Model For Success

Victoria Vesce gets paid to make life look like a glamorous romp in the sand when she models swimsuits for Sports Illustrated, but the Boca Raton resident had to overcome what she calls an insane nightmare to get there.

Vesce, 29, a former NBA dance team member with the Charlotte Hornets in North Carolina found herself disoriented and bleeding from her right ear after a workout in 2017.

She eventually learned she had tumors causing permanent deafness in her ear and threatening her life.

“I had to teach myself how to walk again,” she says. “How to eat again. That was a dark period. I had to have the most tenacity and endurance I could find to get through.”

She would be in and out of the hospital for months, undergoing surgery and radiation treatments for tumors threatening her brain, skull and carotid artery.

“There were plenty of times I wanted to throw in the towel,” she says. “I was kind of full of regret with my life. I wasn’t satisfied if I passed away at that moment.”

Friends and family, including her mother Denise, helped her pull through, but another crushing blow came when her mother died in 2021.

“When my mom passed, I promised her I’d keep moving on,” Vesce says.

She earned a law degree and her journey led her to Boca Raton, to pursue work in the legal field and other possibilities.

One venture seemed like a longshot: she sent a video for the 2022 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit search. Picked as a finalist, she traveled to the Dominican Republic for a session with acclaimed photographer Yu Tsai.

“Honestly it was a really good feeling,” she says. “I am still getting over my illness and grieving my mom. After landing in that issue, my life’s been full of positives. It’s been a blessing.”

She hopes to stay awhile in Boca Raton.

“I love the community,” she says. “It’s close to Miami but not too close.”

She likes to walk Daisy, her 9-year-old dog who is a Boston Terrier and French Bulldog mix.

“Whether it’s modeling or motivational speaking, I want to do it all,” she says. “Live every day to the fullest and keep striving for bigger and better things.”