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  • I did a story Time about my time in Paris is a model I love seeing how interested you were.

  • A lot of you asked to see more of the story times, and that's why I'm creating this one for Tokyo.

  • I started modeling when I was about 16 years old and I legitimately see stock modeling maybe three years ago or so.

  • So I had a career of over a decade.

  • I guess you guys didn't watch the Paris line.

  • I'm gonna put it right.

  • Hear?

  • Tokyo was literally the first place that just opened my eyes to something different to something that I never imagined is out in the world.

  • I would not have the chance to be in a place like Japan if it wasn't for modeling.

  • So I'm forever grateful for that.

  • Tokyo was my second trip in my international modeling career.

  • After Paris, I was Jan.

  • 16 years old.

  • I got chosen by an agency.

  • My agency was Brava models.

  • While I can't believe you remember that and there were a really awesome agency that represented some really amazing strong girls in the industry.

  • I was so lucky that they contacted my mother agency in Israel and asked me to come get you.

  • Used to be just like the money making market for models, especially for Russian models.

  • There were a lot of Russian models, and I think it was mostly because of the cannon doll ish like features.

  • So it was an amazing market for someone like me was not very tall because they didn't really care about that much the way it used to be that you would sign a contract for about 30 days, 60 days.

  • I went there my first time for a month.

  • They give you kind of a promise amount that you will come back home with.

  • I got on that plane.

  • I was so scared and so confused.

  • I wasn't even thinking twice about the fact that ham 16 years old, going to a country don't really know what's going on, what I'm doing, where I'm going, who I'm gonna be with.

  • Let's also mention the fact that I went there for a month with $20 in my pocket because I didn't have money or I had money and spent it because it wasn't very smart with finance back then.

  • Paris.

  • When you arrive in agency meets you there in Tokyo.

  • It wasn't the case.

  • They just e mailed me the address I need to get to and that's it.

  • When I was on the plane, it didn't dawn on me that I don't have money to get to that place.

  • So I just remember that I was sitting beside this young guy.

  • We started talking.

  • He was telling me how his friends were coming to pick him up, and I was like, Listen, can you give me a ride?

  • By any chance, I have no idea where I'm going or what I'm doing, and I don't have enough money to get a taxi.

  • He's like, Sure, I didn't remember that detailed and it just hit me that that's what happened.

  • That's how I arrived from the airport to the model apartment that I had, like, so dangerous.

  • What the hell was I thinking?

  • Thankfully, they were super helpful.

  • So nice they got me to where I needed to be.

  • And then they're like, Bye, I got to.

  • The agency agency was in Republican.

  • Every punk.

  • It's kind of like the touristy area, so there's a lot of people from different parts of the world.

  • Ah, lot of the model's apartment on there.

  • It's kind of like a central area for that.

  • I arrested the agency again.

  • There's such a big contrast between the cultures, language, barrier and just like the customs of Japanese people and what I was used to, I didn't really know what to do.

  • I just kept bowing to everybody that got me by.

  • I'm not gonna live.

  • The apartments were sufficient.

  • There was enough space for everybody.

  • My first roommate, Waas a girl.

  • I think her name was ill.

  • Vera?

  • Yes.

  • And she was from a place in Russia.

  • Don't remember where.

  • She was very young as well.

  • No, My first roommate was a Canadian girl.

  • Her name is Erika, and I actually think I still have her on Facebook when she lives in Canada.

  • She got married on the baby.

  • She was my first roommate.

  • Now I remember I felt a connection to her because at that point my mother already moved to Canada.

  • So I was like, Oh, Canada, Canadian.

  • She was really sweet.

  • She was an experienced model.

  • She like new, you know, the ins and outs of the industry.

  • I have good memories of her.

  • Then fine part began when the agency was like, Oh, you have a job tomorrow So that was the day after I landed and I was so confused.

  • I was like, Well, I haven't really gotten to castings like you already booked me.

  • They're like, Yeah, I get to the job 16 year old lost, confused and I look young to you guys.

  • Now can you imagine the baby face I had when I was 16?

  • My first job?

  • Waas a catalogue for pregnancy clothes.

  • That was a really interesting experience.

  • They put a belly on me and I was just It was something arrived.

  • When I think about Tokyo, I just have all these flashes of memories, these kind of experiences that were so awesome, so funny, so different.

  • So, like what?

  • The fact that I looked young wasn't a negative like Iwas in other parts of the world.

  • So basically my first job was pregnancy.

  • Clothes, I remember, was pretty interesting again.

