A chat with Leanne Driesprong
Best Female Model for Super Model International
Brian Kerkovan has always contributed to the local and international fashion industry. We caught up with the winner of the recently concluded Best Female Model for Super Model International Leanne Driesprong. Leanne, who has no experience whatsoever in the fashion industry and who works as a translator, was introduced to Brian through a friend who coaxed her to take part in the competition. She recalls that she was quite nervous as she had never done anything of this sort in her life.
When asked her about her younger days in Holland this is what she had to say:
“I have been playing the piano ever since I was five years old and took part in most music recitals at school, Jazz, Modern, Classical etc. Apart from that I used to be a budding actress while in primary school who managed to squeeze my way through to roles in all the school plays.
While in high school I was quite the opposite and was more of an activist than an actor. It all started after reading
Desert Flower by Waris Dirie, when I was 14 and I was taken up by the courage of the author; a young Somali Nomad turned Super Model and became a very vocal activist on gender issues. But I didn't have the slightest notion of being a model during my formative years.”
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To add to that, just before her 16th birthday she decided to take one year off high school in the Netherlands and move to Thailand on her own; and she spent short stints as a Kindergarten Teacher and Post Office attendant while attending high school in Thailand. As a result she now speaks Thai fluently.
She returned to Holland shortly after her 17th birthday and finished high school in the Netherlands, while apprenticing as a butcher in the local butchery. After which, she ended up going to Leiden University, one of the World's oldest Universities and the oldest University in Holland, and dedicated herself to being a bookworm - while occasionally babysitting Martin Wickramasinghe's grand children. I guess being a bookworm paid off since she was able to finally enter the real world with a Postgraduate Degree, a Masters in South Asian Studies, the relevance of which she adds she is “still struggling to find... in the real world.”
Whenever she was allowed to leave her piano she fondly recalls how she was allowed to take part in equestrian events, which mostly consisted of horse-back-riding and show jumping. She also tried her hand at ice skating, predominantly competitive speed skating and also danced for quite a number of years, mostly Jazz Ballet, Hip-Hop, and Modern Dance.
With plans to continue modelling after she is done with the pageant she says,
“I will have to wait and see what the future holds for me.”
She however adds that if she does win the competition she would “like to retire from modelling, on a high.” Yet, she leaves it to the future since she says “it would be foolhardy for her to make plans for after the competition.”
Before wrapping up my interview with her, I was intrigued to ask her what she would like to pass on to other young ladies, who plan to make a career out of modelling.
She straightens up and looks me directly in the eye with all the confidence in the world and says “If you believe that you have what it takes, by all means go for it!”
Text by Reihan Stephen
Pics by Nisal Baduge
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0 Comments
designer says:
Aug 30, 2013 at 12:00 ammust be another bimbo for sure.
#Dave# says:
Sep 04, 2013 at 12:00 amYou gotta be kidding us!