Nina Cash's life motto is, "It's never too late," and it certainly fared her well when she decided at 57, to enter 's rookie modelling competition. "I would never have had the courage to enter the competition in my twenties or thirties, but at 57, I felt more confident and comfortable in my own skin and able take the leap and enter," Nina tells HELLO!. Nina was named one of the seven winners of the competition, and now calls modelling her 'encore career', following a work life that saw her earn a doctorate in educational leadership.
"As a life-long learner, I am enjoying the process of learning about the modelling industry," Nina says of her latest challenge. "I have met some wonderful, supportive people who have been so encouraging. "I look at Apo Whang Od, who was on the cover of Philippine Vogue last year at the age of 106, and Iris Apfel, who signed with a modelling agency at 97, and realise there is still a chance for me, in my late fifties, to be on the cover of a fashion magazine.
" "Life experience has definitely helped in building my confidence," Nina says of where she found the courage to enter the modelling competition. "As you grow older, you begin to understand what matters to you and what doesn't. What matters to me is how I feel about myself at the end of the day.
It truly is none of my business what others think of me." That said, Nina notes that she's had a huge confidence boost since winning the competition. "I am a minority, 57-year-old, grey haired, disable.