Lara Trump won many bikini contests in college

Before she weaseled her way into Eric Trump’s family and decided to lead their political empire, Lara was a student at North Carolina State University. From 2000 to 2004, she earned money selling wings and beers as a Hooters Girl to support herself through school. At approximately the same time, she entered and won the 2004 Hammerjax Bikini Contest. Don’t believe us? Check out her old profile on One Model Place. Winning that bikini contest spurred her appearance in a series of photoshoots for men’s magazines.

In 2005, Lara posed for Stuff magazine. The same year, she won the Aaron Chang Bikini Contest and posed for a local swimsuit calendar, flaunting a two-piece for the month of April. But beyond being the champion of all things bikinis, her modeling career didn’t go far after college. 

When she met Eric Trump in 2008, her modeling career slowed down, and by the time the couple married in 2004, that side of her career was long gone. The RNC had quite a snippy attitude when a reporter from Mother Jones made an inquiry about Lara’s history as a model. 

Spokesperson Anna Kelly said, “Digging up an accomplished woman’s 20-year-old past to lob sexist attacks is vile,” going on to call Stephanie Mencimer a “desperate activist” who was digging for stories after having “nothing positive to cover about Joe Biden.”