Growing up in the south, N.Y.C. always seemed like a destination to visit but not to live in.

It all started when I went to this model search in Charlotte when I was 18. That's when I met all these agents and realized I could do it, and I won! I met a photographer at the competition who persuaded me to sign with a different agency than the one that was offered to me. So, I started with a small agency and eventually moved up to IMG.

The most beautiful destination I've been to was the Seychelles Islands, and the most culturally inspiring place was Mumbai, India.

I try to keep it in a very low impact - I have scoliosis, so exercises can be really hard on my back, whether it's too much running, jumping or boxing. I'll do those things once in a while, but I keep it mostly Pilates, resistance-band based, softer exercises that build strength from inside the muscle.

A place makes a deep impression on you when you're young. It lives with you. It's like your childhood. It fertilises the imagination.

Many Nobel Prizes are awaiting good research to understand and explain the many mysteries of our bodies, such as the basic mechanism of memory or imagination.

Live out of your imagination, not your history.

Our culture loves movies and TV, which is wonderful, but there's something a little bit passive sometimes about watching, because you're looking at other people's imagination at work.