Ms Fernandes, 17, is among 22 finalists in the running for the overall title of ASOTY Diamond of the Year and an opportunity to spend 12 months as an ambassador for the competition, involving travelling and promoting partner brands, social causes and charities.

The Australian Supermodel of the Year (ASOTY) competition's vision is to "create possibilities and opportunities for models of all races, colour, size , shape, nationally, faith and belief through a new sisterhood, meaningful connections, lifelong friendships, travel, transformative learning and ongoing mentoring".

Mr Fernandes said she had originally entered the competition as a way to further her modelling career, but soon found ASOTY involved a lot more than photographs and runways.

After an application and interview process, Ms Fernandes said the competitors had to partake in mentoring sessions over 15 weeks, with mentors including former Miss World Australia Esma Voloder, fashion journalist and sustainability activist Bandana Tewari and sleep coach Olivia Arezzolo.

"I loved their vision of sisterhood and sustainability and supporting women in power," she said.

"It was a lot different to what I was expecting, but in a good way with the learning attached and the education compared to just purely focusing on looks."

Following each mentoring session, the competitors were required to reflect on what they had learned and how they would apply those lessons towards their "bigger purpose" in life, which for Ms Fernandes was advocating for people suffering homelessness in the Hunter region.

"The platform that I have gained from modelling has helped me to pursue further things such as advocating for the homeless and inspired me to further my education with law and politics to help change policies and the legalities around homelessness, especially in rural areas and for the youth sector," she said.

2021 has been a busy year for Ms Fernandes, not only competing in the ASOTY competition but simultaneously studying for her HSC at Waratah College in Newcastle.

After achieving a strong ATAR result, Mr Fernandes will soon be moving to Canberra to study a Bachelor of Law (Honours) and Bachelor of Public Policy at the Australian National University after being awarded the Love Scholarship and London Alumni Scholarship for "dedication, high ethics, resilience and a strong academic ability".

"I've always wanted to study law, it's just always interested me but I'm hoping to join my law degree with public policy to help change legislation around homelessness as a policy advisor," she said.

"Especially being from regional NSW I'd really like to give back to my hometown and the people that are struggling and less fortunate.

"'I'd love to be a voice for those people so I think by choosing the degrees that I've chosen along with working with Australia Supermodel of the Year I definitely think I'll be able to promote some positive change for the area."

While in previous years the ASOTY competition finals had been held in Bali, like many events in the age of COVID this year's final will be held over Zoom, and Ms Fernandes said competing in a virtual modelling event had been quite challenging alongside the added stress of sitting her HSC exams.

"It was quite stressful, being online was definitely a lot different to the majority of the work I do with modelling because virtual shooting is a lot different to physical shooting," she said.

"In regards to school and COVID and the HSC, that was really stressful but I feel that the school dealt with it really well.

"Everyone around us was making the pressure go away by telling us it's not the end of the world if you don't do well."

Ms Fernandes hopes to inspire more young women from regional areas who have an interest in the fashion industry to pursue a career in an industry usually confined to the capital cities, and although she has lived in Newcastle for the last few years and will soon be moving to Canberra, she said Sandy Hollow will always feel like home.

"My family moved to Sandy Hollow in 1973, my grandparents are still there and we still own a property in Sandy Hollow," she said.

"The country life will always have my heart."