Unwaxed eyebrows, curly hair, no make-up ­— many models would recoil in horror. Not Sophie Adams. She takes the natural approach to finding modelling gigs.

“I stopped straightening my hair,” said the 23-year-old. “I stopped waxing my eyebrows. I don’t wear make-up.

“If you want to shoot me, you will shoot what I have. If you want to make me a different way that’s fine, but I am just going to be myself. It portrays a better image to people out there.”

She signed with two agencies last year: Zone Models in London and Next Model Management in Miami.

Ms Adams got her start in 2013 when she was spotted by a talent scout at the Evolution Fashion show at City Hall.

She was sent to an agency in London, along with another Bermudian girl. Things didn’t go so well.

“We were told we needed to lose ten pounds,” said Ms Adams, who works out five times a week. “I think the style at that time was for skinny models. This is my body shape. I can’t get physically any smaller unless I did damaging things to myself.

“When I was signed by Zone, it was a real surprise that I am good enough to be signed. I can do all these things with who I am. I don’t have to worry about eating a piece of lettuce every day or something like that; not that I eat junk.”

Learning to love herself has been an important part of her journey. As a child, she hated her mane of curly hair. Now, she feels it helps her stand out.

“I used to cry about it,” she said. “Girls would tease me. I always wanted to straighten it when I was younger. I’m in university in England. In the UK there are a lot of straight-haired, pale-skinned girls.

“I do get quite a tan in the summer.”

She got lucky with Zone, which only opened its doors in 2015.

“They are all about a fresh approach to modelling,” she said. “They want you to be healthy and they want you to be you.

“They don’t encourage dieting and things like that. I am really happy with them. They all seem sweet and interested in me. They are always e-mailing to check up on how I’m doing.”

Her big break so far has been a job for online fashion magazine Cake.

“That was really big for me,” she said.

Bathing suits are her favourite things to model so far. She works frequently for Nova Swimwear, a Bermuda brand based in London.

“I am very confident in my body and swimwear is super fun,” she said. “I don’t like the runway as much where you have to be straight-faced the whole time.”

In the summers, she works as a lifeguard. She is also studying marine biology and biodiversity at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge, England.

“I’m in my second year now,” she said. “After university I could become a full-time marine biologist, or I might focus on modelling. It just depends on where life takes me.

“If I could become a huge star, that would be cool. If not, I’m okay.”

Visit www.cake-mag.com/rum-diary to see Ms Adams in Cake.