LEA

I’m good! Lots of travel the last few weeks, quite busy with work but it feels good. I hope things will calm down in Paris because it’s not the best time to be here right now.

I had to move to the US when I was 18, so the place that made me grown up is definitely NY. Everything was new for me there, it was the first time I was traveling alone, far away from my family, first time in an English-speaking city where I had to learn to cope on my own, it made me grow up very fast.

I think the first place I would like to bring them would be East village. It’s where I had my first apartment. Where I built my first home far from home, and where I learnt to deal with loneliness. I would show them around, take them to my favorites vintages shops (Like DUO or L train), we would have lunch at Cafe Mogador and we would walk and chill in Union Square Park with a smoothie. 

Both! I come from the countryside so nature is very important to me. When I travel too much it’s where I need to go to recharge my batteries and where I feel the most in peace with myself.  But I can quickly miss the energy of the city too, I think I need the balance between them two.

Hmm yes I think and it's something I'm still learning to deal with, but it's hard sometimes. I don’t like that people decide for me, for example. When I started modeling, that was the hardest part for me, not really having control over my life.  Overnight we find ourselves with lots of people around us who direct us, and not being able to make our own choices, especially at 18 when you just discovered freedom, it’s not easy. When you do an image job you always want to be in a sort of control I think, but over the years you learn to let go and take things more lightly.

Life itself. I have faith in life, despite the difficult stages. I try not to be too afraid of the future. And so far I've been very lucky so I hope it will continue. 

It’s true that I have trouble putting my fears and worries aside.  So my remedy for that is to surround myself with positive people, to learn how to accept periods of down, and above all, to remember that bad times often give way to better things. And I have the chance to travel a lot with my job, so it also helps me to take some distance in difficult times. 

I used to be afraid of time passing, because I’m a very nostalgic person. I often have the feeling that everything was better before. But sometimes I realize that it's not always the case, because growing up doesn’t only mean getting older, it’s also acquiring, evolving, and achieving a certain freedom. So in the end it's not that bad [laughs].

One of the things I really want to do and hope to do soon is going on a humanitarian trip. Otherwise I would love to be able to take my family members who have never been to NY, to show them where I lived. And third thing, I would say travel somewhere in Africa like Namibia, and do a safari. That's one of my dreams.

One of the sounds that I've been listening since I was young and that I never get tired of, is Wonderwall by Oasis. 

I would like to talk about social media and tell people not to take it too seriously. What bothers me the most about social media is the pressure that comes with it. I think it's important to remember that there is a reality that is very different from what we see on social media, and that we don't always want to put our energy into it. And it's a shame that the number of followers influences our perception of others, as if the value and talent of people depend on it.