TWELV Diary #31: POLINA PROTODYAKONOVA

NAME: POLINA PROTODYAKONOVA 

OCCUPATION: MODEL

AGENCY: RED MODEL MANAGEMENT

 

To be successful in modeling you need to adapt to different cultures– it’s critical given all the international people in this business. I really learned how to do this when I moved from a small village in Siberia to New York City. My people are Yakutian, an ethnic group in a far northern region of Siberia. Sometimes I felt like I’m from another planet. In my village there is no Instagram, there isn’t even internet. It’s a simple life with a very small amount of people. Wooden stoves are used to heat our homes and we have to melt ice for drinking water. Instead of WholeFoods we have a “Whole Forest,” full of wild animals and lakes we hunt in for meat. We farm our own land for vegetables and they have to last us through our 9 month winter. It may sound like a tough life, and it is, but growing up surrounded by animals and nature was a childhood dream for me. Living there also taught me just how strong a woman can be. 

 

Outside modeling, photography is also a big part of my life. I really enjoy using my skills as a photographer to capture the strength all women have. There is an inner Amazonian warrior, the power woman, in all females and being able to bring that to life in photography is incredibly rewarding.

 

Living in NYC is just about as different from my village as night is from day, and yet I love both. I really enjoy the fashion industry and being surrounded by creative people– they really inspire me– and their creativity is contagious.

 

 

 

WRITTEN BY POLINA PROTODYAKONOVA