The Arnold Model Search really is a once in a lifetime opportunity. The rush of adrenaline from start to finish, is a high that can’t be completely described, but I promise to do my best! When I initially submitted my profile to be considered in the AMS, I wasn’t confident that I would even be pushed through the 1st round. Simply because there are so many beautiful, gorgeous, and confident women who have HUGE social media followings that have already entered into this competition. With some encouragement from my then fiance, I decided to take that leap and, in the words of Shai LeBuf”, “Just Do It.” From there it was a waiting game, but I can’t tell you how excited I was when I got that email confirming my entry into the voting round. It as surreal. The amount of support I received from friends, family, and my social media family just blew me away. I had no idea how many people actually believed in me and had faith in me and my abilities to represent them all up on that stage.

Then came show day. That day came and went in a blink of an eye. Once the day of the AMS started, it all kinda felt like a blur, but a blur that I have engrained into my memory. I was just excited and blessed to have been on that stage with all of those amazing women. It didn’t matter if I won or not. Just being on that stage was enough of me. To go through the rounds of changing and doing our routine, it was such an amazing thing to go through. Once we had all done our routines and they were calling us to our positions, I remember looking out into the crowd and just being blown away by the amount of support that we all had in that crowd. It was the most humbling experience. They called each woman up 1 by 1 to their respective positions on the podium and when I wasn’t called for any of them, I was honestly not surprised because everyone did such an amazing job and had such power and poise. So when then called me as the winner of the 2019 AMS, it took my brain a whole 3 seconds to comprehend what was just said. You can even see the lightbulb turn on in my head in the video.

Standing up there shoulder to shoulder next to these women that I thought I didn’t even come close to was so humbling and just pure awe. I am forever grateful for the judges that saw something special in me, to my coach, friends, and family who supported me through the whole journey. The opportunities that followed were amazing. Everything really is what you make of it.