Coco Rocha

Feline eyes, a sultry pout, and a captivating face, Coco Rocha is now known to the general public. This young Canadian took part in the very exclusive "family photo" organized by Vogue last May that brought together the crème de la crème of the modeling industry.

Rocha is one of the new arrivals growing up as a guest star in the fashion business. As is often the case, however, she never dreamt of becoming a model. She fell in love with traditional Irish dancing when she was very young and devoted all of her free time to it in order to follow her company on tour.

It was during a performance that Charles Stuart, a Vancouver agency director, spotted the young Rocha. He asked her if she would like to join the other girls in his agency and become a model. She was surprised and a bit suspicious, not sure what to think of such an offer. After having confirmed Stuart's story, however, she realized that the offer was real and at the age of 15, she signed her first contract.

From that moment on, she began to travel around the world. She was one of those models who worked regularly without making it on the cover of Vogue, at least for the moment. She posed for several magazines, mostly for Asian and European editions. She would not have believed that several months later she would become one of the top 10 models.

Everything came to a head in 2006 when she joined the head Elite agency in New York. As soon as she changed management, she was called into the office. Rocha thought that they were going to offer her yet another fashion editorial for yet another magazine; needless to say, she was surprised when she found herself booked for 5 shows for the New York fashion week.

To round off the image, the famous Steven Meisel fell under her charm and decided to have her participate in a photo shoot for Vogue Italy where she would be posing with no less than Amanda Moore and Gemma Ward. Rocha was still unknown and had not yet even walked in a show. Meisel, however, followed his instinct and as is often the case, chose well.

For Rocha, the idea of working with Meisel alongside "it" girls was too good to be true. She said she could not believe it until she found herself face to face with Gemma. When the session was finished, Rocha flew back to New York and participated in her first week of shows, including Anna Sui and Marc Jacobs.

The dice were now cast -- her beauty, aura, and mentor Meisel did the rest. The fashion editors noticed her immediately. Models.com said she was the most promising newcomer and that she could walk away with all the prizes next season. They were right on the mark, because after New York, Rocha continued onto Milan.

Did she feel the change coming? What is sure is that the shows in which she participated were among the highest in the fashion world: e.g., Versace, Prada and Dolce&Gabbana. After New York and Milan, she was omnipresent in Paris. In fact, during the Paris fashion week, she walked eight times: Balenciaga, Chanel, Paco Rabanne, Miu Miu, Stella McCartney, Christian Lacroix, Emanuel Ungaro and Louis Vuitton.

Rocha was the one chosen by Marc Jacobs to open the Louis Vuitton show, as an example of her recognition. Before going home, Dolce&Gabbana and Balenciaga had her pose for their ad campaigns. To complete the image, she posed for Steven Meisel for the cover of Vogue Italy.

The machine was now running and she was requested all over the world. She spent a lot of time in airplanes, which is where she studied for her correspondence classes. She moved to New York, "the place to be" for a rising model, into an apartment that she shares with other girls from Elite - at 17, she prefers roommates to living alone in an unknown city.

Her life may have taken a direction far different than that of her former classmates, yet Rocha does not have a big head. She went back to her old school to help her friends produce an amateur fashion show and to take her last physical education class.