Blesnya Minher

Your trajectory has been great to witness. It must be a surreal experience for your career to have skyrocketed the way it has.
Thank you so much! Sometimes I can’t believe it either. Thinking where I came from in Angola I’m not from the main city. I’m from so far and even people from there don’t believe I came from where I came. I have to convince them. It’s kind of unbelievable.

So how were you first discovered?
When I was in school I saw an advertisement on TV where it said if that you want to be a model, you have to send your pictures to this email, which is my mother agency right now, Da Banda Model Management. The next day, I went to school and asked my best friend to take pictures of me to send to the email. Then after two weeks, they called me and I just started doing a few jobs in my country. When I got my first cover in my country, they sent it to Elite Paris and then Elite wanted me to go to France for my first season.

It went pretty well, because I got four good shows, and then my first campaign ever for Valentino with David Sims. I knew Valentino and my mom is a fan, so it was a big deal but I was shooting with David and didn’t know who he was. We were sitting and having a conversation for a pretty long time. I’m not saying I would treat him differently if I had known how big he was. But you know, we tend to be a little bit insecure when we know someone is big so it was pretty good that I didn’t know who he was. We were talking and then he asked my name and I said Blesnya and then I asked his name and he responded David. And I was like, “David? David who?” And then he said “David Sims.” and I was like “Oh you’re the photographer? Oh God, I’ve been talking to you all this time!” It was a really funny moment that I can never forget.

That’s so great. I mean, you mentioned getting that first campaign in your first international season and that being a huge moment.
It was huge, yeah. Since I was a kid, my mom and I always watched Fashion TV and I think that’s what made me so into fashion. In my first season, I already got such a huge campaign and I think that’s one of the things that made my career really take off. The next season, I got my exclusivity with Calvin Klein and I feel like after that, all eyes were on me. I’m really happy with where I am right now. I’m not the biggest model, but I tend to compare me to me, you know? Where I came from, I could never imagine having the opportunities and being able to do the things I do right now. I’m pretty sure if I wasn’t a model I wouldn’t be able to know the countries that I do. I wouldn’t be able to be financially independent. Just things like that.

What would you say is your favorite part of modeling?
I would say just knowing different places, people and cultures. It makes me more open-mind, too. We’re exposed to so many different things and we all look at it as a normal, you know? I tend to understand instead of going straight to judging.

What’s one thing about yourself that might surprise people?
I know how to cook very well. And I don’t particularly agree but some people say I can sing.

Is that the next step?
I would say actress maybe – not really singing because I might have a good voice when I’m singing, but I can’t really control things like that. I would have to study a lot. And with acting, I don’t think I would have to force myself that much because modeling is kind of the same.

You do have a very expressive face. Is there anyone that you look up to in the industry?
Gisele Bündchen. I think she’s a great example not just as a model, but also as a person. I’ve never seen her in trouble and she’s a role model to me because she has her own family. She dedicates herself to things that benefit everyone and not just herself. She’s come also from very far with a very humble family and she’s a businesswoman, a mother, a wife, you know? Just my goals. How I want to be.

What is one thing you would like to do next? What’s a dream job for you?
I’m not sure if I would get this but I would say a Vogue Italia cover. Yeah, that would be great. And oh my God, what am I talking about? A beauty contract! These two are, like, my biggest goals but if I had even to choose between these two, I would still choose the beauty contract.