Hi, I’m Kirin Dejonckheere. Born and raised in a small town called Antwerp in Belgium. I grew up in a basic household with working parents and two younger sisters.  Since I was a child, I have always been very active – physically and mentally.  Therapists labeled it as ADHD and ASD. My parents were very open to conversation and made sure I had enough hobbies and sports to keep me busy,  so I managed to find balance.

Once I turned 15, I was scouted to become a fashion model. I saw this as an opportunity to change my whole life around, so decided to give it a try.  Because I was build very muscular for a young girl at the time, they told me to quit my sports and eat less, to fit the high fashion clothing sizes. It took me over 5 months of dieting, yoga and running to than suddenly lose 22lbs in 1 month time.  Together with the weight, I lost all my self confidence, physical strength and gained many health issues. I became so underweight that doctors and therapists would use terms like Anorexia. My parents, friends and family saw how unhappy I was, so I felt very disappointed towards myself.

That same month I turned 16 and a few months later I walked my first show for Louis Vuitton as Worldwide Exclusive.  Here, my career as a model took off,  while I was still in high school.  For years I traveled all over the world, walking shows for LV,  D&G, Prada,.. shooting campaigns for Dior, Valentino, Zara,.. and being presented by magazines such as Vogue and NUMÉRO.  But I still couldn’t be proud of myself or the work I achieved as I still felt that disappointment.  Not just towards myself and parents, but also as a big sister.  All those years living out of a suitcase, I felt very lonely. I was surrounded by hundreds of models, but as hard as I tried to fit in, I never managed to become like them.  ‘I’m not a model, I work as a model.’ became my standard answer during interviews. For my friends at home it was often hard to understand the stressful world I was working in, so I lost many connections. I tried multiple psychologists, but they would focus so much on my weight and conditions, that they did not help me get out of the hole I was in.

By the end of the summer of 2018, I flew to New York for my 7th season of Fashion-weeks. Here, my agency decided to let me stay there a little longer instead of joining the other models to Europe for shows.

I was finally able to celebrate my birthday – in September. I rented an airbnb in NYC, made real friends, joined workout classes, got invited to the most amazing parties, started walking dogs.. I finally felt like I found a HOME again.

All this helped me believe in myself again, as a person with good intentions.  Able to connect with people, ready to find my purpose and enjoy life.  For Christmas that year,  my best friend and I flew to the Caribbean for a few days and after that trip I decided to move to New York City . Soon I signed a lease and live by myself for almost 5 years now.

The past years have been very rewarding for me. I quit university in order to move to The States, so started online studies and joined multiple life courses. Here, I found my passion in Life Coaching and combining this with modeling brings my life in balance.

I went trough a lot of pain all alone, what makes me want to be there as a guide to others that are going through difficulties in life. I wouldn’t change my past now, because it gave me some of the greatest strengths and I am grateful for the person that I am today.

I will never judge someone and try to understand people from all walks of life. I will help them overcome their pain, so they can rise up and achieve their greatest goals and then hopefully one day, turn around and help others do the same.