Barely two weeks have passed since fourth-form high schooler Drucillah Campbell and call centre agent TK Wilson emerged winners of SAINT International’s Fashion Face of the Caribbean finals at the AC Hotel Kingston. 

The boundless excitement of their individual triumphs still have both feeling on cloud nine.  “I was shocked and overwhelmed when my name was called,” 19-year-old Wilson told Our Today. “I honestly wasn’t thinking about winning first place but was more concerned on doing my best and keeping positive regardless of the circumstances. It was an unexpected but amazing moment.” 

His road to becoming Jamaica’s new hot fashion face began in 2020 when he was returning home from a Saturday class in downtown, Kingston walking through National Heroes Park. He was spotted by a passer-by who instantly recognised Wilson’s model potential and recommended him to SAINT chief executive officer Deiwght Peters. He was successfully recruited into the midas touch model-maker’s agency development program ahead of the annual competition finals. 

“It taught me not only how to be a professional model, but also gave me important lessons I apply to my everyday life. The training sessions made me self-confident and disciplined and helped me to become more mentally and emotionally stronger than I was before,” shared Wilson, an Arnett Gardens resident raised by his grandmother Cynthia White.

 Bursting at the seams with pride, the 62-year-old shopkeeper who took in her grandson from a father unable to adequately provide and a mother beset with mental health issues, told Our Today, “I feel good to know I raised my first grandchild who came out to be a strong young man. Everywhere TK goes, people love his attitude, how humble he is, and while he may be a  pain sometimes, he has never disappointed me.” 

Meanwhile, for female Fashion Face winner Campbell, who attends Edwin Allen High, scoring victory from a field of 50 other female model hopefuls, made her as ecstatic as Wilson. Unlike most of the entrants, the teenager from Belmont District in Clarendon was a late addition to the competitor line-up. Young Drucillah had entered the Miss Edwin Allen pageant in March but when a hopeful win did not materialise, her agricultural farmer mother Terry Ann Williams told Our Today, her dismayed teenage daughter swore never to enter another contest. 

“The Saturday after her school competition, I decided to travel with her to see Mr. Peters in Kingston. He was impressed with her and advised that she start training classes for the finals,” Williams explained.

“It paid off,” the excited adolescent shared, having been singled out by a panel of visiting model agents from Europe and North America who judged the SAINT contest. “Thanks be to God, and the positive decision [to put me in the contest} from Mr. Peters. The training was intense but also fun as the other entrants there were very supportive of each other, and my cousin was also in the competition.”

An avid reader of novels and a cat lover, Campbell had her sights previously set on a career in medicine before modelling gave her reason to reconsider an additional life path. “I love the sciences.  They’re very interesting and I’m interested in everything about nature. It has always intrigued me and made me want to learn and experience more about the subject matter,” she disclosed.

For the time being, she’s laser focused on her studies but eager too, to embrace the experiential side of modelling when summer break comes.

“I’m looking forward to becoming the best of what I have achieved from this competition. At this moment, I don’t yet have a checklist of model goals but moving forward, I will definitely create one,” Campbell vowed.