{"id":170505,"date":"2026-06-22T12:17:30","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:17:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=170505"},"modified":"2026-06-22T12:44:59","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T16:44:59","slug":"jac-jagaciak-on-reinvention-resilience-and-starting-over-with-white-belt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=170505","title":{"rendered":"Jac Jagaciak on Reinvention, Resilience, and Starting Over with &#8216;White Belt&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>\n.centerimg {padding:4em 7em;margin:20px 0;}\n.centerimg2 {padding:4em 4em;margin:20px 0;}\n.centerimg3 {padding:4em 3em;margin:20px 0;}\n.sidetxt {padding:16em 2em 16em 2em;;margin:20px 0;}\n.centerimg img {margin-bottom:0px;}\n.instagram-media {margin:auto !important;}\n#wp-content hr {margin: 40px auto 80px auto;width: 80%;}\n<\/style>\n<div class=\"centerimg\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2280359081_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2280359081_1.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2280359081_1-640x480.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2280359081_1-1280x960.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2280359081_1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><br \/>\n<small>Photo by Erik Tanner\/Getty Images<\/a><\/small>\n<\/div>\n<p>White Belt, a documentary following <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/models\/Jac-Jagaciak\">Monika \u201cJac\u201d Jagaciak<\/a> in the months before her first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this past month. Directed by her husband <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/Branislav-Jankic\">Branislav Jankic<\/a> and produced by <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/goran-macura\">Goran Macura<\/a>, the film traces Jac\u2019s journey from modeling to martial arts, told in her own voice through unguarded interviews shot across competition days, travel, and immigration appointments. Discovered at 13, Jac went on to work with legends such as Peter Lindbergh and Steven Meisel, front campaigns for Chanel, Calvin Klein, Dior, Prada, Versace, and became a Victoria\u2019s Secret Angel in 2015. Now in a new era, she trained for eight months under three-time world champion Gregor Gracie in preparation for the tournament. \u201cIt\u2019s about choosing to start from zero,\u201d Janki\u0107 says of the film. \u201cTo be nobody again.\u201d Models.com&#8217;s VP <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/betty-sze\">Betty Sze<\/a> (herself a longtime martial arts practitioner) spoke to Jac and Branislav about the film and their fashion journeys.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Intro by <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/anire-ikomi\">Anire Ikomi<\/a><br \/>\nInterview by <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/betty-sze\">Betty Sze<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"centerimg\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/SnapInsta.to_641817728_18570830464010706_4003280839600479904_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1345\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170534\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/SnapInsta.to_641817728_18570830464010706_4003280839600479904_n.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/SnapInsta.to_641817728_18570830464010706_4003280839600479904_n-514x640.jpg 514w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/SnapInsta.to_641817728_18570830464010706_4003280839600479904_n-1028x1280.jpg 1028w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><br \/>\n<small>Courtesy of White Belt Production<\/small>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Congrats to both of you for the film being chosen for Tribeca Film Festival. Only 6 films were chosen out of 9000 submitted for the Shorts category so that&#8217;s a huge accomplishment. Those of us who&#8217;ve been in the industry have watched you grow up on camera and now we get to see you on the big screen. While many models turn to yoga as a form of physical activity, you turned to martial arts. What was the journey that led to this?<\/strong><br \/>\nMartial arts, and specifically Brazilian jiu-jitsu, was something that felt the most out of my comfort zone when I approached it.  I needed that in 2024 because we had just moved back to New York after the pandemic, and as I stepped back into the fashion industry again, I felt like it was really hard for me to feel proud of the past 15 years. My confidence level wasn&#8217;t the same like it used to be. I felt like I needed to do something outside of the industry to rebuild that confidence. So I chose jiu-jitsu as it felt like the most uncomfortable place to be.<\/p>\n<p><strong>At the premiere, you talked about how your daughter had actually done it first.