Date of birth

Oh, it was so, so long ago. Wait a minute, I'll try to recall …

Well, it was when I was 13 that I was invited to take part in a coiffure show staged by the Mod's Hair salon in the Luxor club. Surprisingly, it was only a month after I had enrolled in the Vyacheslav Zaitsev Modeling School and I was quite inexperienced. I was almost stunned. I had wanted to become a model ever since I was a child and I chose an example for myself: the wife of my father's friend, who was already a model. And suddenly I became a model in just one month after I began studying.

I was self-confident. I'm not quite sure, but it was probably thanks to my older colleagues who didn't frighten or criticize me. Instead, they helped me as much as they could and cheered me up with jokes. What is funny is that when I was taking my exams in the Zaitsev Modeling School I couldn't do without valerian drops. I was terribly scared and trembling like an leaf. But it ended well and I got an "A."

I think that if one wants to make a career as a model she should start as early as possible. Of course, she will not be immediately photographed for cover pages or filmed for commercials. What is most important for a beginning model is to preserve her original appearance, not to change it. It often happens that girls modify their cheeks, noses and lips in order to make them look "standard." Once I overheard a girl saying: "I don't like this eyelid. I shall have it stretched tomorrow." How stupid! What would she do if the fashion for eyelids changed the next day? More surgery? And the second commandment is to resist the stardom disease.

I must confess I've been through it. When I found a job as a model I became smug and self-conceited. I thought all doors would open for me and everybody would cater to my whims. But I managed to find the strength to cure myself.

I don't take it too much to heart. But I can't deny that there are stupid people among models. Stupidity can acquire different forms. In my opinion, the stupid ones are all those who idolize things and labels and can't see any further or deeper.

Why should he be jealous? He understands only too well that this is work for which I'm paid money. But he doesn't allow men to approach me, even if all they only want to do is give me flowers.

I've finished a course in interior design and I work as a designer sometimes. To tell the truth, it happens very rarely, and only when I'm asked by my closest friends. In the fall I would like to start studying in an institute, though I've not yet decided which one. At the moment I'm studying in a college as an external student.

Don't be surprised – my boyfriend is my hobby. He has just had an operation and he needs looking after. So, although I'm very busy, I'm trying my best to take care of him and to protect him. My second hobby is reading. I like reading foreign and Russian classics. Every time I get paid I go to the Dom Knigi bookstore on Novy Arbat and buy books. Recently I re-read Goncharov and Zola.

What do your relatives think about your career as a model?

They view it positively. Last winter was a difficult period in my life. I had been under a lot of stress, and didn't want to work. I lived with my parents in the suburban city of Korolyov. Every day they would tirelessly repeat: "Yulya, how can you be like this? After all, you wanted to become a model so much. This is your work. What else do you plan to go in for?" Thank God, I've managed to pull through and overcome my problems. Now I'm at work again. I'm very happy – both with my job and my private life.