Vancouver Fashion eZine - Online Fashion Magazine

Dana's modelling career has already taken her to as far-flung locations as New York, Hawaii and Singapore. She didn't start as young as many girls do, and laughs when she tells me "I was really short when I was 14." She's making up for it now, and adds "I kept growing until like a year ago." With this growth spurt a few years later, she decided to try modelling out. "I went to a scouting thing that I heard about on the radio, and then that took me to Seattle." She ended up with an agent based in New York. "I got really lucky in that way, and then I made a couple of trips to New York with that agency and did some work there." To go to New York as the first stop in her career is no small feat in the modelling industry. But it was what others were doing there that really enthused Dana, the city capturing her admiration with its abundance of raw talent. "The thing that amazed me about New York is that there's just so many, so many talented people there," and adds enthusiastically, "You go on a job to be a fit model, or for snapshots for their lookbook, or something like that, and, like, their clothes are amazing." She hadn't expected that she would meet so many talented people over a relatively short period of time, and found herself genuinely wanting them all to do well.

"So, I did that for awhile, and then I actually took a break from modelling." Dana tells me. This was partly because she wanted to get started with school, but primarily due to a close family member having passed away. Having taken a little over a year off from modelling, she is getting started again, and is now with Richard's International Model Management. "I just decided in I guess October or November that I wanted to get the agent in Vancouver."

In addition to her modelling work Dana is studying psychology - "I wanted to spend four years of my life studying something that I really like." - taking all university transfer courses through correspondence with Langara College.

An obvious highlight of her career so far was her work in Hawaii, Kaanapali specifically. She went with a small group - another girl also modelling, and the crew - and recalls, excitedly, that it "was unbelievable - we stayed in this like mansion on the beach - it was just amazing."

As for working in Singapore, she tells me, not surprisingly, "It was a culture shock." She was paired up with an agency there, and as with her time in New York, she stayed in an apartment with other models, this time with guys and girls. "There were girls from Eastern Europe, guys from Australia, New Zealand, like a really big cross-section." There for a month, she worked a lot. "I really didn't see a lot outside of where I had to go for jobs, because when I wasn't working I was just so tired I wanted to stay at home."

Although she can't be certain where modelling will lead her, she's thoroughly enjoying it right now. "Every job is so different and all of the people you work with are so different," she muses, "so, it's kind of fun, it's not like a regular job where a lot of the time you know what it's going to be like, you know, from day to day." Dana has done mostly editorial work in Vancouver, and when I ask her about anyone that has stood out she comments on the talent of stylist Louisa Rino, adding "I worked with her on the Nuova shoot in Hawaii, and then for a magazine called The Block." Her shoot for this issue of Vancouver Fashion Ezine was at Lighthouse Park in West Vancouver, a new discovery for Dana, and she loved it - "I'm gonna go back!"

Working in Italy or France is on her radar, and she has direct tie to the continent - "My Dad's from Slovenia, so I feel a big connection to Europe." With many more discoveries to come, both here and across the ocean, Dana is ready. "There's so much I don't know about it, and I think you're always just learning, and going along doing the best you can." For now, I leave her to finish her chai latte and lemon square.