<\/strong><br \/>\nIt started with our daughter, who was 4 at the time. We wanted a sport for her that would make her feel strong and confident, and jiu-jitsu felt like it was a good choice. We had some friends back in Brooklyn who were training with Gregor Gracie, and when I saw her on those mats at Gregor&#8217;s gym, I felt like I should try it too. If doing martial arts can build her confidence, it will help build me as well.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why did you decide to train for the nationals and how long did the training last? <\/strong><br \/>\nI started in January 2024, which is when I turned 30, and gave myself 8 months until August to go into the Vegas world championships for the novice level, which is what the white belts were called. It was January to August 2024, and after that, it takes a whole year for a movie to be edited and then sent to festivals. I gave myself a mission to compete in August, which is unusual because people take much longer to do their 1st competition; usually three to four years. I approached Gregor and said, &#8220;Could you please, train me for this? I want to do this for myself.&#8221; He was kind enough to put me in classes I&#8217;m not even supposed to be in as a beginner. I got to train with the best, with his amazing team, including Julia, who started an all-women&#8217;s class. It was a perfect environment, to start this journey there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How many hours a day were you training? <\/strong><br \/>\nI was there twice a day sometimes. Normally, a class lasts an hour, and then after that, you have sparring; they call it rolling at least 3 hours a day. Yes, at least. 8 months straight. I lived there basically. Funny enough, because our daughter started training there, by the time I was training, she was there so much with me that she didn&#8217;t want to train anymore. She was like, I don&#8217;t want to go to this gym anymore. Oh, my God, it&#8217;s so funny!<\/p>\n<p><strong>What are your favorite parts of training?<\/strong><br \/>\nMy favorite parts of training were getting to know the community around jiu-jitsu. I was really scared of how they would see me coming from the &#8220;glamorous&#8221; world of fashion. Also, I was a head taller than a lot of the people who train there; it was really incredible. To this day, I&#8217;m friends with a lot of people who train there, even though we no longer live in NY. <\/p>\n<p><strong>What&#8217;s interesting is that, a lot of times, when one is shorter and more compact, I feel like it is an advantage as that keeps you lower to the ground with your center of gravity; and usually think it would be better for jiu-jitsu. However, I noticed in the film, you&#8217;re able to use your legs to really lock people and I wonder how that must be for the person you&#8217;re rolling with, as they&#8217;re not really used to that.<\/strong><br \/>\nIt&#8217;s an advantage and a disadvantage, and I needed to learn to work with that because most of my partners were way shorter than me, especially women. I\u2019m in the light category for competing, and most of the women my age and in my weight category are shorter, which, as you mentioned, makes it easier for them once they&#8217;re on the ground because they can sneak under my legs. It is like playing human chess. My strategy was always to pull them down on the ground, lock them in my legs, and go from there.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Many people don&#8217;t realize how grueling modeling can be. They only see the glamorous side and don&#8217;t understand the physicality of the job. How do you think your career prepared you for this training? <\/strong><br \/>\nI think modeling gave me the resilience to just keep going, even if I fail. I think hearing &#8220;no&#8221; in modeling is just part of the game.\u2029Just like in sports, failing and getting up is a big lesson. <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZiSwrtnFbd\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\" style=\" background:#FFF; border:0; border-radius:3px; box-shadow:0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width:540px; min-width:326px; padding:0; width:99.375%; width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px); width:calc(100% - 2px);\">\n<div style=\"padding:16px;\"> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZiSwrtnFbd\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" background:#FFFFFF; line-height:0; padding:0 0; text-align:center; text-decoration:none; width:100%;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> <\/p>\n<div style=\" display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;\">\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 19% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display:block; height:50px; margin:0 auto 12px; width:50px;\"><svg width=\"50px\" height=\"50px\" viewBox=\"0 0 60 60\" version=\"1.1\" xmlns=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\"><g stroke=\"none\" stroke-width=\"1\" fill=\"none\" fill-rule=\"evenodd\"><g transform=\"translate(-511.000000, -20.000000)\" fill=\"#000000\"><g><path d=\"M556.869,30.41 C554.814,30.41 553.148,32.076 553.148,34.131 C553.148,36.186 554.814,37.852 556.869,37.852 C558.924,37.852 