Levi is quite small, 5ft 4in, and lives and works in Belfast. "My height means I can't do catwalk but I do specialist modelling," she says. She spends her days serving customers at Diva, the clubbers' outfitters in CastleCourt, her evenings wearing the clothes ("I love them") she sells and quite often promoting drinks for McCabe's. There is a sense, she says, that the good looking prophet is not properly appreciated in her own country. "Nobody wants you over here when you're small, but it's different in London where they're looking for something new."

To date, her photos have appeared in publications such as Nuts, a men's magazine which didn't pay her for the privilege. That's where the sacrifice part comes in, but it is all to do with raising her profile. She says with a touch of defiance: "I don't have a problem with it. I'm not doing this just for men to look at me, but for myself. My boyfriend Craig doesn't have a problem with it, nor do my family. In fact, they've started a wee scrapbook of my pictures ... " She argues that modelling, even doing lingerie and swimwear shots, can be empowering rather than exploitative.

Levi is celebrating her biggest break to date, having reaching the final shortlist of 25 glamorous women - whittled down from 500 entrants - in the Miss Top Model Competition 2008. And this is the one which may actually launch her career this April - as organiser Geoff Cox says: "It's not a beauty pageant, it's about commercial modelling and the top prize is a year's contract with Impact model management in London."

Levi is refreshingly honest about her beauty history to date. She says: " No, I wasn't always pretty, you wouldn't want to see my passport photo of five years ago, with my terrible hair and glasses." As she tells it, she took a good look at herself and decided on a change. The results were startling. "Getting my hair dyed was important.

"I couldn't get a boyfriend before but afterwards I met my boyfriend Craig Harris at Belfast Tech, after taking my GCSEs at Newtownbreda High. We were both studying sports and leisure and we've been going out for three years. I also got started in modelling."

As a teenager, Levi spent all her pocket money on make-up and hair products, experimenting. "I wanted to look like Britney Spears, but not any more," she giggles. Then she adds: "Some people say I look like Kylie or Scarlett Johansson." She always loved dressing up and wanted to be a princess. "But I didn't wear my mother's clothes, she isn't very fashionable."

Now Levi is into the sort of fashion sold at Diva and by labels such as Paranoid. She most recently bought a Paranoid forest green corset dress, " pretty short", with a great big bow on the side. She also likes wearing retro clothes - "I dress up when I go clubbing, and like to mix my fashion. I want to stand out, to look different." Levi is ambitious and says: "I don't see why I shouldn't win this competition. I have seen the other competitors on the web and think I can."

Her beauty routine nowadays also involves going to Peter Mark to have her hair done and Bobbi Brown at Debenhams for her make-up. "Definitely blondes have more fun," she laughs. The pictures shown here were taken in London, after Levi had been shortlisted for the Miss Top Model competition final which is being held on April 17 in London. "Geoff Cox and a girl called Amy took the photos." But what did she think of when looking sultry? "I'm not sure," she replies. "I was concentrating on holding the pose and looking into space." Finally, what's with the name Levi? It's punchy, unusual and perfect for a career in which you have to use everything you can to stand out from the crowd. Ms Duncan explains: "Actually, I was named after Paul Young's baby. My mum just liked the name, but everybody asks me if I'm called after the jeans."