a lot of you guys asked me about my modeling career needless to say I was
very very insecure at 16 I'm like five seven almost I feel like it was also a
great opportunity for me to escape all I wanted to do is call my mom I can't get
out of it there's so much more to modeling than like being super beautiful
hi guys welcome back to my channel I wanted to make this video about my time
living in Paris as a model because a lot of you guys asked me about my modeling
career and I do share bits and pieces here and there but I decided to do this
story time about my time living in Paris so to give you a little back story I
started in the modeling industry when I was about 15 but I really started
working when I was 16 I actually got my first like big campaign that was shot in
London UK I was this huge a kiss ready company and that was my first big job
after Dad it kind of started moving for me I was going to a lot of castings back
in Israel but I would never went anywhere internationals my first kind of
breakthrough to the international market was when elite models who was my
modeling agency in Israel they held a casting with IMG Paris I'm G is a huge
modeling agency around the world and their Paris office came to Tel Aviv to
scout some girls and I was scouted I can't even explain to you this feeling
because I am a very short for a model I'm like five seven almost and for me
the fact that anybody noticed me from an international market was just like
mind-blowing to me needless to say it was very very secured 16 as most girls
are I feel it was a huge huge victory for me I didn't come from a household
that could afford to send me and like my mother there I would didn't have kind of
the financials to support that decision my mom had to stay and work when Paris
called it they're like we'll get you a visa come and stay for a month I was
really excited I feel like it was also a great opportunity for me to escape
because it was at a time when my parents were going through a divorce it wasn't a
time where I actually wanted to be home so if a lot of people like asked me
sometimes weren't you scared to leave home at 16 and move to like a different
country you don't speak the language nothing I think that I was so determined
to just kind of escape the chaos of divorce in the house that that fear
wasn't even a factor so I arrived to Paris it was very liberating and very
scary my mother was calling me four times a
day you know she was obviously very worried and I think that she really did
a great job in hiding fear and who our talk on the phone just to remind me of
like the values that she kind of instilled in me and Who I am so I guess
that was kind of her way of making sure that I don't steer to the wrong
direction if you're a model and an agency scouts you in a different country
you go there they provide you with an apartment usually it's a model apartment
you share it with a lot of other girls from other countries and then they give
you a map to the subway they'll give you a cell phone and they give you some
allowance but that allowance you pay back when you start making money two
jobs not only do we not have a subway system in Israel I don't know how to
read a freaking map of a subway I just remembered I like walked in being like
I'm an independent woman 16 and then they gave me a map be like okay go and
I'm just like looking at them and my eyes are starting to like swell with
tears I was literally just like this small little frightened kitten all of a
sudden it hit me I'm like oh my god this is I'm the this is it like I think I
made it to one casting out of like five I got lost and I just
remember I was like running through these streets with the stones and I was
wearing heels and it was just like carrying this book back in the day was
this heavy like portfolios back then you literally had to log this like huge
thing the day was like so overwhelming I'll just never forget all I wanted to
do is call my mom and be like I decided not to call her because I knew that if
I'm going to call her and cry she will make sure that I'll be back home I
called my best friend I remember I was like a lot on the phone and like on
skype and stuff and that really helped me I think that living anywhere in the
world I mean throughout my years of traveling I always felt very lonely and
there were advantages and disadvantages to it I mean obviously feeling lonely
when you were going to something when you have a bad day of no one to talk to
so you really like get down and it's hard to get out of that mood but also
being alone taught me so much about myself and exposed a lot of sides that I
wasn't aware I have it also made me kind of suck it up buttercup moments I went
through those a lot because I was kind of looking around and there's no one
there to help me sound like okay you you're gonna save yourself today again I
have to say I had a very like pink romantic idea of Paris I was thinking
about romance and Eiffel Tower and people playing music in the streets and
you know offering me baguettes while I walk that wasn't the case I always tell
everybody like I was meant to be French like something happened and I was just
like was born in the wrong place but I was meant to be French that trip it was
mainly to get a lot of tests shoot the agencies trying to kind of build your
portfolio you go to a lot of castings everyday were between three to six or
seven castings and the more castings you have the better because otherwise I just
remember we would like be sitting in the apartment doing nothing the weekends
were like super boring we would go somewhere with the girls like walk
around Paris I would just kind of go and get lost I loved walking around and
feeling the culture I wasn't the person that would
go to the museums or like the more touristy places that's why I literally
been to Paris maybe six times before I've even came close to the Eiffel Tower