560.59,36.186 560.59,34.131 C560.59,32.076 558.924,30.41 556.869,30.41 M541,60.657 C535.114,60.657 530.342,55.887 530.342,50 C530.342,44.114 535.114,39.342 541,39.342 C546.887,39.342 551.658,44.114 551.658,50 C551.658,55.887 546.887,60.657 541,60.657 M541,33.886 C532.1,33.886 524.886,41.1 524.886,50 C524.886,58.899 532.1,66.113 541,66.113 C549.9,66.113 557.115,58.899 557.115,50 C557.115,41.1 549.9,33.886 541,33.886 M565.378,62.101 C565.244,65.022 564.756,66.606 564.346,67.663 C563.803,69.06 563.154,70.057 562.106,71.106 C561.058,72.155 560.06,72.803 558.662,73.347 C557.607,73.757 556.021,74.244 553.102,74.378 C549.944,74.521 548.997,74.552 541,74.552 C533.003,74.552 532.056,74.521 528.898,74.378 C525.979,74.244 524.393,73.757 523.338,73.347 C521.94,72.803 520.942,72.155 519.894,71.106 C518.846,70.057 518.197,69.06 517.654,67.663 C517.244,66.606 516.755,65.022 516.623,62.101 C516.479,58.943 516.448,57.996 516.448,50 C516.448,42.003 516.479,41.056 516.623,37.899 C516.755,34.978 517.244,33.391 517.654,32.338 C518.197,30.938 518.846,29.942 519.894,28.894 C520.942,27.846 521.94,27.196 523.338,26.654 C524.393,26.244 525.979,25.756 528.898,25.623 C532.057,25.479 533.004,25.448 541,25.448 C548.997,25.448 549.943,25.479 553.102,25.623 C556.021,25.756 557.607,26.244 558.662,26.654 C560.06,27.196 561.058,27.846 562.106,28.894 C563.154,29.942 563.803,30.938 564.346,32.338 C564.756,33.391 565.244,34.978 565.378,37.899 C565.522,41.056 565.552,42.003 565.552,50 C565.552,57.996 565.522,58.943 565.378,62.101 M570.82,37.631 C570.674,34.438 570.167,32.258 569.425,30.349 C568.659,28.377 567.633,26.702 565.965,25.035 C564.297,23.368 562.623,22.342 560.652,21.575 C558.743,20.834 556.562,20.326 553.369,20.18 C550.169,20.033 549.148,20 541,20 C532.853,20 531.831,20.033 528.631,20.18 C525.438,20.326 523.257,20.834 521.349,21.575 C519.376,22.342 517.703,23.368 516.035,25.035 C514.368,26.702 513.342,28.377 512.574,30.349 C511.834,32.258 511.326,34.438 511.181,37.631 C511.035,40.831 511,41.851 511,50 C511,58.147 511.035,59.17 511.181,62.369 C511.326,65.562 511.834,67.743 512.574,69.651 C513.342,71.625 514.368,73.296 516.035,74.965 C517.703,76.634 519.376,77.658 521.349,78.425 C523.257,79.167 525.438,79.673 528.631,79.82 C531.831,79.965 532.853,80.001 541,80.001 C549.148,80.001 550.169,79.965 553.369,79.82 C556.562,79.673 558.743,79.167 560.652,78.425 C562.623,77.658 564.297,76.634 565.965,74.965 C567.633,73.296 568.659,71.625 569.425,69.651 C570.167,67.743 570.674,65.562 570.82,62.369 C570.966,59.17 571,58.147 571,50 C571,41.851 570.966,40.831 570.82,37.631\"><\/path><\/g><\/g><\/g><\/svg><\/div>\n<div style=\"padding-top: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" color:#3897f0; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:550; line-height:18px;\">View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"padding: 12.5% 0;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;\">\n<div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\"background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: 8px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg)\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-left: auto;\">\n<div style=\" width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div style=\"display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;\">\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;\"><\/div>\n<div style=\" background-color: #F4F4F4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; line-height:17px; margin-bottom:0; margin-top:8px; overflow:hidden; padding:8px 0 7px; text-align:center; text-overflow:ellipsis; white-space:nowrap;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DZiSwrtnFbd\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" style=\" color:#c9c8cd; font-family:Arial,sans-serif; font-size:14px; font-style:normal; font-weight:normal; line-height:17px; text-decoration:none;\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">A post shared by Jac Monika Jagaciak Jankic (@jacmonika)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><strong>What are some extreme things you have done in modeling that you can share that? <\/strong><br \/>\nI think my modeling &#8220;Olympics&#8221; was one of the seasons when I did, I believe, like 70 plus shows (editor&#8217;s note: <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/models\/Jac-Jagaciak\/26\/year\/shows\">F\/W 2010 season<\/a>). Not including London, since I normally skipped it. So just for the 3 cities, 24\/7 for a month, I just kept on going, riding those motorcycles between the shows. That was so crazy.<\/p>\n<p><strong>How about an editorial shoot?<\/strong><br \/>\nI really loved working with Nick Knight, as he was always exploring artistic things. I really enjoyed his visions. We did AnOther Magazine, where I had a professional ballet dancer helping me out with my jumps and poses. You can&#8217;t even recognize me in the pictures at the end, but it was so much fun, and he really enjoyed it. Right after that, I got booked from that to do the <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/issey-miyake-ad-campaign-pleats-please-fw-12\">Pleats, Please Issey Miyake Fragrance campaign<\/a> with him, which was also really fun, with me jumping on the trampoline and doing all the crazy poses. I always enjoyed editorials that were physical, where the modeling and physicality come together. I always loved the physical challenge.