  • You can really communicate.

  • They're just kind of signal you with your hands.

  • Okay, you alone said, give you clothes.

  • The way it works in Tokyo worked before in Tokyo was that every day, unless you have a job where the client will pick you up and take you there.

  • You meet every morning at, like eight or 9 a.m. Downstairs there's a minivan with a driver and an agent, and there's old girls that are going to the casting.

  • So it's basically like a little model bus that has stops at casting some castings and part of others not, and the manager of the front.

  • He speaks English and Japanese, and he's kind of the middleman between you and the client.

  • So he tells you what to do and communicates with you.

  • It was very like structured situation, which I appreciated.

  • It wasn't kind of like Here's a map Go, which was in Paris there they obviously understood that a lot of us, first of all, don't speak the language, can read anything, so they kind of took more care of us, and it was a nice special because there were so many young girls.

  • We would stop it a casting he'll call like Okay, malaria, Lana, Erica and those are the girls that would go to the casting, and then we go back to the van and continue to the next destination, and that will go up until probably four or five PM Something six.

  • So it was long hours just sitting, walking in and out of castings.

  • It actually gave us time to connect and to create friendships and bond together.

  • I met some amazing gross to this experience and then basically would finish our castings, come home with shower, will eat and will go up to the club.

  • Thatwas my Tokyo experience.

  • It was really going out every night because there was nothing really else to do.

  • There were all these clubs in the area that I wanted to get models in there, so they're giving you free dinners and free drinks than other local people.

  • Tourists will be more excited to go to that club.

  • I had so much fun.

  • It was really like young and wild and free.

  • Sometimes when people ask me now that the fact that I got married at such a young age I had kids so young, their legs don't you feel like you missed out?

  • I don't have this missing out feeling because I had experiences like Tokyo and Paris in London.

  • I started going out and doing all these things at such a young age that I really feel like I really just took it all in and fast track, all of it.

  • Some of the jobs that have had their that I remember so well.

  • Some of them were so, so random and so weird.

  • I remember I had one fashion shoot where they made me into a clown.

  • I was just like some more to really get like this, attached from the way they dress.

  • You put makeup on you because you understand that this is their market, what you like and what you think It's fashionable.

  • My network there I had shoes where they put like this big extensions and like hair on my head and put birds in there.

  • I also remember very, very clearly how there was one photo shoot where the makeup artist hold my lashes and they didn't have that rubber in between.

  • So it cut my lashes, and I just like, felt it fall on my cheek.

  • That was fun.

  • And again, you can really communicate, so the person is like and then you're like also some of my fun memories.

  • Are those rights things that you would get a 7 11?

  • It was rice and then inside It was like tuna.

  • Some had some other things inside.

  • That was my favorite snack.

  • And I think I ate it maybe like five times a day.

  • And then I would say that highlight of my time in Tokyo Waas when I got chosen to be in a hip hop video.

  • Yes, Guys, you heard it, right?

  • This girl waas in a hip hop video.

  • The artist was zebra, and I think he's still around theme for the casting and they put music on and you just needed to start dancing.

  • I was dancing my heart out, and then my agent was like, Oh, they booked you.

  • I felt like Jenny from the block.

  • I can't wait to show it to Jacob Van and Maxie be like your mom was in a hip hop video, so I'll be forever cool.

  • Also, I will never forget the fact that the video was sponsored by Snickers.

  • It was like everywhere on the set.

  • The guy was inside the pool with snickers when he was rapping and we were dancing.

  • We would hold snickers, and when they sent us home, they gave us sneakers.

  • I had an amazing time there, and I honestly I cannot wait to go back to Japan.

  • There's so many places I haven't been too.

  • So I told Gary that I would love.

  • Once the kids are a little older, go and do a proper trip to go to the more traditional side and also be in Tokyo and experience that culture.

  • Just love Japan.

  • Okay, a few words that I remember I used to No, some phrases and words, but I don't think I have them in my member anymore.

  • So the only thing I remember is when I was at the agency and the Asian will pick up the phone and they'll say, Obviously regard, though.

  • And then when I would walk out of stores or restaurants, everybody will be a lot of time.

  • Us.

  • Thank you guys so much for watching this.

  • I hope you enjoyed it.

  • I'm putting this out to the universe.

  • Japan.

  • I hope I will see.

  • I hope you enjoyed my rap video debut.

  • And if you want to hear more about my modeling stories, check out Paris story time.

I did a story Time about my time in Paris is a model I love seeing how interested you were.

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