'Strong flowing hair is part of my Inuit heritage.'

Earlier this year, 22-year old Arnaituk Menarick-Gagnon from Kuujjuaraapik entered Dove Canada's competition to be a model for the company's new promotional hair-care magazine, Shine.

Now her photo is featured prominently in the magazine. Menarick-Gagnon beat out nearly 6,000 hopefuls.

Menarick-Gagnon, who is one year away from completing a degree in sociology at Montreal's Concordia University, says the experience was great – even if she wasn't completely prepared to see herself in Shine.

"Put yourself out there, and you might get the rewards you weren't expecting," is her advice.

Dove has become known – and praised – for its use of "real" women, who are not professional models, to promote its hygiene and hair products. The company's first "real beauty" campaign was developed after research showed women felt intimidated and depressed by skinny advertising models.

Dove now promotes its products using non-professional models who enjoy themselves as they are, while using the company's products.

"I saw a commercial saying ‘come to dove.ca and enter in your picture,' so I got up early on the weekend and thought ‘what am I going to do?' and I went on the website," Menarick-Gagnon said.

Menarick-Gagnon has a healthy head of glossy hair. When applying online to be a model, she told Dove that when her hair looks good she feels like she can take on the world.

Menarick-Gagnon says she was shocked when Dove ended up calling her back. She went to Toronto in mid-April where she and other finalists went through a rigorous interview process.

Finalists were told they would learn if they would go on to a photo shoot by a note under their hotel room doors.

"I was sitting there for I don't know how long, waiting to see if I would go home or not," Menarick-Gagnon says.

Menarick-Gagnon was one of a handful to get the go-ahead. The next day, she had beauty treatments at a spa, a professional make-up session and hair styling to prepare her for the magazine photo shoot.

The photos of Menarick-Gagnon and the other finalists are featured prominently in "Shine." Its cover page headline promotes "Canada's flair for diverse hair – a gallery of real women and real styles" – and Arnaituk's hair looks undeniably lovely.

"Strong flowing hair is part of my Inuit heritage," says Menarick-Gagnon in Shine.

Her profile says that she "can always count on my hair to be soft and shiny…my hair expresses who I am and where I came from, and when my hair is beautiful, I feel like I can do anything."

Menarick-Gagnon, who is working for Air Inuit this summer in Kuujjuaraapik, admits she's a bit shy about her new fame as a "real" model.

But if Dove calls her again, she says she'd be ready to work again.

You can see Menarick-Gagnon's debut as a model for yourself at www.dovehair.ca/shine.