that this is a waste of my time and energy. I am who I am, nothing
more and nothing less, and so are you. It’s about appreciating who you are as a unique individual.
Ultimately you can choose to be beautiful and confident.
The model experience… What an experience modelling has been. There have been some great times and
some sad and lonely times. It is interesting to me how modelling is perceived by many people. My own
idea of what modelling was like was very different from the reality. I remember at 13 years old, when I
first started modelling, I thought that models got to choose what they wanted to wear in a shoot, lived a
glamorous life, made lots of money and were physically perfect. My opinion of myself was far from that.
It’s interesting looking back and realising how much I have grown and changed as a person through my
experiences in this industry. I want to share with you a few of the stories from my 13 years of modelling.
One of the very first trips I had for modelling was to Japan. I arrived in Japan to a model house full of
European girls who didn’t speak English. I shared a room with one of the girls. The model house wasn’t
that great. Things were really tough and everyone found it hard to make money. I remember eating rice a
lot of the time. No one really bought much food because it would always go missing out of the fridge in
the middle of the night and no one would ever own up to taking it. Nor did they own up to taking clothes
that didn’t belong to them!
I was 17, nearly 18, and I was not so sure modelling was what I really wanted to do. I was in Japan for
approximately two months. I celebrated my 18th birthday there. Being the first time I had been away from
home on my birthday I missed my family but the girls and the agency made my birthday special by
throwing a surprise party for me. Despite this, after Japan I returned to Australia feeling like modelling
wasn’t for me.
I was doing the occasional modelling job but wasn’t that interested in pursuing it any further, and I had
been back in Australia for about a year when the opportunity came up to go to Paris.
I lived in Paris for about six months. During one of the photo shoots there, toward the end of the shoot,
my eyes starting hurting. The photographer had taken the protective layer off the flash and had it super
close to my face. He told me to stare into it as we were shooting a beauty story and he wanted my eyes to
sparkle. I mentioned to the photographer that this could not be good for my eyes and he told me it was
fine. That night I ended up in a Paris hospital vomiting from the pain. My eyes had been burnt inside and
had blistered. The doctor told me that I was lucky that I stopped work when I did. He likened my eyes
being exposed to the continued bright flash to the burn from a welding flash that tradesman sometimes get;
the difference being that I had to endure continual flashes for most of the eight-hour shoot.
I left the hospital with patches on and ointment in my eyes. Thankfully, my boyfriend at the time was
with me in Paris and I was lucky to have him there as he took care of me. I had to leave the patches on my
eyes for ten days and could only remove them briefly to squeeze the burn ointment into them. Since I was
a little girl I have always been afraid of the dark and now I couldn’t see and my world was in total
darkness. I was unsure if my eyes were going to be okay and I was scared. I was on the other side of the
world and so far away from my family. I thought about the situation then literally chose to create peace
within myself. That’s when I knew all would be okay. This experience made me appreciate my sight,
something that I am so blessed to have.
The same experience happened to me again in New York, but thankfully it wasn’t as bad! From these
experiences I have learned to speak up when things don’t seem to be right and to say an outright ‘no!’ if
there is something
more and nothing less, and so are you. It’s about appreciating who you are as a unique individual.
Ultimately you can choose to be beautiful and confident.
The model experience… What an experience modelling has been. There have been some great times and
some sad and lonely times. It is interesting to me how modelling is perceived by many people. My own
idea of what modelling was like was very different from the reality. I remember at 13 years old, when I
first started modelling, I thought that models got to choose what they wanted to wear in a shoot, lived a
glamorous life, made lots of money and were physically perfect. My opinion of myself was far from that.
It’s interesting looking back and realising how much I have grown and changed as a person through my
experiences in this industry. I want to share with you a few of the stories from my 13 years of modelling.
One of the very first trips I had for modelling was to Japan. I arrived in Japan to a model house full of
European girls who didn’t speak English. I shared a room with one of the girls. The model house wasn’t
that great. Things were really tough and everyone found it hard to make money. I remember eating rice a
lot of the time. No one really bought much food because it would always go missing out of the fridge in
the middle of the night and no one would ever own up to taking it. Nor did they own up to taking clothes
that didn’t belong to them!
I was 17, nearly 18, and I was not so sure modelling was what I really wanted to do. I was in Japan for
approximately two months. I celebrated my 18th birthday there. Being the first time I had been away from
home on my birthday I missed my family but the girls and the agency made my birthday special by
throwing a surprise party for me. Despite this, after Japan I returned to Australia feeling like modelling
wasn’t for me.
I was doing the occasional modelling job but wasn’t that interested in pursuing it any further, and I had
been back in Australia for about a year when the opportunity came up to go to Paris.
I lived in Paris for about six months. During one of the photo shoots there, toward the end of the shoot,
my eyes starting hurting. The photographer had taken the protective layer off the flash and had it super
close to my face. He told me to stare into it as we were shooting a beauty story and he wanted my eyes to
sparkle. I mentioned to the photographer that this could not be good for my eyes and he told me it was
fine. That night I ended up in a Paris hospital vomiting from the pain. My eyes had been burnt inside and
had blistered. The doctor told me that I was lucky that I stopped work when I did. He likened my eyes
being exposed to the continued bright flash to the burn from a welding flash that tradesman sometimes get;
the difference being that I had to endure continual flashes for most of the eight-hour shoot.
I left the hospital with patches on and ointment in my eyes. Thankfully, my boyfriend at the time was
with me in Paris and I was lucky to have him there as he took care of me. I had to leave the patches on my
eyes for ten days and could only remove them briefly to squeeze the burn ointment into them. Since I was
a little girl I have always been afraid of the dark and now I couldn’t see and my world was in total
darkness. I was unsure if my eyes were going to be okay and I was scared. I was on the other side of the
world and so far away from my family. I thought about the situation then literally chose to create peace
within myself. That’s when I knew all would be okay. This experience made me appreciate my sight,
something that I am so blessed to have.
The same experience happened to me again in New York, but thankfully it wasn’t as bad! From these
experiences I have learned to speak up when things don’t seem to be right and to say an outright ‘no!’ if
there is something
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