THE POWER OF PERSISTENCE

Model and TV host Camille Kostek talks about her unlikely ascent to the top of fashion's stratosphere

- FREYA DROHAN

Camille Kostek seems to radiate positivity and confidence when she beams back at you from magazine covers, billboards and TV screens. That's because the model, host and actress is lit up with the knowledge that all those years of hard work and dedication have led to her dream life.

While you may know her as the longtime girlfriend of NFL tight end Rob "Gronk" Gronkowski, whom she started dating in 2015 when they met while she was a cheerleader for the New England Patriots, don't for a second underestimate her as merely a pretty plusone. "When people hear you're an NFL cheerleader, they might think you're just trying to date an athlete. To have to train for 17 years as a dancer-that's a difficult way to get a boyfriend," she laughs.

Dance is indeed where it all began for the Connecticut native, who picked up performing as a three-year-old who loved nothing more than bringing a smile to people's faces. "My mom reminds me of times that I would tap the TV and ask how I could get inside the screen," Kostek recalls. “I recently came across a project I wrote in middle school called 'Future Me,' where I talked about how one day I wanted to be on the big stage, have agents and be a dancer, a singer, a performer and a TV host-all the things I am now, besides the singing! I wrote about how I wanted to make the world a better place and go to schools and talk about how it hurts to be bullied, and how I never wanted someone to experience that."