Kassandra Brooks always has a smile on her face. It seems as if her smile never fades, even when life throws her lemons. In seventh grade, Brooks was diagnosed with scoliosis. “Scoliosis is a condition involving an abnormal sideways curvature of the spine.” She had a dream of becoming a professional ballet dancer when she was a child, but her dream was washed away after she had to quit dance as a consequence of her scoliosis.

In eighth grade, Brooks said she realized she needed to do some sort of physical activity to  help her scoliosis. Brooks decided to go out for soccer her freshman year. She was part of the soccer team all throughout her high school career. “During soccer, my back doesn’t hurt as bad,” Brooks said.  Although during soccer season, the pain Brooks was in was reduced. “It’s still hard when everything hurts.”

Brooks said she never thought she would be able to model after being diagnosed with scoliosis. “When I was 16, I started thinking about modeling,” Brooks said. Her junior year, Brooks sent information and pictures to a modeling company and was accepted. The acceptance sparked her interest in modeling and pageants. Brooks professionally modeled and participated in numerous pageants during her junior and senior year.

Scoliosis could have been a considerable setback for Brooks, but she didn’t let it prevail her dream of modeling. After overcoming her own hardship, Brooks believes, “You can overcome the hardships that come your way.  Always go after what you want and don’t be afraid to try.”