THINK Maia Lee, and the rock chick image and multiple tattoos come to mind.

But of late, the controversial local singer has undergone a 'makeunder'.

And it's all because of her new 'hobby' - baby pageants.

A few months ago, Maia signed up her one-year-old daughter Julka in an online-voting baby show, where the latter was picked as Most Photogenic and came in second overall.

Julka has also snagged a couple of other Most Photogenic trophies at smaller contests.

And 26-year-old Maia covered herself up in long-sleeved outfits to conceal her body art, donned caps, hid in corners and basically blended into the surroundings.

But her efforts to remain anonymous ended when cherubic Julka came out tops in the inaugural Singapore Calendar Babies pageant last month and won $10,000 worth of prizes from Nu Reflections, Thomson Medical Centre, Mothercare and Kodomo.

Julka - whose father is Maia's ex-boyfriend, professional fighter Zidov Dominik of The Contender Asia fame - will be the cover model for a 2010 calendar, out in October.

Maia has a 7-year-old son from a previous relationship.

On concealing her identity all this while, the former Singapore Idol contestant told The New Paper: 'I did that so the (spotlight) would be on her and not me because I was there for Julka. It was her day.

'I also didn't want her to win because I'm in the entertainment industry. I want her to win because she did her best.

'I got really emotional and cried a little (over her Calendar Babies win). I was very happy for Julka.'

Until the organiser recognised her after the finals and sent out a media release about it, a 'stressed' Maia had been adamant about not wanting her involvement publicised.

'I didn't want Julka to go through the same things I went through and be labelled,' she said. 'The judges may judge differently because I am her mother and I want it to be a fair process for my daughter and the other children.'

In hindsight, Maia felt the victory is a double-edged sword as it will no doubt expose both of them to further scrutiny - both positive and negative.

'It bothers me to an extent, but I tell myself not to deprive my daughter of opportunities because of her mother's public/stage persona.

'That would be selfish - my children deserve a life as normal as possible and an equal opportunity in the things they do,' she said.

Two of the three Calendar Babies judges - Classic Mrs Worldwide International 2001 winner Anna Bian and Thomson Medical Centre's lactation consultant Chew Kwai Wah - said they were not familiar with Maia.

But they felt Julka stood out because of her spontaneity, charming personality and lack of stage fright.

Judge Veriza Yew, Miss Singapore International Beauty 2009 winner, recognised Maia but insisted it did not affect the outcome as she was won over by Julka's 'star-like quality' and 'It factor'.

Going ga-ga

Although it seems so unlike her, Maia revealed she enjoys baby pageants because it fosters 'great mother-daughter bonding'.

'We get to do girly things together. Julka seems to have fun and really enjoys being on stage and making the judges laugh.

'If she had been a kicking baby and looking like she didn't want to be there, we wouldn't do it at all.'

But it wasn't all fun and games for the youthful stage mum.

Maia recalled the early waking hours, long waiting time, and said the amount of effort put in was 'tremendous'.

She spent 10 hours making Julka's red-and-white competition dress and queued for almost two hours to audition.

And when they were shortlisted for the finals, they were in Switzerland on holiday. Maia had to order the dress materials which cost almost $400 via express mail and hope they would arrive in Singapore in time.

Meanwhile, Julka is busy being the baby model for a photography-modelling studio and will be doing another calendar shoot for Young Parents magazine and a milk powder web advert.

But Maia denies she's setting her daughter up to follow in her showbiz footsteps.

She said: 'When Julka is older, she can decide if she wants to try to be in the entertainment industry.'

This article was first published in The New Paper