Andreja Pejic

Most female models don't have any muscle mass.

My favourite author is Leon Trotsky - the political philosophy and the way he writes is beautiful, and really relevant, too.

I was planning to transition right after high school and attend university as a girl, but then the modeling thing came up. It was an opportunity to see the world. My family knew I identified as a girl, but I didn't tell people in fashion.

My dream was, start young, take hormones, live as a woman, try and become as passable as possible, bury your past, change your friends. Now I've realised that I don't have to be ashamed of my past.

In the beginning, I was worried there are too many shots of me as a boy out there. Now I'm at a point where I know my past doesn't make me any less of a woman today. I can be proud of it. I don't have to bury it.

Other women don't go around saying, 'Wow, I'm female.' They have room in their lives for other things. That's my goal. One day, I would like to be just another girl.

I didn't know if I could have a career in fashion; I didn't fit in an obvious box.

I was scouted working at the register at McDonald's in Melbourne, Australia. I worked there as my first job, and a guy walked in and gave me his card. I was 16. I was skeptical, but I looked it up when I got home, and it was legitimate.

My mum would say sometimes, 'Do you think you might be gay?' But it wasn't that. When I imagined myself in a romantic setting, it was heterosexual, but I was just always a girl.

A lot of people, when they look at the whole trans thing, they think,'Oh, you're transgender, and in the fashion industry, which is very pro-LGBT, so you don't have any problems because it's a progressive place.' But that's not the reality.

I definitely did look back into the past when I was a teenager for transgender icons, like a famous model called Tula in the 1970s-'80s who starred as a 'Bond' girl.

I wanted to be a good kid, and I wanted to please my parents.