull was born in the Enoch Cree Nation of Alberta, not far from Edmonton. She had won all of Enoch’s princess crowns in her neighbourhood in a row by the time she was ten years old. She was only 16 when she completed her high school education. Soon after, she enrolled in college with the intention of earning a BA in drama, communications, and acting/television.
In 2010, Callingbull also represented Canada at the Queen of the World Final in Germany and was crowned Miss Canada at the Miss Friendship International Pageant in Hubei, China. In addition, in October 2011, she competed for Canada at Miss Humanity International in Barbados. In the 2015 Canadian federal election, she utilised her notoriety to advocate for the First Nations band administrations to vote against the Conservative Party.
As stated by Callingbull, First Nation problems must be front and centre during the campaign. For Mrs. Universe, she donned an outfit made by Lesley Hampton to call attention to the plight of murdered and missing Indigenous women. In the May 2022 issue of Sports Illustrated, she made history as the first Indigenous woman to grace the cover. She plays Sheila Delaronde, an actress, on the TV show Blackstone.
Personal life
For her part, Callingbull has “sadly, I never got to have the picture-perfect upbringing that so many people yearn for. I was mostly raised by my maternal grandparents after my own parents abandoned me when I was a baby… My upbringing was challenging, but it has helped me appreciate the blessings in my life and, most significantly, shaped me into the confident woman I am today.”
A girl, her horse and her black hat in the middle of the desert @santafeindianmarket 🎩✨🪶
Photographer: @robertjohnkley
Stylist: @christiemoeller
Stylist Assistant: @wonderweekes
Hair & Makeup: @kolorartistry pic.twitter.com/z9U3Qrq04r— Ashley Callingbull (@AshCallingbull) August 18, 2022
Calmingbull tied the knot with Ryan Burnham in the Bahamas in February of 2015. Later on, the couple ended up getting a divorce. Callingbull claims that the Mrs. Universe pageant’s focus on ending domestic violence drew her to enter. She explained that she felt qualified to talk on the topic since she could relate to listeners and had personal experience with the issue. “
I’m honoured to have this position, which allows me to advocate on behalf of those who are unable to do so,” he said. She says that she was able to recover and find herself through reconnecting with her First Nation culture. Callingbull proposed to Wacey Rabbit, a hockey player, in June of 2021. Later that year, in September, the pair tied the knot.
