Former SUNshine Girl ’embracing’ life as she turns 50

Starting in 1994, Sandra Doweck was called to pose on four separate occasions

Published Aug 08, 2026  •  2 minute read

SUNshine Girl Sandra posed for the Toronto Sun in 2007. Photo by Alex Urosevic / Files /Toronto Sun

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A former SUNshine Girl is dishing out friendly advice to anyone hitting the half century mark in life.

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“It is just a number,” Sandra Doweck told the Toronto Sun. “I love it and I am embracing it.”

The multiple-time Sun page turner turns the big ‘Five Oh’ on Sunday.

“I am very grateful for what life has given me up to this point,” she said.

SUNshine Girl Sandra posed for the Toronto Sun in 2007. Photo by Alex Urosevic / Files /Toronto Sun

Starting in 1994, Doweck was called for SUNshine Girl duties on four separate occasions. She was first featured when she was 18 years old. Her last appearance in the Sun was in 2015.

“Her form, her body, her mindset and her personality, everything has stayed the same, like she hasn’t aged a bit over the years, at all,” says husband Richard Doweck.

A bit fuzzy

And how exactly did the idea of posing for photos as a SUNshine Girl come about? The moment that sparked the interest was a bit fuzzy in her mind, as time tends to blend memories into amorphous blobs.

“I forget how it came about, but I bumped into one of the photographers for an event at the Toronto Sun, and they asked me how I felt about being a SUNshine Girl,” she said. “(That is) the story of how it all started many, many, many moons ago.”

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Former SUNshine Girl Sandra was featured in the Toronto Sun multiple times. Photo by Handout /Sandra Doweck

She did recall the days were long, but enjoyable, nonetheless.

“When we did it, I knew it was going to be a whole day event,” she said. “Everybody sees the result of the photos, but I don’t think they see what goes on behind the scenes of being a SUNshine Girl.

“I remember arriving first thing in the morning (around 8 a.m.) and leaving late in the afternoon (around 3 or 4 p.m.). There are so many different photos, different angles and stuff, and the way they teach you to position your body during these shoots.”

She was happy the photography staff involved her in the entire process. As it turns out, everybody has a bad side, if you will.

“There were some angles where I was like, ‘please do not post those,’” she said with a laugh. “They do show you a couple of them as you go along to ensure you are involved in the process and you are going to be happy with the photos as well.”

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Before she was discovered by Sun photographers, the now co-owner of a yoga studio in Burlington with her husband of 15 years, she was familiar with the camera eye.

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“I did some modelling when I was younger,” she said. “I won a beauty pageant when I was 14 years old, the Sunburst Beauty Pageant in 1990, and I did some other modelling.

“Catalogues and such,” she added when prodded further. “Nothing major, if you will.”

Interesting fact

Her aunt, Ruth Rotenberg, was legendary photographer Norm Betts’ SUNshine Girl back in the 1970s. Doweck also says her aunt was a body double for Andrea Martin of SCTV fame.

“She was the one who pursued a lot of my modelling career, more than my mom,” Doweck said. “She signed me up for the beauty pageants, she really wanted me to do more modelling than what I was doing.”

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