INTO BATTLE

If you’d have told my younger self that I would fight for my country, I’d have called you crazy. Me in the military? Never in a million years. I cared more about cutting hair than training for war.

Pageantry was never a goal of mine, either. Whilst I’ve always loved getting glam, I’m far too shy to be in the spotlight! And yet, here I am–a 32-year-old ex-military businesswoman, dipping my combat boots into the world of pageant queens.

When I was in my teens, I was hired as a hairdressing apprentice in a local hair salon in Scotland. For nine years, I cut, styled and blow-dried