One Miss Waimarama hopeful wants to show that you don't have to be a stereotypical beach babe to strut the catwalk with confidence.
Former Tamatea Head Girl Casey Petersen, 19, had previously dabbled with the idea of entering, but didn't believe she could do it, until now.
"I have told myself every year that I'm going to enter, but this year I am actually going through with it," she said. "In the last year I have become a lot more confident."
Working as an apprentice tattoo artist at Spacifik Ink in Napier, Ms Petersen has acquired her fair share of skin art and enjoys expressing herself by frequently changing the colour of her hair.
"It's purple at the moment," she says and laughs.