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I thought it might be a good move to get into a beauty contest so I tried for Miss Pennsylvania and won. I think that helped me get noticed, at least by the people of Pennsylvania.

Shortly thereafter, some friends encouraged me to try out for the Miss South Carolina World beauty pageant. To my surprise, I won - and was sent to New York City to compete nationally.

Back in the day after I won my first pageant there was an agency that was getting me work on the side.

I was shopping with my mother in 2006 and saw that there was a model casting going on. A couple of months later, I was one of the fifteen finalists in an international contest.

I never thought of a career of as a model, and it was a total surprise for me when I won the contest and became Miss Chelyabinsk. Then I started modelling in Paris.

I am so not a pageant girl, but I signed up for the Miss Junior Florida contest because I thought it would be good experience.

When I was a teenager, me and a couple of my friends entered a couple of modeling competitions just for fun, and one of those got me an agent in Sydney.

I was in a modeling contest when I was 16. People don't think it's different, modeling versus beauty pageants, but it is. As a model, you're still an individual. When you are crowned a Miss, you are representative of a lot.

I was scouted at a Cure concert. A model scout approached me there and asked me if I modeled, and I thought that was ludicrous.

I don't wear much makeup, except during work. I felt lucky to be chosen to be a model. I used to joke, 'The next best thing to winning the lottery is having a beauty contract.'