It wasn’t long until I started packing on the pounds. I began to look at what I ate and made some simple changes. Although I started eating a more balanced diet, I came to realise that whilst everything on my menu looked and tasted great, a lot of it had been genetically modified – this means that even when you are eating ‘healthy’ foods, their natural state has been altered and they are missing many of the vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that are essential for optimum health. I had changed my eating habits but still couldn’t shift much of the weight I had gained, and at my heaviest I weighed 78 kilograms.

On a trip to Fiji, I looked at myself in my bikini in the hotel mirror and was horrified by my own reflection. Not only was I overweight, but I also looked unhealthy, and most importantly, I looked unhappy. I didn’t recognise the sad person staring back at me; my trademark big smile and bright eyes had lost their twinkle. As soon as I returned from my holiday, I decided to take up my product regime again and within a few months I had lost more than half the weight I had gained over those two years. By 2013 not only had I lost all the weight and more, I also managed to keep it off and take up a successful modelling career. I have now fronted national and international campaigns, I walked in one of the biggest fashion shows in the world, New York Fashion week; twice! I was also made face of fashion week Australia and won Miss Australia 2016 for a top tier pageant where I placed 11th out of 82 girls wining Miss Oceania.