Don't do things just to impress others or just because you're scared you won't have any friends.
— Andreja Pejic
I wasn't always confident; it took me awhile to kind of assume my role in fashion and feel attractive and be able to walk into a room.
For a long time after childhood ended and before I expressed my femininity through androgyny, I really didn't like looking in the mirror much because I just felt like I wasn't attractive.
I was prom queen, and the year before, I was prom king. It was kind of the same; you just got a differently shaped crown.
People would be surprised by me if they knew I was humble.
Mum's very proud. She finds every picture of me and has them on every wall.
I was lucky to grow up in a family where your parents loved you no matter what you were or what you came out as, and a lot of kids don't have that ride.
It's not like, 'Okay, today I want to look like a man, or today I want to look like a woman.' I want to look like me. It just so happens that some of the things I like are feminine.
I want to see creativity that breaks boundaries and isn't just about money.
If I wasn't modeling, I'd be studying economics or international politics.
Makeup contracts are the Oscars of the modeling world.
I've given up trying to convince the world about the authenticity of my femininity.
It used to be so important to choose what you were. Gay or straight. Male or female. I think the new generation is more fluid.
I kick off my metabolism with a glass of O.J. and a pretty big smoothie. I put in chia seeds, flax seeds, raw organic honey, fresh spinach, hemp seeds, avocado, matcha, spirulina, raw almond butter, almond milk, berries, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds.
I usually wake up around 9, and the first thing I do is make myself a cup of tea. I drink a lot of tea - green tea, white tea, and all kinds of herbal teas.
I have a very angular face, so my makeup routine is focused around softening my features, and I've finally learned how to contour to my advantage.
I was born a girl; it just took me a little while to become one fully.
I usually go with the 'less is more' approach.
You can wax on so much about your figure and your skin and your face and all of those really important, and I'm all about skin and keeping it healthy, but if you don't have confidence, none of it matters.
I think, at the end of the day, you have to live a truthful life and be true to yourself. You have one life, and everything has to fall into place around that.
When I was 12, I thought I wanted to be a witch.
My first passion is politics.
Fashion is quite inclusive and good at embracing different things and different forms of beauty. It's a very liberal industry. You can be yourself.
The first time I came to New York - and the first time I saw the movie 'Paris Is Burning' - I learned about the homeless LGBT culture in New York City that goes back to the '80s. I found that very interesting, and it's definitely something that I care about.
The way I need to look, it's a very personal thing. When I started experimenting, it was to make myself feel happy, to look in the mirror and be satisfied. I never did drag or anything like that. It was always that I wanted to be pretty, to look beautiful, as a girl would want to.
I definitely did look back into the past when I was a teenager for transgender icons, like a famous model called Tula in the 1970s-'80s who starred as a 'Bond' girl.
There are so many male models who are working in high fashion, and they are broke. It's good to be a woman.
The fact that my body is presented as an unrealistic ideal of 'beauty' to the world doesn't stop me - or most other models - from feeling unsure about ourselves.
Ever since Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. election, I've been trying to expand my scope to understand the thought processes of people who don't see the world, or humanity, as I do.
My mum would say sometimes, 'Do you think you might be gay?' But it wasn't that. When I imagined myself in a romantic setting, it was heterosexual, but I was just always a girl.
Stepping outside of my personal bubble, or that of fashion or beauty, is pretty important to me.
Instead of trying to be the queen of cool, it feels like more of an achievement to work with mainstream brands and reach as many people as possible. It's more unexpected for someone like me.
I would go through my mother's makeup kit, and I think she thought it was really cute. I was only three or four years old.
My dream was, start young, take hormones, live as a woman, try and become as passable as possible, bury your past, change your friends. Now I've realised that I don't have to be ashamed of my past.
During the day, I really don't wear much makeup.
I love Amanda Lear, Michelle Pfeiffer, Sharon Stone.
I'm comfortable in my skin, and for my look to be celebrated is great.
When I'm nervous, I can't eat or sleep.
I would love to bring my mum to see me in shows and travel Europe with me because she has done so, so much for me.
I think a life of a human being is not something you can explain in a few interview questions. The stuff you do in the media is sometimes a great reflection and sometimes not a great reflection of who you are as a person.
I love costume jewelry, the stuff Givenchy/Riccardo Tisci do, and old school rock n' roll jewelry, too.
Other women don't go around saying, 'Wow, I'm female.' They have room in their lives for other things. That's my goal. One day, I would like to be just another girl.
On a personal level, my mom is my biggest inspiration. She's always been an idol for me. I used to dream about growing up and being like her.
I just want to prove that I can do anything any other female model can do.
To demand that people find their assigned narrow corridors of culture or ethnicity or gender, expecting people to forevermore stay in that lane, is to limit our human potential. It's oppressive.
Radical feminists are often highly conservative in many areas except for women's rights, and LGBT activists can be the same.
Women are not baby machines. There's a lot more to being a woman, so reducing them to that is quite disgusting.
Weirdly enough, I'm a macroeconomics enthusiast.
Growing up, I was quite self-conscious about getting too tall, but then I realized, 'You know what? I can use it to my advantage. Big is beautiful.'
I take biotin and silica for my hair to grow faster, but it's good for your skin, too.
