Follow the dream with international supermodel Monika Kuzmova
1. What do you do for a living?
– Currently iam part time model and part time employee in hotel management industry.
2. How would you describe your work?
– As a model i represent and promote the brand that i do the photoshoot for both in their marketing material and on my social media pages.
In hotel management industry i provide the best possible customer service that makes me develop my foreign languages and social skills such i can learn about people, cultures and apply this in all aspects of life.
3. What does your work entail?
– My work entail to create connections and understand the feeling of the people I encounter. I use intuition both when serving guests and when doing photoshoots and am always looking to create a positive and proffessional longterm connection.
4. What’s a typical work week like?
– My typical work week is always packed back to back. I start the week out planning with photoshoots and workshifts I have and then fit in time to speak with my family back home in Slovakia, my friends around the world and keeping my social media up-to-date around that.
5. How did you get started?
– Modelling i started when i was 16 years old in my hometown Cadca in Slovakia and pursued the modelling career even after grauduating hotel management.
6. What do you like about your work?
– I like being a model because it has always been my dream. I studied hotel management because I wanted to develop my social skills and learn about the service industry.
7. What do you dislike?
– Well, modelling is a shortlived career and you only have so much time to make it big in. That window closes quickly and does not suit a normal life very well. I have had to give of normal jobs to pursue modelling, and on the other hand pass on modelling contracts to keep my normal job. These two Worlds are always at loggerheads with each other it seems.
8. How do you make money or how are you compensated?
– Model work is a bit unstable job because the salary depends on what kind of job you get (web shoot, catalogue, fashion show, campaign etc.) and of course how well known you are. But of course if you travel instead abroad for a guaranteed contract it becomes a stable full time job. Hotel management is a stable job and the salary is based on how many hours you work a month and the afford you make regarding the progress in the industry.
9. What skills are needed to do this?
– For both jobs you need an optimistic attitude and the will to keep going. Both demands lots of practice and a willingness to fail in order to keep getting better at what you do.
10. What is most challenging about your work?
– The most challenging about my jobs is to be on time (smile). Some say better look great and be late than look ugly and be on time. (Smile)
11. What is the most rewarding?
– The most rewarding to me is to make sure I did a great job, no matter if it’s modelling or hotel management work. As long as I know that I did well, it gives me an energy unlike any other. I need this energy boost to keep confident and become even more successful in life.
12. What advice would you offer someone considering this career?
– My advice would be to follow the dream no matter how much effort it takes or how hard it seems to achieve it. I believe that If you don’t do anything to make your dream come true, you never know what it would have been if you didn’t persist. I could just not live with that thought nagging the rest of my life.
13.How much time off do you get?
– Well, I don’t get that much time off and I am happy for that as I like when the things are happening around me and I can be part of it.
14. What else would you like people to know about your career?
– My career is not only about gastronomy and modelling. I have got to travel the world, to learn about cultures and meet people from all around the world.
I participated in 3 international beauty contests. In 2016 I represented Slovakia at World Miss University in China. It was my very first experience in a beauty contest and my very first time in China. In 2017 i was offered again to represent my home country Slovakia at an International contest in China. This time i participated at World Super Model Contest. As it was my second contest i felt already more experienced and so ready in my heart to succeed at this model contest. I won a title of The best figure and entered top 10 which made me truly happy. Last year i participated at Miss Polo International in Nigeria representing Denmark as a home country of my boyfriend Nikolaj Kielland as well as a country i currently live in. It was pageant about help and support with the education through the beauty and sport. I entered top 10 of all contestants and i got an experience for all my life. Through all 3 contest i hade a huge support of my boyfriend Nikolaj and i would truly like to thank him for all his love, knowledge and good energy so i could be confident and represent my country and myself as a strong woman whom can make a difference.
Every pageant has opened my mind to new ways of life and I am very proud to have had these experiences. I have grown as a human being and become better as a person. I have learned to appreciate different ways and values of life and understand how better we have as can live as human beings.
This is so important to me having a career like mine, to learn to use this unique feminine power in a good way to promote good causes, to bring light to issues that threaten people, animals and mother nature.
15. What is a common misconception people have about your work?
– I guess the only one misconception I have experienced is that I only seek the spotlight for me and myself, however I am very careful choosing who I work with, where I go for competitions as I truly believe we as beauty queens have a responsibility to use our short-lived fame to shed light on the issues that threatens our very livelihood and harmony here on mother Erth.
