Vanessa Vakharia

**Vanessa Vakharia** was a contestant on Season 3.

## Background

*Retrieved from CBC.ca*

A strong, independent businesswoman, Vanessa wasn’t always the “Math Guru” she is today. In fact, she failed Grade 11 math twice, before overcoming the challenge and going on to become a math teacher herself with a Masters degree in Math Education from UBC. Her mission is to change the stereotype of math and science from being the domain of nerds, especially for young women who she hopes can see from her own path in the field that logical intelligence can come in any package.

Her left-brain is just as strong as her right, as she has always been an artist and beyond her math-related degrees has a Graphic Design diploma.

Vanessa also rocks the keytar in her indie rock band “Goodnight, Sunrise”, for which she both performs and also composes music. Vanessa can’t wait to show the girls who are watching that being both smart and artsy isn’t just possible – it’s also very cool!

## Episode 303

As Vanessa entered the stage with her competitors, a clip of her and the other five contestants, Rebecca Bromwich, Frankie Cena, Ryan Coelho, Gwyneth Foster, and Maria Samson, introducing themselves was shown. In this clip, Vanessa stated that she wants to show people that smart has a variety of shapes, faces, and voices. In the first challenge, the Speed Round, Vanessa received an overall percentage score of 51%. As a result, Vanessa finished in 4th place and was awarded 1 overall point.

With the first challenge and the resulting double elimination out of the way, a more elaborate clip presenting Vanessa, Frankie, Ryan, and Maria in that order was shown. In this clip, Vanessa stated that people call her the "Math Guru" because she has the ability to make anyone understand math. In the second challenge, Broken Register, Vanessa got 2 correct answers. As a result, Vanessa finished in 3rd place and was awarded 2 overall points.

In the third challenge, Colour Blender, Vanessa got 3 correct answers. As a result, Vanessa finished in 2nd place and was awarded 3 overall points.

In the fourth challenge, Screen Test, Vanessa was the last contestant to pitch her film and she had to pitch a science fiction film with a double agent protagonist and with aliens living amongst earthlings at the end of it. She said, "Let me begin by saying that this'll be Lindsay Lohan's comeback film. So here's how it's going down... So it's like a *Mean Girls* scenario, takes place in a small quiet town in Ontario, Lindsay Lohan's the new girl much like she was in *Mean Girls*. However, there are a bunch of psychotic mean girls and the whole time they think there's something really weird about these girls. Okay, now these girls though, there's weird stuff going on, like, they have weird stuff attached to their face and I'm not just talking about weird plastic surgery or botox, I'm talking about, like, weird little looks in their eyes and, like, weird things they do and their clothes don't fit quite right. Cut to the very end, okay, where, one day at a singing competition, one of them trips and falls, their skin falls off, and it turns out that they're all aliens!" Guest judge Ivan Reitman commented that Vanessa's enthusiasm was effective and that it is useful when pitching a film. Ivan ranked Vanessa in 2nd place for her pitch and Vanessa was awarded 6 overall points as a result. After the first four challenges, Vanessa had received a total of 12 overall points. As a result, she finished in 3rd place and was eliminated from the competition. Jessi prompted applause for Vanessa in spite of her elimination.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 https://www.cbc.ca/smartestperson/participants/vanessa-vak