When you become a mother, it's your mission in life to protect your child. I therefore can't imagine what a hell it must be crossing the sea with a crying child on your lap without any certainty of making it to the other side alive.

The media should be a mirror of society, and the world is diverse. So I mean, why shouldn't the fashion industry be diverse? It's just so simple. To me it's ABC, you know? It should not even be explained. It should just be the way it is.

I learn to be kind of balanced, because when I was a teenager and in my early 20s, I would get very involved with political issues and stuff like that. And now, I still have an opinion on everything, but I try to balance staying informed and having a positive attitude.

With modeling, I'm thankful to have so many work options. But you do have to be able to say no. In reality, everything would be yes because every gig pays more than any normal job. But you still have to keep your priorities straight in life. And my priorities are my girls.

As soon as I gave birth, I had, like, 20 kilos, which I think is about 50 lbs., and I realized, 'Oh my gosh - in one month, I have my photo shoot.' So I had to lose a lot, and you know, it doesn't happen in one month. So it took me almost a year because I think, realistically, it takes about a year.

Those first memories of my modeling career are not my favorite. At the beginning, it was tough. I was very lucky, my career took off very quickly, but still. All the memories I have about first casting in general - they're not nice. Just because there's so many girls, so much competition. I don't blame those casting directors, they see so many girls and they can't be nice to everybody. But you don't feel like a person, you feel like a number.

I am 32-years-old, and diversity is working for me. I see a lot of change. You can't deny the revolution that is happening about body sizes. With social media and everything, everyone can get their voice out more. It puts a lot of pressure on the industry to do, give more spaces to different ethnicities or ages or sizes. I do feel like the change is happening. It might have just started, but I believe it's not going to end. It's just the beginning.

It's very different - the European way of working and the American way of working. There are two sides for each of them. In Italy, or France, we take it very slow. For example, we would have a lunch break of an hour or more. Just sitting down at the table, chitchatting. In America, it's like, "Grab your sandwich, we're ready to shoot in 10 minutes." But at the same time, everything works so much better in America. It's more efficient, so it's easier to bring the results home faster.

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