Andreja Pejic

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.

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.'

To all trans youth out there, I would like to say respect yourself and be proud of who you are.

I feel that for a lot of my career, I had success, I was adored, but I was also this alien creature. I want to show that I have the skill like any other female model, and I'm asking for the same equal treatment and equal respect as any other female model.

It would be lovely to live in a world where trans-female models were treated as female models, and trans-male models were treated the same as male models rather than being a niche commodity.

I guess professionally I've left my gender open to artistic interpretation.

I just want to prove that I can do anything any other female model can do.

Radical feminists are often highly conservative in many areas except for women's rights, and LGBT activists can be the same.

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 struggled to find an agency in London because no one knew whether they should put me in the men's board or the women's board. There was a lot of uncertainty about my commercial viability.

Gender dysphoria is never an easy thing to live with, mainly because people don't understand it.

As a kid, you get to the stage where you realise the gender barriers that exist in society and what you're supposed to do and not supposed to do.