Koskinen Still Calls Australia Home

USPA NEWS - We remember the Iconic TV Commercials that crossed the globe from 2007 untill the demise of QANTAS promoting Australia filmed on 'Uluru', the 'Sydney Oprah House' to the 'Barrier Reef'. USPA reporter Robbie Merritt tracked down one of the amazing voices Andrea Koskinen.

Born of Finnish, Scottish, Irish and Spanish decent, with a big brother to look up to immensely, as a young girl Andrea Koskinen was a bit of a 'tom boy' which lead her to loving the rough sports, from soccer to kick boxing, and Tae Kwon Do. That passion later in life lead to Koskinen becoming a self-defence consultant for a international martial arts company. Then I changed and somehow moved to a more feminine world . I became a Hairdresser. I did my hairdressing apprenticeship because I had a passion for it, a love for fashion and helping people feel good about themselves. Making others feel good about how they look and raising peoples self esteem put simply , makes me feel amazing.“ Said Koskinen. “When I was younger I auditioned for the Australian Youth Choir and Australian Dance Academy, both of which I was accepted and performed all over Australia with the Iconic “˜Qantas “I still call Australia Home Television commercial filmed across our great nation where I sang at Ayers Rock and on top of the Sydney Oprah House. however I never pursued singing. It´s more of a hobby and left to car radio or shower karaoke.“ Smiled Koskinen.

I asked Andrea who inspires her Passion for Fashion? “Whilst I do love local designers and Australian brands like One Teaspoon, I have seen a lot of impressive fashion lately by Western Australian company “˜Shero Fashion´ on social media and absolutely adore their gowns! I love Vera Wang, Oscar De La Renta and Roland Mouret they always catch my eye.“

Koskinen started modelling at 17 when she was noticed by a agency at a event . “I was then signed but the agency only offered promotional work and tried to force me to lose weight (I was a AU size 4-6). I was then approached by another agency who offered to represent me only “˜If´ I paid a admin fee. It has been very hard to obtain paid work in Australia when I seem to be competing against “˜Facebook “˜ models doing anything they can for “˜Free, Free , Free´ . I recently shot with World Fashion Week Nominated photographer Robbie Merritt whilst he shot at the Gold Coast and as a result in the past week alone I have had 13 'TFP' offers.“ Said Koskinen. TFP is where a model is approached by photographers to work for free in return for what they are told are world class images- Time For Prints. Many images are only ever given as web images and are watermarked with the photographers name effectively using the model as a form of advertising.  “A lot of the time paid work is offered to me then I find its for “˜nudity´ or “˜Implied Nudity´ and too many times I have been hounded by self acclaimed reputable photographers who progress to abusing me for declining nude work and telling me I'm "an idiot missing out on a great opportunity". I have been modelling for seven years now, this has happened more times then one could imagine. Even when I have accepted TFP Photo-shoots, I have had some photographers promise things like copies of images in high resolution and I receive either poor quality images or none at all."

Coco Austin once said , "I was told I was fat in the modeling world, and a director on a shoot told me I needed to lose weight. The J-Lo booty wasn't popular then, and I wanted to be the perfect Hollywood girl - tall, blonde and skinny. I couldn't do the 'tall' because I was 5'2, and I couldn't do the skinny, either."
Knowing the ethics, determination and punctuality of 5'11" Koskinen, it wont be long before the credible 'Model Agents' will soon be knocking on her door...Namaste