She's Got the Look Models

Three weeks to the day of my divorce, I found myself in front of three icons of the fashion industry. As anyone who has been divorced can tell you, it's one of the most stressful, gut-wrenching experiences that one can have. Hearing Sean Patterson tell me that I am one of the most beautiful women who's auditioned for She's Got The Look changed the way I think about myself. Robert saying that I had the potential to be very successful was a confidence booster like no other, and when Beverly said that I would be a great project for them, I really wanted to become that project. I wanted to be the successful, confident model that they told me I could be.

When I got to New York and met the 20 finalists, I knew I was in for some stiff competition. The night before the first challenge I had dinner with Raquel, Melba and Angela. They were great women, but my thoughts wandered that night. To me Raquel was the one to beat: She has beautiful skin, a great smile and a strong, confident personality. 

Why all the tears? I've always been an emotional person. To be taken out of my normal life (which had just fallen apart) and dropped in the amazing modeling world, the world that I had always dreamed of being a part of, was overwhelming. For that first challenge the final 20 of us were ushered onto the soundstage, and suddenly Kim Alexis was standing in front of me. I couldn't believe that me, Shelly Marks, a mom from boring suburban Ohio was standing in front of an ICONIC super model. She was awe-inspiring!  I always wondered if I could have been a supermodel if I had tried.

When Kim said LeeAnne was "on the board" as the 10th girl, I was already walking away without a tear. "Win some, lose some," I was thinking. "I'm just going to go back to the life I had planned before this show. I'm still a great mom. I have two amazing kids to go home to. This competition just wasn't meant to be for me - it's not my time yet."

Then Sean called me back to the stage and told me that I'm one of the most beautiful women he's ever seen during SGTL. I felt that I was already the winner.

I was the 11th girl - they'd made an exception for me. Being last I did not feel as though I was the underdog, although the other 10 made sure to let me know that I was. Either I'm New York material or not, but whether I'm the first girl on the board or the last I'm just as much a part of this competition as the others. I had something that none of the other girls had: a connection with Sean. How could I lose after that?