I was 16 when I entered Miss West Yorkshire. My mother had competed in the event at the same age so I thought why not give it a go.

I didn’t win but I was a runner up and I ended up receiving a lot of attention on social media.

After the competition,  I ended up working full-time in the modelling industry, including featuring in advertisements for gyms and music videos.

I was extremely busy and travelling all over. Some days I would leave the house at 6am and not get back until 11pm – some weeks I would go seven days without a break.

It got extremely tiring and I felt I couldn’t do it forever. This was when I knew I had to cut down and start another career that I wanted to do for the long term.

I had always been interested in biology at school and despite not knowing exactly what I wanted to do, I knew it would be something in healthcare.

After taking my GCSEs I applied to do A levels in Biology, Physical Education and Mathematics. I was thinking about a healthcare degree but I really wanted to find a job and go straight out to work.

I was only weeks away from taking  A levels when I saw a vacancy for a dental nurse apprentice.

I did a bit of research about the job and apprenticeships and found I could study for a career, gain experience and get paid at the same time. It sounded too good to be true especially because it was a career I hadn’t even thought about. I applied immediately, got my first ever job interview and was offered the apprenticeship.

I knew straight away this is what I wanted so I accepted without hesitation.

I started my dental nursing training in September 2017, working four and a half days per week and studying half a day with a one-to-one tutor along with help from the qualified nurses at my practice, West Park Dental Practice. I have such fond memories of my time there and I was so excited to be a real professional in my uniform.

I was still able to model in the evenings and at the weekends, it was the best of both worlds. I’d be assisting the dentist transform peoples’ smiles in the comfiest of scrubs and Crocs for half the day then I’d be in beautiful clothes and heels for the rest.

No day was ever the same, there was so much variety, diverse treatments, assisting different dental professionals and rotation around job roles. After two years I completed my training and was so proud to call myself a dental nurse. I knew then it was time to set a new goal to progress my skills further.

I went on to work as a dental implant nurse assisting the implant dentist clinically and using social media to post before and after pictures of treatments. I also studied to be able to perform sedation as requested.

After four years in that role, I found specialist dental nursing recruiter SmileWisdom and felt inspired to help other people find their dream careers after experiencing this for myself.

I plan to remain in the dental industry while still taking up the odd modelling job.