Juliette Powell, a former MuchMusic host and first Black Miss Canada, dead at 54

Nick Logan · CBC News

· Posted: Jun 10, 2025 5:43 PM EDT | Last Updated: 1 hr ago

Juliette Powell, a erstwhile MuchMusic big and the archetypal Black pistillate to beryllium crowned Miss Canada, has died astatine the property of 54. 

Powell, who was born in New York but moved to Montreal arsenic a child with her French Canadian mother, died unexpectedly on June 3 aft falling sick with acute bacterial meningitis, according to an obituary posted online. 

She became a VJ for MusiquePlus, the French-language counterpart to MuchMusic, successful 1992 and hosted the channel's the play creation euphony show Bouge de là! portion she was a concern pupil astatine Montreal's McGill University.

Powell past moved implicit to the English transmission to big its popular Friday nighttime creation euphony amusement Electric Circus from 1996 to 2000 and the Francophone euphony amusement French Kiss. 

She was an economics pupil astatine the University of Toronto during her clip astatine MuchMusic.

WATCH | Juliette Powell connected MuchMusic's Electric Circus:

Former colleagues retrieve Powell

Her erstwhile MuchMusic colleagues remembered her connected societal media Tuesday aft quality of her decease emerged. 

Former big Master T said helium was "blessed" to enactment with Powell. 

"Your bouncy affirmative vigor volition beryllium missed. Rest easy, Juliette Powell! Gone excessively soon!" helium wrote successful a station connected his Instagram story above a photograph of Powell sitting connected a power country table with a grin connected her face. 

"Rest successful a peaceful celestial party," Sook-Yin Lee, different erstwhile VJ and erstwhile CBC Radio host, said successful an Instagram story post.

"Before I was a VJ, I was a fan. Watching MuchMusic arsenic overmuch arsenic I could. Juliette was truthful cool, truthful French cool. I enjoyed her scope of roles, particularly connected Electric Circus. Such bittersweet quality here," Jennifer Hollett, a erstwhile VJ and enforcement manager of The Walrus, wrote connected X. 

After MuchMusic, Powell started arsenic a concern newsman for Toronto quality transmission CP24 and besides founded a media and consulting institution that led her to nutrient diagnostic interviews with a scope of salient people, including Nelson Mandela, Steven Spielberg and Janet Jackson. 

Powell broke crushed successful quality pageant world

Prior to her being a fixture connected Canadian television, Powell broke crushed successful the quality pageant satellite erstwhile she was crowned Miss Canada 1989, successful October 1988, past represented Canada successful the Miss Universe pageant the pursuing May. 

Her obituary says she was "motivated by a tendency to situation radical biases successful quality pageants."

At the clip of her crowning, Powell said she was arrogant to beryllium the archetypal mixed contention idiosyncratic to triumph the pageant. 

She said that she would "gladly service arsenic a relation exemplary for some achromatic and Black Canadians" and that her triumph was "a large impervious of multiculturalism successful this country," according to an nonfiction by The Canadian Press published by the Montreal Gazette connected Nov. 1, 1988.

When she crowned her successor a twelvemonth later, Powell said the champion portion of being Miss Canada was seeing however overmuch she had "developed and gained" during her reign. 

WATCH | The infinitesimal Juliette Powell becomes archetypal Black Miss Canada successful 1989:

A caller vocation path

Powell's interests in technology and morals led her connected a caller vocation way aft her clip arsenic a tv big and reporter.

She worked successful advisory roles for the United Nations, World Bank and World Economic Forum.

She studied astatine Columbia University and graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor of arts successful sociology.

She joined New York University's telecommunications module successful 2021 and co-founded the New York-based consultancy steadfast Kleiner Powell International successful 2024.

She was a keynote talker arsenic good as a commentator, appearing connected CBC News, NBC, BBC and different Canadian and U.S. networks, sharing her expertise connected issues similar privacy, cybersecurity and unconscious bias successful technology. 

She had 2 books to her name: 2009's 33 Million People successful the Room: How to Create, Influence, and Run a Successful Business Using Social Networking and The AI Dilemma: 7 Principles for Responsible Technology, which she co-authored successful 2023.

But beyond her career, her friendships were wherever she had "the astir impact," her obituary reads. 

"Juliette had a magical mode of drafting radical successful with her infectious enthusiasm, and her superb quality and gorgeous grin lit up each country she ever entered. Her nonaccomplishment is devastating and she volition beryllium deeply, painfully missed by truthful many."