<\/p>\n<p><strong>So it&#8217;s actually a real part of who you are? <\/strong><br \/>\nI think so. I mean, I grew up with sports, so it really was always there. I remember even at 13 going into the fashion industry, and when I was doing an editorial, and one of the photographers said, \u201cYou have a little bit of muscle; you used to do sports?\u201d I said I used to do high jump, and I remember all of a sudden, I was flipping and doing crazy poses because they saw that it was possible. They were excited for that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>I knew your sister was a pro, but I didn&#8217;t know that you also did activities in school.<\/strong><br \/>\nMy dad is a track and field coach. I grew up going to sports camp since I was like 4 years old. It&#8217;s been just part of my life since the beginning. My sister ended up doing it all the way through and went to the Olympics. She came tenth in the Rio Olympics in the triple jump. I was also supposed to be the next [Olympics], but then at 13, modeling took me away from that.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is martial arts something you would recommend to other models?<\/strong><br \/>\nYes,\u2029I would. I would overall recommend to the girls in this industry, it doesn&#8217;t have to be specifically martial arts, to find something outside where they can build their confidence. In the fashion industry, we&#8217;re so focused on doing our best and taking the next step, but it doesn&#8217;t depend on you. It depends on having casting on your side and on the client wanting &#8220;your&#8221; kind of beauty in their campaign. Instead of waiting for others to give you that confidence, you need to look beyond the industry and find it elsewhere.\u2029It took me many years to find that place. I think having something outside of modeling is really important to keeping you sane.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you think doing something like this early in your career would have been helpful, in terms of your physical and mental well-being?<\/strong><br \/>\nI think I&#8217;ve always been lucky to have good people around me who are keeping me very grounded, even from a very young age. If I had a big success, I never got my head too much in the clouds because I had my mom, my parents would be like: &#8220;Hey, go back to high school, go back to this, you know, you&#8217;re still Monika, you still have to go back to your little town in Poland&#8221;. Then later on, I met my husband, and I always had people keeping me grounded. So I think that&#8217;s how I survived 20 years here.<\/p>\n<p><strong>You mentioned at the premiere that you think modeling is harder in a way than the training you had to do for this competition. Do you want to expound on that?<\/strong><br \/>\nYes, I still think modeling is harder. It&#8217;s harder to take the &#8220;No&#8217;s.&#8221; If you&#8217;re a competitive person, modeling can be really harsh because it&#8217;s hard to give yourself a goal to get there yourself while hearing the &#8220;no&#8221; from other people. It&#8217;s almost impossible. Modeling is not something you can control at all. I think it&#8217;s preparation mixed with luck when it happens for you. However, I think sports are for everybody. Sport is really something that is up to you. You go do the training, you get there mentally, and then you go for that competition, and you can claim it, you know? \u2029While modeling is very much dependent on other people around you.<\/p>\n<div class=\"centerimg\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9135_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170532\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9135_1.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9135_1-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9135_1-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9135_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><br \/>\n<small>Photo by <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/betty-sze\">Betty Sze<\/a><\/small>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Because you&#8217;ve accomplished so much; is there anything modeling-wise you think you&#8217;d love to do?<\/strong><br \/>\nThe fashion industry has changed so much since I started. I think we can be nostalgic and be like, &#8220;Oh, back in the day, it was better.&#8221; I really think it has changed for the better in many ways. I&#8217;m excited to hopefully do more modeling, but do it on my own terms. Models can now be booked for specific jobs or placed in specific places because of what they represent. I feel like back in the day, you were booked for a body, for your face, and that was it.\u2029I think today you&#8217;re a spokesperson for a brand. I really love that change.