Jason Harris
Valeria Sizova’s appeal is definitely in her stunning features and smoking hot body. She’s a model, dancer and a choreographer who’s based in Sydney, Australia and in fact, she recently opened her own dance and entertainment company called ICrave Dance & Entertainment. She has placed in a number of high profile modeling competitions such as Miss Supercars, Maxim’s Swimwear Model of the Year competition or the World Miss All Nations and is currently the reigning Miss Russia Australia and Miss NSW Face of Origin.
StarCentral Magazine recently sat down with Valeria Sizova to find out more about what it’s like to be a model and an Instagram star and here’s what went down.
Can you please give us a bit of a background as to who you are and what you do?
My name is Valeria Sizova, and I’m a model, dancer and a choreographer based in Sydney. I recently opened my dance and entertainment company called ICrave Dance & Entertainment (@icraveentertainment) where I teach classes and crew rehearsals for the shows.
I completed Bachelor of Political & Social Sciences majoring in Government & International Relations; Certificate 3 & 4 in Fitness and completed Music School majoring in piano.
I made it to Top 4 in the Miss Supercars 2017 competition, I made it to Top 5 in the Maxim Swimwear Model of the Year 2017 competition, I won 1st Runner-up at the World Miss All Nations 2018 held in China, and I was also crowned Miss Russia Australia and Miss NSW Face of Origin last year.
Photo supplied by Valeria Sizova
2. What do you like most about being an influencer?
I believe that each one of us can influence people around us because we all have social platforms even beyond our surroundings. I am one of those people who loves to promote a healthy lifestyle and confidence in women by being the best version of yourself.
3. The downside to being an influencer?
Sometimes it’s very hard to get the message across social platforms and expect people to understand and accept your view and the way you see things. That’s because everyone has different perceptions and experiences in life, and they do affect us in various ways that influence our decisions.
Photo supplied by Valeria Sizova
4. What’s your favorite social media platform?
I’ve discovered that our modern society is getting ‘fed up’ with reading long stories/posts and the right images or short videos are sometimes the only way to attract their attention. I believe Instagram has been the most popular asset to influence society these days. The beauty of this social media platform is that it gives you an option to choose which visual material you can use, add valuable context to your photos, organize polls, read the statistics of your posts and find out what topics attracts people the most to your profile.
5. What’s your best advice when it comes to growing your Instagram account?
If you want to build a more significant following, first you need to be specific with what you want your Instagram profile to be known for – whether it be modeling, dancing, writing books, protecting animals from human cruelty around the world… you have to write down what you do, so people can clearly see the purpose of your social media profile. Secondly, regular posting is a key to engaging your followers and keeping them on their toes.
Don’t play around with filters too much – don’t hide your identity behind ‘dogs face’ snaps, overexposed filters or over posting on your social media (3-4 posts per day might be too much to handle/follow for people). People want to see real you as this is the only way how they can relate their lives to your posts.
Photo supplied by Valeria Sizova
6. What powerful strategies did you use to grow your Instagram followers to how it is now?
The time of my posts is specific. I only post a photo on Instagram either early morning or evening after 6 pm – before and after work hours when people are most likely to get on the social media pages.
Get a bit personal on your page so people can see the real person behind the images. Conduct a poll, ask their opinion, wish people a good day, make a promotion for a special event. Think of something that can get you more involved with your audience.
And of course, hashtags and tags are crucial to engaging more followers to your profile.
7. What hashtags would you recommend that really helped grow your account?
The hashtags you use should depend on the image you want to post. Firstly, in every single picture I post on Instagram I make sure I add a location, so I can get the local audience to follow me. If I’m doing a shoot, I usually use related hashtags like #photooftheday, #makeupoftheday or #modelslife. If I want a hashtag to describe the style/mode of my shoot, then I would use hashtags like #bridalshoot #bikinishoot #fashionshoot, etc. to be more specific to my post. Dancing is very different from modeling so if I want to target a diverse audience I need to use different hashtags, so if I’m posting a dancing photo, I will use hashtags like #dance, #style of the dance or #dancerslife, etc.I don’t do random hashtags like #letshashtagthewholeuniverseforthesakeoftagging – I specifically pick the right hashtags that relate to my post for maximum engagement.
Recently Instagram has created a new option – you can now subscribe to hashtags. So when people are looking for ideas that can go to these hashtags you need to make sure your profile is prominent in these hashtags so that users can subscribe to your profile.
Photo supplied by Valeria Sizova
8. Who have been the most interesting people you’ve met so far?
I meet new people every day and I must admit – I can learn something new from every single one of them. I don’t have any idols and I am not fanatic of anything or anyone. However, reading books is something that can inspire and motivate me every day.
9. Being part of an industry whose only emphasis is on the external characteristics of a person, how have you stayed grounded?
‘Work hard and stay humble’ is probably one of my favourite quotes of all time. Who likes people who are up themselves, selfish and narcissistic?? I don’t, so why be one?
Photo supplied by Valeria Sizova
10. Is your family supportive of you being in the limelight?
My family is unfortunately not living in Australia but I definitely have their support, and I can always ask for their opinion and advice despite the distance.
Likewise, my partner is very supportive and encouraging with what I do. Social platforms are time-consuming and a lot going on behind posts. When you have a purpose to carry on and want to reach out to people, you have to make an effort and spend enough time to be understood and change someone’s else perspective. Having the right partner and supportive friends and family is crucial to anything you do.
11. What are your plans? Inside your career or out of it.
I am currently working on my Dance & Entertainment business, and getting my shows up and running on a regular basis throughout the whole year.
I got through national finals in a few competitions this year, including fitness ones. So, my next 2-3 years will consist of raising my profile and getting more exposure in the modeling, dancing, and fitness industry. I don’t think I would ever stop learning and trying to get better in whatever industry I am today and in the future.
Photo supplied by Valeria Sizova
Lightning Fast Round:
1. Last good movie I’ve seen: ‘Seven Pounds’ with Will Smith is my forever favorite movie of all time.
2. What do you consider beautiful and why? I found loyalty is a beautiful quality and treasure to have – whether its loyalty towards what you do and believe in, to your partner, family or friends.
3. What haven’t you done yet that you wish you could? I would like to complete Masters degree in Psychology.
4. Complete this sentence: “If I had no fear, I’d be…” I actually never thought about it because I don’t fear anything.
5. What is the one “flaw” you wouldn’t change about yourself? I am a perfectionist and sometimes it drives me crazy. I won’t get myself into something until I am 100% ready and confident. That stopped me a few times from getting into job offers that I thought I wasn’t good enough. But how do you know if you don’t try and have a fair go right?
Photos supplied by Valeria Sizova
Jason Harris
