Former Bolingbrook woman named 'Next Top Model'

A second young woman from Will County has emerged victorious on a popular TV reality show.

"I'm not your girl next-door, but I'm your girl down the block in your hood," said 20-year-old Jaslene Gonzales in an episode of the eighth cycle of reality TV show "America's Next Top Model."
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Jaslene Gonzales speaks to the judging panel before the winner is announced during Wednesday's final episode of "America's Next Top Model."
Special to The Herald News

Gonzales, who was named winner of the modeling competition in the Wednesday finale, identifies herself as a Chicagoan but she also has local ties.

The newly-minted model was raised on Chicago's west side, but lived in Bolingbrook for about two years and attended Romeoville High School as a junior during the 2003-2004 school year.

Adrianne Curry of Joliet won in the first season of the show that is hosted by former model Tyra Banks.

Gonzales, the first Latina winner of the competition, spent her freshman, sophomore and senior years at Notre Dame High School for Girls, located on Chicago's west side, near Central Avenue between Belmont and Diversey.

She moved to Bolingbrook with her mother and stepfather after her sophomore year at NDHS, but "she missed her friends, and she wanted to graduate with them," said mother Maria Sanchez.

So Gonzales moved in with her maternal grandmother, who lives on the same street and a few blocks away from NDHS, for the remainder of her high school career.

After graduating, Gonzales moved back to Bolingbrook.

She worked at a nearby Holiday Inn, but quit to audition for Top Model's seventh cycle last summer.

She was eliminated before making it into the final 13.

This time around Gonzales beat out the other contestants to win a modeling contract with Elite Model Management, a $100,000 contract with CoverGirl Cosmetics and a six-page spread and cover photo in Seventeen Magazine.