<\/p>\n<p><strong>This naturally leads us to why you took a break from the industry, right before COVID-19 at the end of 2019. Understanding how chaotic and full of turmoil the world was, how did you finally feel slowing down from modeling to becoming a new mother? <\/strong><br \/>\nI think the last time I spoke to you, it was during the pandemic, after I had my daughter. I did that <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/vogue-polska-vogue-polska-mayjune-2020-cover\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Vogue Poland cover<\/a> with her. It was cool that it had happened.\u2029It was beautiful. She still has that and I always tell her, &#8221; You were on a magazine cover when you were 6 months old.\u201d It was earlier than that, when I started slowing down. I had been super busy doing Victoria&#8217;s Secret for 3 years straight, and I was under contract. Then in 2016, we got engaged and I got sick kind of right after that, with colitis. I have never really talked to anybody about this before, but because of the colitis, I was 45 kilos at some point. That was my first flare, and luckily, that never happened to me again. When things like that happen to you, you change. You think, ok, what are my priorities, right? Where do I go? I didn&#8217;t feel like I wanted to go back into modeling, especially with my body not feeling right. \u2029And I was probably the skinniest ever.<\/p>\n<p>It was time for me to step away. Branislav started his master&#8217;s degree, so we actually moved to Chicago for 2 years. During that time, I also went to art school for a year and a half, and I ended up spending most of my time doing ceramics and some art performance, with some really cool things coming out of it. I befriended so many artists. I was here last year in New York, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pacegallery.com\/exhibitions\/paulina-olowska-the-mother\/\">performing an art piece at Pace Gallery<\/a> with Paulina Olowska who is one Poland&#8217;s most famous artists. I think that&#8217;s when I realized that I don&#8217;t have to be only a part of somebody else&#8217;s creation. I can also be creative, which is not natural for me, but art school taught me that. Before I thought, he&#8217;s the one who&#8217;s always the artsy one. I was like, &#8220;Oh, maybe I can touch that too.&#8221; So yes, art school, then I got pregnant with our daughter. We came back to New York to have her, and then right before the pandemic, we decided to go back to Europe. And then my maternity leave extended for like over a year and a half.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was it like, slowing down, but now as a mother? <\/strong><br \/>\nIt was great, but also, I lost my identity a lot, and I think that&#8217;s something that a lot of new mothers can relate to, that once you have this new journey, which is a beautiful journey, and still today, I can&#8217;t believe that I made a human being. Motherhood takes away a lot of your identity from before, that is really hard to get back because now I have an extra person to take care of and how am I going to do my job? How am I going to travel? Do I really want to do it even?<\/p>\n<p>So it took me a while, and I think the pandemic, elongating that feeling, definitely was hard because there was an extra year of me being in a new city, with a language that I didn&#8217;t speak (German). Trying to create new friendships, and having none of that fashion industry to bounce off because that was my safe zone. I did that for so many years and all of a sudden I didn&#8217;t have it. When we came back to New York, this is where I was like, I have to rediscover myself and that&#8217;s why I went on this journey (with jiu-jitsu).<\/p>\n<div class=\"centerimg\">\n<center\/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/SnapInsta.to_642546439_18570830482010706_826887948390132600_n.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1080\" height=\"1345\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170535\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/SnapInsta.to_642546439_18570830482010706_826887948390132600_n.jpg 1080w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/SnapInsta.to_642546439_18570830482010706_826887948390132600_n-514x640.jpg 514w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/SnapInsta.to_642546439_18570830482010706_826887948390132600_n-1028x1280.jpg 1028w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1080px) 100vw, 1080px\" \/><br \/>\n<small>Courtesy of White Belt Production<\/a><\/small>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>At the film premiere, you mentioned trusting your husband to present the best story. But focusing on training was definitely challenging at times. Have you worked with him before on other film projects or was this the 1st big one? <\/strong><br \/>\nJac: I think every project that Branislav makes I am willingly or unwillingly a part of it (laughs). It has been 11 years since we have known each other. His work has always been so personal that I think I&#8217;m always involved, if it&#8217;s at home or actually on the set. Was it 2 or 3 years ago, that we started filming your mother&#8217;s film?