Miss Preston finalist hopes to inspire other young woman by telling her acne story

Despite being scouted for the pageant when she was 18, Rachel Crawley says an acne problem and self-confidence got in the way of competing.

Now four years on, 22-year-old Rachel is ready to take on the competition but says winning isn’t her ultimate goal.

“When they first asked to me do it I wasn’t confident enough in myself to do it,” the former Ashton School pupil said.

“My acne was getting me down and I was being horrible to myself. I stopped going out with my friends and didn’t want anyone to see me without make-up.”

And the office administrator from Lea says putting her bare face out on social media helped her get over her anxiety.

“I put a few pictures up and got some girls commenting saying it was inspiring,” Rachel said.

“So I carried on and the support as well as changing my diet and mindset has helped me get to a place where I have enough confidence to take part in Miss Preston.

“Winning would of course be amazing but it’s more to show myself I can do it and hopefully give other people confidence to feel good about themselves.

“The spots have been replaced by scars but I don’t feel I have to cover them up anymore.”

And as part of Miss Preston, Rachel is now running a half marathon on April 9 for children’s charity Variety.

She said: “I don’t want other girls to feel the way I did and hopefully I can show them they don’t have to.”