Estevan woman aims to donate to Sask. charities through cover girl competition

As a mother of two and a support worker in her day-to-day life, Christie-Lee Sinclair never thought she’d be in the running to become a cover girl.

But in early January, that all changed. That’s when her friends began tagging her in a social media post asking for women worldwide to enter the Miss Jetset Model Competition.

“I was kind of doubting if I was going to do it or not because I didn’t think that I was able to participate in something like that — it was a bit out of my league,” Sinclair said of her initial thoughts. “Then I thought, ‘If my friends believe in me enough to do this, then I’m going to go for it.’ ”

From there, the Estevan woman gathered up some photos of herself and submitted an application. Once it was accepted, the countdown was on until the voting period.

To her surprise, in the first couple rounds, Sinclair hovered at the top of the leaderboard, rising above thousands of others and ultimately capturing first place in the round of voting last week. That pushed her into the quarterfinals this week among 500-plus women around the world.

Christie-Lee Sinclair, a mother of two from Estevan, says being in the running for the Miss Jetset Model 2020 Competition has made her a stronger and more confident parent. (Deanna Brown Photography)

People are able to vote online for free or by donation with proceeds going to the B+ Foundation, a non-profit that helps kids and their families dealing with pediatric cancer.

Quarterfinal voting closes Thursday.

The grand prize winner, who will be crowned March 12, is to pose on the cover of Jetset Magazine and receive $50,000.

If Sinclair moves on and wins it all next month, she wants to initially donate half the cash to the United Way in Estevan and North Battleford (her hometown), Kinsmen Telemiracle and the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon.

As for the rest, Sinclair plans to save it as a “backup charity fund” for whenever there’s a need.

“Sometimes you’ll hear on the radio that the food bank has an emergency shortage and they have nothing — that’s where I can step in and say, ‘Hey, I’ve got you. I’ve got $2,000 and I’m going to give it to you,’ ” she explained.

Sinclair noted her motivation to help others stems from the personal struggles she faced growing up.

“We had no money for bills, we had no food — we struggled. We had some very, very hard times, so it does hit home for me,” she said. “When you walk into the food bank when you’re 15 and you feel like you shouldn’t be there, you almost feel ashamed.”

A year later, Sinclair said she dropped out of high school to help provide for her family.

“When I needed the help the most, I was too ashamed to ask for it — and usually those ones who need it the most never ask,” she said. “Now, I want to be able to give back.”

Regardless of whether Sinclair gets to pose in a cover shoot, she said it’s taught her to be an even healthier role model to her kids and that makes the experience worthwhile.

“It has made me a little more stronger and more confident,” she said. “I never used to put myself out there and now I wake up with a whole new vibe, where I’m like, ‘I got this.’ ”

However, with her family and community behind her, Sinclair said she’s not ready to give up the dream just yet.

“If I won it all, it would definitely be amazing because then I could do the things that I want to do for our province. It would be so inspiring,” she said. “It’s that (feeling of), ‘You could come from nothing but can still make something of yourself if you work hard enough and believe in yourself.’ “