or close to no to them I kind of like to experience that
differently than most people I didn't build any relationship with the girls
that were there on my first trip because a lot of the girls were always like come
and leave it's usually not the same girls for the whole month it was very
like hard to really build any friendships so it was very lonely but
again it was better than being back home I got the opportunity to escape it also
kind of exposed me to reality and I was so like you can do it and you do it and
you book something amazing and I think that that trip really taught me that
it's such a process there's so many things I need to work on and there's so
many things that I have to figure out about myself and fix it and because that
trip I didn't have any friends and I didn't really have anyone to talk to I
was observing a lot and I think through that observation of you know just people
walking down the street to the book rosette the agency to the girls that
were staying in the apartment with me I really learned a lot about how I want to
present myself and how I want to carry myself the things that I'm interested in
music and books and I just really let my curiosity bloom there and I followed it
a lot which was really exciting and although it was kind of a sad time in my
life I look back at that trip and I just remember it to be so lonely but in a
very beautiful way if that makes sense for new faces for girls that just
started you know it was first like the initial trip was more about getting
acquainted with like the clients and go to as many castings as possible and
build your portfolio and that was kind of really it I didn't really get any
confidence my first trip in Paris I think that I also didn't book anything
because you can tell by the way I was carrying myself you know just like my
eyes that I was so insecure and I think that there's so much more to modeling
than like being super beautiful because you are in competition with so many
different girls personality and the way you carry yourself and how you present
yourself is so important at the end of the day it's human interaction it's like
the castings the Booker's the clients will remember you over someone else
because you made them think or smile or laugh or you made a joke like there's a
whole thing behind it right so it's just like human interaction like I was not at
all at a place where I knew who I was and I just was just trying to kind of
survive and kind of hiding in my room hoping that the Booker's not going to
call me be like you know what we made a mistake you should go back home that was
my first trip to Paris I came back I felt defeated but I was ready to get
back to it and like do it again I went back to Paris four more times after that
I already started booking jobs actually and I felt like I was kind of growing
into myself and that's when I also discovered the personality aspect and I
feel like the job that I did book was because I just like kind of left an
impression a memorable impression and I was already in an apartment that was
kind of independent from the Booker's there was no book her living there so it
was just like girls and I actually had a chance to build relationships another
thing that is very memorable for me that happened in Harris was I think my first
sexual harassment with the sexual harassment I just remembered I stopped
in Paris for a couple of days because I was actually going to Tokyo for work for
like three months I was going to see another agency because I switched an
agency and I was wearing like a dress it was summer with heels and holding my
book and I was going to see that agency and I was like I felt so happy because I
was going to Tokyo Tokyo it was always like a place I was so excited to visit
and I was really excited to meet that agency because they were like super
interested in me so remember I took the metro and I went up the stairs and when
I was walking this one guy behind me just like touched my butt like under my
skirt I just remember that I turned around and he was just account
he just like kept walking and I was just standing there and I was shocked and I
was looking around and no one like did anything or notice or a store like
nothing I just remembered I felt so violated my mood completely like crashed
I felt really gross I just wanted to go back to the apartment and like just be
by myself and I changed this dress and heels but I had to go and see cuz I had
a meeting with this agency and when I walked in i obviously like felt
disgusting and you could sense like my energy was completely off that meeting
did not go well that's really all I could remember I
never told my mom dad I never told anybody that because it just felt like
what is it gonna do like I don't know the guy is I just remembered how
violated I feel and I'm sure that a lot of girls experience it in the modeling
industry from photographers from people that they work with I think today it's
much better because today a lot of models have more voices you know there's
social media that just like really put a lot of transparency on people a lot of
people have the platform now to talk about issues this story time really took
us a turn but I still have very fond memories of Paris it so reminds me of
how much beauty and goodness and amazing music and food and appreciation for
different little things that I wasn't exposed to before it exposed me to a lot
of it my goal is still to learn French one day
it's literally like on top of my French and Spanish I have to concur that I
wanted to share what I experienced in Paris if you guys have any questions you
let me know I wonder if I should keep doing these story times about my
modeling experiences just living in different places in Spain and in Tokyo
and like other places that I've been to and working with some big brands so let
me know if you are interested in hearing any of this thank you guys so much for
watching I'll see you next time