Last updated at 09:13, Monday, 02 July 2012

Natasha Cooper is without doubt someone you’d notice if you passed her in the street.

Natasha Cooper

She’s immaculately dressed, has striking looks and is brimming with confidence. But there isn’t any hint of arrogance and once you stop and talk to her it’s clear there’s more to her than meets the eye.

Not only does she have a degree in IT solutions and her career is important to her, she is proud of her success in pageants and is determined to make people understand what they are all about.

This down to earth ‘girl next door’ hasn’t always been so confident though.

Growing up in the spectacular surroundings of Eskdale, in the western Lakes, she admits she was perfectly at home mucking out the horses and wearing muddy wellies.

So it was a shock to go to secondary school at Wyndham School, Egremont, away from these secure surroundings, and she did have confidence issues.

The world of beauty pageants and modelling wasn’t a realistic ambition at this stage.

“I lived a quite sheltered life growing up,” she admits. “I had my first pony when I was six and we kept chickens, sheep and dogs.

“I’m a girl from the country and never thought about modelling.

“One of my mum’s friends said to her when I was about nine that she thought she had ‘a catch’ with me.

“I was never bothered about the way I looked though.

“I was happy being a child. I was behind others my age, I wasn’t interested in boys and make-up.”

As she grew older she started to like the idea and her nana Roberta arranged for her to go for work experience at Premier Model Management, one of the top modelling agencies in London.

“My family wanted me to travel the world and meet lots of new people,” she says. “I was never pushed and my mum leaves it up to me.”

While she was involved in office work at the agency the experience made her realise that agencies preferred girls who were at least 5ft 10 with a 23-24 inch waist – and at 5ft 8 she probably wouldn’t make the grade.

“I knew I’d never be that,” she admits. “At the time it was something I really wanted to do so it did get me down but I didn’t feel the need to do anything about it.

“I have never been unhappy with the way I look or my size.”

When she was 16 the owner of Vanilla, a clothes shop in Whitehaven, organised a competition and wanted about 50 girls to model at the Maritime event – and she was chosen.

“We got our hair and make-up done,” she remembers. “I loved it.

“I was on a high after that.”

Then she found out about the Miss Cumbria competition but admits she didn’t know what she was getting herself into when she entered in 2008.

The girls have to do their own publicity before the top 10 winners are chosen, through a text vote, to go through to the final at Armathwaite Hall.

After making the final 10 she had to walk up and down in front of the judges and be interviewed and was overwhelmed when her name was announced as the winner.

“I didn’t know what to expect and didn’t think I’d win,” she laughs. “I was whisked off to a live interview on Border Television.

“I don’t think it had hit me.

“It all happened so quickly.”

At the time she was studying for a foundation degree in ITC and although she had braces on her teeth to pull an adult tooth into place she says she wasn’t conscious about it.

Natasha, 23, is keen to get across that this type of pageant is more than a beauty or modelling competition as the judges are looking for an ambassador who will raise the profile of the area and can promote a healthy image.

“Nobody seems to focus on this,” says Natasha, who now lives in Seascale. “They think it’s all just about wearing bikinis and I’ve had people tell me I’m fake.

“I think people who have never been in the industry will pre-judge.

“They think we’re all bimbos and trying to chase celebrity status.

“I don’t see why it should be frowned upon.

“I don’t want other girls go be put off.”

She says she has thrived personally since winning the competition.

“It gave me so much confidence at that point in my life as it helped me when I was giving presentations when I was doing my degree, and I was also student speaker.

“It opened the door for me to something I didn’t think was possible.

“My year as Miss Cumbria was lovely, I have such fond memories.”

As winner of Miss Cumbria she had won a place at the Miss England competition in London and the winner of this then goes on to the Miss World competition.

Natasha clearly remembers going to a photo shoot with all the other 50 contestants from the regional heats.

“I felt like a little country mouse,” she says. “I felt like all the others knew what they were doing.

“We were judged by different companies such as Pretty Polly, who were looking for girls to model their tights.

“I don’t think it just gets handed to anyone.

“The winners of Miss England have to work hard for it.”

After making it to the semi-finals of Miss England this year, Natasha is determined to give herself one last chance of winning, as the age limit is 24.

“It’s what the judges are looking for on that day and it can totally change,” she explains. “Many girls who win will have competed before.

“They want someone who has seen all the different areas of the business.

“After my first Miss England I thought I’d go away and compete and get the knowledge.

“Miss England is the competition that’s in my heart and it’s my goal.

“Once you’ve got past the first stage it’s out of your control so you just need to enjoy it and not put pressure on yourself.”

While Natasha says she was more conscious about what she ate, started going to the gym and had hair extensions for the first, and only, time before Miss England, she has never been obsessed with the way she looks.

“I do love getting dressed up but when I’m at home I can’t wait to put my jogging pants on,” she says. “I don’t mind going out without make-up on either.”

Natasha has travelled up and down the UK for pageants and a couple of years ago responded to an advert that she later discovered was for a part in The Only Way Is Essex.

She was chosen as part of a group of 30 to be auditioned and now looks back on the experience with a smile.

“They were trying to find someone else for the show,” she says. “I’m glad I didn’t get chosen, I don’t think they’d have liked my muddy wellies!”

Last year she also went to Manchester to be auditioned for Britain and Ireland’s Next Top Model, in front of superstar model and judge Elle Macpherson.

It was an experience that reminded her that at a size eight she is too big for the catwalk but too small for what she says is ‘plus size’ modelling – at size 10 or 12.

“Girls were crying because they didn’t get through,” she recalls. “I’m a realist and know I’m too big to be a catwalk model.

“I don’t fit into any category.

“It’s frustrating but pageants will teach me more as a person than modelling because you’re encouraged to be an ambassador.

“As a model I wouldn’t have a voice.

“At pageants you’re looked upon as a whole person but as a model it’s purely the way you look – so pageants fit my character.”

It has always been important for Natasha to get her career off the ground rather than just chasing the modelling dream and after her foundation degree she did a top up degree at the University of Cumbria in IT solutions and now works as a record specialist.

She is also genuinely passionate about using her role in pageants to promote Cumbria, after modelling at Essex Fashion Week.

“We could have something like this in Cumbria and this is something I’d like to pursue,” she explains. “We could bring a bit of glamour into the countryside.

“We have lots of girls who could model clothes by local designers.

“I hate seeing local boutiques close down or designers moving away.”

As well as these ambitions, there’s also the matter of a wedding to plan as her boyfriend of seven years, Adam Kelly, proposed on her birthday earlier this month.

First published at 08:58, Saturday, 30 June 2012
Published by http://www.newsandstar.co.uk