I read you were discovered at the Dairy Queen on a church outing? Is that true?

Yes, I was at the Mall of America with the youth group from my church. The person who discovered me was a photographer named Brent Zempel from Minneapolis, MN. I was just sitting there with my girlfriend having a Blizzard at the Dairy Queen when Brent approached me about modeling. It was really weird because it was so hard for me to believe that anyone thought I could be a model. And given that we were in the Mall of America, I wondered if it was legitimate. But he seemed like a good guy and he was. I went up to his studio several times through high school to take pictures. It wasn't until I actually saw some of the results that I thought maybe it was really possible. I'd never seen myself like that before. I started college that fall, but went to the IMTA convention in New York, and two days later I was on a plane for Paris. I didn't even have time to pack up my dorm room.

What agents made the biggest impression on you at IMTA?

It's hard when you're new in the business to know what agency's good. The decision I made was because I already knew the name Elite Models. Unfortunately, their men's division in Paris was not good. They were better known for their women and ended up closing down a few day's after I left. So they weren't doing too well and I didn't work the whole time I was in Paris. So I wish there was some sort of guidance system for kids that go to IMTA. Some sort of agency rating system or something. IMTA's called me to speak at various events, but I've never done it.

How do you go from being a seventeen year-old in a mall, wondering "is this photographer hitting on me" and "is it all a scam," to being on a jet to Paris. What was your mindset? Were you fearful?

I was very, very afraid. I was sitting on the plane before we landed, the French instructions came over the loudspeakers, I realized I was arriving in a foreign land very far from Iowa, and I knew it was a whole new chapter in my life. Very exciting, but hard to handle at the time.

There you were in Paris, starving, not working, and maybe you were thinking this wasn't such a good idea. So what happened? Were you going to castings?

Oh my God, I went to so many castings you wouldn't believe. I went to at least eight castings a day, go sees, I was practically living in the subway, and barely surviving on the 500 francs a week the agency gave me. It was an interesting experience. I went over expecting glitz and glamour and got a mattress on a floor with no lights in some woman's apartment. So I cried myself to sleep for about two weeks solid.

Then again, on the home front I was a big celebrity already. I was all over the paper there — Iowa boy off to Paris. So all my friends thought I was in the big time now, but here I'd quit college and I was living in Paris on this mattress thinking, "what is happening to my life?" There was just no way I was going home with my tail between my legs. I believed in myself that I could do it, even though for six months — nothing. Even so I just had a feeling, and I'm glad now I stuck with it.

Did you book anything in those six months?

Not in Paris but I went to Spain and booked three jobs. They weren't high-profile, but they put some money in my pocket and confirmed I had at least some potential. And the Spanish people and their way of life were so great — I felt so relaxed around them. Now I totally appreciate the French and I love Paris more than anything, but at the time it was the worst place in the world for me.