<\/p>\n<p>Branislav: Well, we started in 2022. My mother would say that I was raised by a lioness; I married one and am father to one. She was a powerful woman. I documented her final days and her life story. I received a fellowship for this film, as people really wanted this story to be told because it&#8217;s one that a lot of women can recognize themselves. I decided that my daughter and my wife should reenact her life. Through makeup and hair, Monika became my mother in all her different life stages, which was an insane sort of endeavor because, you know, getting the documentary funding never allowed for that level of work; every scene took an enormous amount of time to prep. The short answer is, we&#8217;re always up to something together.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Branislav, you were a model in the late 2000s. How did you transition from modeling to being on the other side of the camera? <\/strong><br \/>\nWell, you know, I started photography in Europe. I was very lucky that one of the most famous Italian fashion photographers, Gianpaolo Barbieri, basically took my brother and me, under his wing and gave me insight into the creative aspect of photography and then the technical aspects like the lighting. That was always the goal. Modeling was incredible at that time, especially for men, you know, I was very lucky to have contracts with Dolce Gabbana for example. That allowed me to travel and to be in different cities. And once I made it to America, the 2008 economic crash happened (<em>editor&#8217;s note: the Global Financial Crisis<\/em>). The other models were like, &#8220;What are you doing here? There&#8217;s a recession?&#8221; \u2029I said, what is a recession? I never heard that word before. I already took an apartment. I did a L\u2019Uomo Vogue shoot with Bruce Weber and after that he offered me a job as a photo and film assistant. And I took off the Band-Aid to leave modeling behind.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What was it like to review all the incredible work Jac has done throughout her career?<\/strong><br \/>\nBranislav: I mean, you know, this was the first time I looked through all of her history.\u2029But doing it for the film, where we had to kind of sit in a living room and look through all the footage, all the interviews, the runways, on Fashion TV, and all of that; it was amazing. \u2029I had always told her she was beautiful, as a woman, as a human, as a mother, you know, but after looking at her long career, I was very proud of what she has achieved.<\/p>\n<p>Jac: It&#8217;s amazing to have a partner who thinks higher of you than you think of yourself.\u2029And I think through this editing and how this film came through, when I saw the first edit, I was like, oh wow, this is really how you see me. I think coming from this industry where you never know what people really think about you because you&#8217;re being judged by your looks all the time, to have a partner to be like, &#8220;Hey, you should be more proud of yourself. You really did all of this!&#8221; was refreshing.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"vimeo-player\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/1180963776?h=4f04ddc506\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen; picture-in-picture; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; web-share\"   allowfullscreen><\/iframe><br \/>\n<small>Courtesy of White Belt Production<\/a><\/small> <\/p>\n<p><strong>Obviously, Chanel and VS were the most illustrious and well-known brands, but were there any images or clients that didn&#8217;t make it into the film?\u2029That you wish you could have added?<\/strong><br \/>\nBranislav: There&#8217;s so much to choose from, but even at the end we debated, should we have shown the short TV section on Australian TV where they say they couldn&#8217;t feature her for Australian Fashion Week? (<em>editor&#8217;s note: because she was so young<\/em>) We had such a short time to tell our story. I would say, it&#8217;s a 20-minute film, but 20 years of life\/career to put into that small amount of time is not enough. It was less than one minute each year.\u2029So, yes there were a lot of works that I felt should have been featured, like way more of the Calvin Klein work. There were also so many photo shoots you did that I felt were so great, you know? And through her career, you can see how fashion photography changed over the years. Later on, they were kind of playing safe with her like, hair slicked back. But in her earlier works, there was much more experimenting. There are so many photos, just like, &#8220;My God, who would think of that idea (for the shoot)?&#8221; I feel like we could have done a whole film on just archival stuff from her.