Find out how your favorite supermodels became stars!
By Aaron Starmer
Before they were supermodels they were just regular people like you!
Take a look at how four supermodels got discovered in the most unlikely ways.
Cindy Crawford: Cindy Crawford, one of the world's most famous supermodels, got discovered by chance. The daughter of working class parents in rural DeKalb Illinois, Crawford spent many of her childhood summers working on farms for extra money. When she was 16, she had the unglamorous summer job pollinating corn. As luck would have it a newspaper photographer happened by one day and took a picture while she was working. The feedback on this picture was so positive that Crawford decided to enter John Casablancas Look of the Year Contest, where she came in second place.
Crawford was set on the right track after getting discovered by happenstance. She came in second place in a major national modeling contest on her first try. She finished high school as a valedictorian, and won a scholarship to study chemical engineering at Northwestern University in Chicago. She only stayed in college for a term, and went on to pursue a career in modeling. After working for a time in Chicago she moved on to Manhattan and made it big.
Cindy Crawford used her natural beauty to attract attention, and her natural intelligence to get to the center of the modeling industry and start her career.
Natalia Vodianova: Natalia Vodianova was born and raised in Gorky, a large city in Russia. She never knew her father, and suffered through her mother's abusive boyfriends. Her family was very poor, and her mother was barely able to support them running the fruit-stall, where Natalia worked since she was 11. When she was 15, she moved into an apartment with a friend and started her own fruit-stall to help out her sisters.
While working at her fruit stall, a French talent scout was struck by her look, and told her that if she could learn English she would have a future in modeling. Natalia enrolled in a modeling academy to learn the necessary skills and learned English in only three months. After that she moved to Paris with only her hopes and was signed by the Viva agency. Before long she became one of the world's top supermodels.
Natalia Vodianova used her perseverance and hard work to escape the fruit-stall and become a star.
Kate Moss: Kate Moss was born in South London to a boutique manager mother and an airline clerk father. She did poorly at school her entire life, earning only one passing C, and only excelled in sports. Her parents divorced when she was 13. She was regarded as too skinny and short to be conventionally beautiful.
When Moss was 14 and coming back from a vacation in the Bahamas, Sarah Doukas, who would go on to found Storm Modeling Agency, noticed something special about her. A year later Doukas arranged a photo shoot for Moss in the British magazine The Face. That was enough to launch Moss's career, even though her skinny figure and short stature should have prevented her from becoming a supermodel. She became the "anti-supermodel" of the 90's, contrasting with Cindy Crawford and other full-figured models.
Kate Moss used her natural look and unconventional body-type to set herself apart from other models and start a decade long style trend.
Gabrielle Reece: Gabrielle Reece was born in California, but spent her early years living in the Virgin Islands because her father was from Trinidad. In high school, she excelled at basketball and volleyball, and many colleges tried to recruit her for her athletic abilities.
Gabrielle accepted a volleyball scholarship from Florida State University, where she majored in communications. After college she became a professional volleyball player, and set many still-standing records. At the same time she was receiving accolades for her stellar athletic ability, Gabrielle decided to use the energy surrounding her sports career to break into modeling. Her name was already known, and her body was in peak physical condition from playing professional sports. She starting flying to New York in her off time to pick up modeling gigs, and started appearing on magazine covers. Before long she became as famous for her modeling as for her sports medals.
Gabrielle used her notoriety as a sports figure and toned body to transition into the world of modeling.
You can be anywhere, at a Russian fruit stand, a corn field, the airport, or the volleyball court and get discovered!
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