text: p>Cindy still managed to be a grade A student and class valedictorian despite the problems at home.</p> <p>Discovered by a local photographer in her teens, she realised that modelling was a better way to make some extra money than her regular summer job, tending cornfields.</p> <p>She dropped out of a chemical engineering course at university to move to New York and the rest is fashion history.</p> <p>(Cindy pictured with highschool friend Chris Collin) <br>Photo: © Instagram</p