Melissa

Interview by Cisco Corea Photos by Peter Collie

Up and coming Aussie model Melissa joins us this month. Originally from sunny Queensland, she’s made the move to Sydney and is loving it. We grabbed five minutes of her time to find out what makes her tick.

ASM: Tell us a little bit about your background. Were you born here in Australia?
Melissa: I was born here in Australia, in Brisbane. My father’s fully Italian and my mother’s Australian. I’ve never been to Italy – yet. Two year’s ago I was meant to go with my father, but I couldn’t because of work, unfortunately. When I tell someone my nationality, everyone’s always asks, ‘Wow! Can you speak Italian too?’ and I’m like, ‘umm…no.’ I can understand a little bit though, and I can count to ten in Italian [laughs].

ASM: Have you moved down to Sydney for good or are you just visiting from Brisbane?
Melissa: I’ve moved down here to Sydney. Originally, I’m from a Brisbane suburb called Mansfield, but when I was 17 I came to Sydney to do a full-time performing arts course. It involved singing, dancing, acting and modeling as well. It was amazing; I met some fantastic choreographers and teachers. I love Sydney so much; it’s so different to Brisbane. But, while Sydney does have good things going for it, it also has bad things about it too.

ASM: What are some of those bad things?
Melissa: One of the worst things is that my family isn’t here. And I had to leave my friends when I cam down to Sydney too.