My mum gave me my first camera when I was 15. She'd noticed, I was always the one rearranging everyone, telling people where to stand, what to wear. She saw it before I did. Before that, I was on the other side of the lens. Modelling since childhood, runways, castings, a whole little portfolio before I knew what I wanted to do with my life. But the moment I had a camera in my hands, I stopped wanting to be photographed. I wanted to be the one who made it happen. I started organising shoots for my friends. Styling them, doing their hair, their makeup, then shooting, then spending hours in Photoshop. Completely obsessed. Then I dropped the camera. Broke it. Classic. Years later, back in Odessa, I was modelling again when an agency pulled me in as a booker. That's when I picked up a camera for the second time, shooting Polaroids of real models. Something clicked. I became a school director, opened my own modelling school, then a studio, Platforma Studio, then a mother agency (Feiz Models). Built it all from scratch, with $300 and a very clear vision of what it could become. In 2022 I moved to Augsburg. Eighteen months later, with the help of my closest friends, Manifest Studio UG opened its doors. Same obsession. New city. A camera that's still in one piece.