At age 21, the Etobicoke native is about to enter her final year of a double major in International Relations and Peace and Conflict Studies at the University of Toronto, where she's also involved in Students For International Development and holds a job as a research assistant in the Political Science department; she's currently working as a summer intern in the premier's office at Queen's Park; she volunteers with the World Bank's Youth Development and Peace Network; she was an Etobicoke-Lakeshore youth captain for Michael Ignatieff's Liberal leadership campaign; she hopes to pursue a Masters degree in the United States (Harvard is one of her top three choices) - and she recently qualified to represent the region in her very first foray into beauty pageantry.
"This is the first pageant I've ever been involved in," Mohammed said, noting that she does modelling on the side to help pay her way through school and it was her agency that set her up in the competition.
"Growing up, if you were to ask me if this is the kind of thing I'd be involved in, I would have said that'd be a negative...I was the only 11-year-old with a map of the world and a list of all the different UN internships in her backpack - in fact, I had a whole binder. So while I never saw myself doing this, I've found out that it's a lot more than walking around in a ball gown."
One of the big draws of the pageant for Mohammed was the opportunity to raise awareness of and funds for a charity organization of her choice - the Students For International Development group she travelled to Kenya with. There for a month and a half, she and eight of her classmates worked alongside various non-government organizations to prepare for a set of six targeted development projects for the North Maragoli community, taught cultural studies and creative writing courses in two rural secondary schools, helped treat 3,500 children for common diseases free of charge, partnered with local HIV/AIDS support groups and the District Health Officer to offer two free testing/counseling clinics and HIV/AIDS Conferences for local youth in and out of school.
"It was magical how it all came about. We were just a student group who had no experience, but with a lot of determination and some hard work, the next thing we knew we had a $50,000 program on our hands," she said.
"I grew a lot and I learned how to be happy. Living here, it's easy to get distracted by the latest trends or movies, but when you live in a place where there isn't safe water, where the lady next door has AIDS but won't let her children be tested, all that other background stuff doesn't matter anymore...and the people there are genuinely happy. They can derive joy from the simple company of a good friend."
In using the Miss Canada Globe stage to bring attention to charitable organizations, Mohammed said the face of beauty pageants is changing for the better, but she still laments the continued existence of the bikini competition - she never even owned one until her tryouts for the regional qualifier last December.
"Pageants aren't what they used to be, and there's a surprising amount of work involved," she said, noting her weekly commitments to various pageant training lessons. "I had to learn how to walk, how to talk, public speaking skills, how to style myself. It's really hard work, you'd be surprised."
Competing against 24 other women from across the country, Mohammed will put her newfound strutting and styling skills to good use during Miss Canada Globe's three-day competition (from Aug. 22 to 24) at the Leah Posluns Theatre (4588 Bathurst St.).
And what about that world peace question?
"It's not always up to political leaders. We're all decision makers. That's what I learned in Kenya and that's why I'm attracted to development work," she said. "If you look at the heart of any armed dispute, more often than not underdevelopment issues play a large role. So if you can address and resolve poverty issues before a conflict breaks out, there wouldn't be that need to take up arms. It all goes back to that."