If you're going to be a success, the first thing you need is ambition - plenty of it.

STRISHA COMES from a tiny provincial town but when she first saw the Miss Ukraine competition on television she decided that was where she was going, all the way to the sparkling crown. And she's planning her moves: just 18, Strisha is fifty kilos of energy on a lean frame kept in shape dancing and jogging. She's going to study languages at the University of Kyiv.

Strisha is, in a word: cute. She could be from Brazil or Argentina with her dark sultry looks and big liquid eyes, in fact she dances samba and moves like a Latino girl at Mardi Gra just crossing the studio. She's on the move, so keyed up and restless, after that first shoot.

Strisha has a boyfriend who is also 18, but she is not planning to get married just yet. Her modeling career and plans to become Miss Ukraine come first.