Jessica Versteeg speaks on running for Miss Iowa

Jessica Versteeg speaks on running for Miss Iowa and what beauty means to her.

The beauty of a woman is not the shape of her body, the color of her skin, or how white her teeth are. True beauty is not psychical. I believe the real beauty of a woman is reflected in her soul. It is shown in her caring ways, the way she lovingly loves to  love, the passion that she shines from within.

My name is Jessica VerSteeg and I am running for Miss Iowa USA although this is a “beauty pageant” I hope to show and inspire others that beauty comes from within, it comes from confidence and it comes from faith (in whatever your faith may be).  My mother Francesca Roman is my Beauty Queen.

She was brought up facing many obstacles from being too tall, too skinny, too poor, too Latin, and many, many more bumps in the road that most would look at and say “aww poor girl she does not even have a chance to get out of poverty.” She proved them all wrong and joined the US Air Force sending her family money and encouraging her brothers and sisters not to fight with the gangs of NYC but to fight for the USA in the military.

After the Gulf war my mother was put in an exceedingly difficult situation and was forced to be a single mother of 3 girls. She somehow provided us with everything we needed, from a hot breakfast every morning to new school clothes every year.

She somehow managed to go to college, work full time, and support us in our choice of school curriculums and events while staying up with my sisters and I to do homework after dinner, sometimes until past midnight.  My mother was always “Super Mom” and she was always beautiful, she has always been the rock in our family so when I got the news that my mother had been fighting breast cancer for the past few months and somehow told no one, I was in disbelief.

When I found out she had gone to work every day after chemo and radiation while still making breakfast and dinner every day for my sisters I just could not accept that my rock, my super mom, my beauty queen was losing her hair, was fighting for her life, and wanted no sympathy from anyone. I knew at that moment that this was something I wanted to raise awareness for.

I was in Miami modeling and I only found out about my mother’s cancer because I flew home one Christmas to surprise her and my sisters. Little did I know I would be the one surprised to see my Mothers beautiful long black curly locks gone. Her beautiful Puerto Rican complexion turned grey, and her loving hands that used to scratch my back until I fell asleep had nails that were dark and week. My mother told me to not cry for her only to pray and be strong. She told me she has faith that our Lord is using her to help others. She stuck to that and made sure my sisters and I did as well.

My mother has always taught us that beauty is much more than a pretty face, shiny hair, and new clothes, she never invested in material things so I grew up truly believing in what she preached. Just like my faith grows with age, my definition of beauty has grown with age as well. During my mother’s cancer I saw her at some of her most beautiful moments.

I hope to be crowned Miss Iowa USA so that I can reach out to even more people and raise awareness about breast cancer; for men and women. I want to inspire more people to look for beauty in actions. To learn to stop seeing with their eyes and to instead learn to look deep within a person to the core of their souls. To find the courage within themselves to look at everything they think is bad in their lives and to see it as a learning opportunity, a path to help others, a challenge and a chance to grow spiritually as God intended.

“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” ~

Eleanor Roosevelt

I model full time in Miami, FL  and New York  City, NY but my boyfriend and I are both from Oskaloosa, Iowa. My boyfriend is Tyler Sash and he plays for the New York Giants. We also have a home in Iowa that we go to on weekends and on holidays because our families still live there.