I'm always sad to leave paradise, but I leave behind the hopes of coming again soon.

When I was growing up in Russia, my grandmothers would cook the best pancakes in the world, the best meatballs, the best dumplings.

My personal memories of the brand go way back to the time when I was a teenager. L'Oreal make-up felt like a real luxury for me, and I remember dreaming of purchasing a L'Oreal lipstick.

Nothing is easy, and as far as my modelling career goes, the path to the top has been long and difficult, but that's what makes it special. I always look back to remind myself where I've come from.

My real last name is Flores, and Milian is actually my mom's maiden name. So it's not made up, which is cool; it runs in the family. And it actually worked out better for my career to have the last name Milian, because Flores kept me in a little box, and no one really associated me with the last name Flores.

I was first hired at Staples in 1992, by company founder Tom Stemberg and eventual CEO Ron Sargent, to be the first director of marketing and merchandising for the catalog business.

I've had the privilege of meeting and/or interviewing most of the top metal and hard rock artists at various points in my career and sharing their stories and music with millions of fans on air through TV and radio.

I was about 17 when I began my career.