<\/p>\n<p>Jac: I think that it&#8217;s something that after I did Victoria&#8217;s Secret, people thought they had an idea of me. And it was so hard to break out of that. You know, I used to do so many high fashion stories with people like Craig McDean, Solve Sundsbo and Greg Kadel. I feel like each time I went to the set, they would transform me into another person, and I got to act in the story. Then after I got VS, I felt like people already had an idea of me, and I was always getting the same kind of makeup, and there was no more creation happening anymore. We did a <a href=\"https:\/\/models.com\/work\/unemployed-magazine-photography-branislav-jankic\/2819320\">photo shoot for Unemployed Magazine<\/a> where he photographed me for the 1st time.\u2029That was fun because it was kind of playing on the jiu-jitsu and I got a wig and it felt like an old-fashioned shoot where I got to transform myself into something.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you have any advice for aspiring creatives? <\/strong><br \/>\nBranislav: This is something that I personally thought, that the confidence never leaves you, the confidence you have, that you build, you try to hold onto. \u2029But I thought when I started out, I was like, oh, no, it&#8217;ll be next year, and the next, when I&#8217;m gonna make the trip. There are moments where you&#8217;re so full of doubt, are you good enough? And maybe you think, maybe you&#8217;re just not good enough or your story doesn&#8217;t really matter. When we got the phone call from the Tribeca film committee, it&#8217;s taken 15 years. I just think you have to have the endurance for it. It doesn&#8217;t matter what age you are, in your span of career, your career is different.\u2029I think just stay on it, you know? And then eventually things will happen. Maybe not the way you imagined it, but they will happen, as long as you stay on the road.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you want to talk about this coming project with Branislav? \u2029<\/strong><br \/>\nWe&#8217;re currently in post-production for the feature film about his mother. This is going to be my acting debut. And this is not something that I actually ever envisioned for myself, but because I am with a partner who pushes me to do all the new things; so here I am, acting and doing some crazy scenes. I&#8217;m really excited about this because I think this is going to be a beautiful movie that shows what we are all about as a family, where we&#8217;re from, and it&#8217;s been a crazy journey for how many years now? 11 years. \u2029You will see me and our daughter acting at 2 years old, and then later acting at 6 years old. It&#8217;s a full spectrum of things.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Is acting something that&#8217;s interesting for you after this experience? \u2029<\/strong><br \/>\nYou know what? I always felt like, even when I was doing some short fashion-related interviews or videos for acting castings, I always felt like it was dishonest because I never had proper training in acting. But with this film, for example, I think I opened up to the idea finally, because I realized that modeling IS acting, and I know I&#8217;m good at that, you know? \u2029I can really say, I&#8217;ve done it for so many years, I&#8217;m good at it. So why would I not transition into that? I&#8217;m definitely much more open to it and now we&#8217;re in LA. So what else is there to do there? (laughs)<\/p>\n<div class=\"centerimg\">\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9138_1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1333\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-170533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9138_1.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9138_1-640x427.jpg 640w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9138_1-1280x853.jpg 1280w, https:\/\/i.mdel.net\/oftheminute\/images\/2026\/06\/2K8A9138_1-1536x1024.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><br \/>\n<small>Photo by <a href=\"\/\/models.com\/people\/betty-sze\">Betty Sze<\/a><\/a><\/small>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photo by Erik Tanner\/Getty Images White Belt, a documentary following Monika \u201cJac\u201d Jagaciak in the months before her first Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournament, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this past month. Directed by her husband Branislav Jankic and produced by Goran Macura, the film traces Jac\u2019s journey from modeling to martial arts, told in her&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":170530,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10414,13940,13943],"tags":[12930,314,15368,15369,6472],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170505"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=170505"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170505\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":170549,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/170505\/revisions\/170549"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/170530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=170505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=170505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=170505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}