This is the fourth part of Ali's story, courtesy of her mother Patty (tFS user modelmom). Ali's journal chronicles the beginning of her modeling career in Paris at 15 years old (which was in 2002). Patty's comments are italicized and the format has been edited. 

Read Part 1 here,  Part 2 here, and Part 3 here.

We were lost again today. Who would imagine that there are two streets with the same name? Well, almost - the one we were supposed to be on was Rue Victor Hugo, but instead we were on Blvd. Victor Hugo. We called the agency but it was too late to make the casting. I have another test tomorrow. My mom does the 24-question thing every time I have a shoot. We discussed what I would do if I ran into a situation I was not comfortable with, but so far so good.

I went for the dreaded doctor’s appointment today to get a health certificate. I was so relieved to see that the doctor was a woman. She was very nice and the exam wasn’t so bad. She took me into her office afterwards to have a little talk about how I was handling all the stress of modeling, but I knew better than to let on how I was really feeling.

Happy and healthy, that’s me…

We rode the RER to St. Dennis today to see a photographer. His assistant met us at the station. I was so glad for this, and I could see how relieved my mom was to see him too.

Parts of Paris are not the best place to be on your own, and this was one of them by the looks of things. We walked to the studio, which wasn’t a studio after all. The photographer lived in one large room with his wife and family. The loft upstairs was where the test would take place. My mom visited with the family while I tried on clothes that were thrown around on the floor. A mattress leaning against the wall was my backdrop. I just went with it and it was over in no time and the assistant walked us back to the station.

The name of the photographer was Sebran and the pictures he took that day were some of the best in Ali’s book when she went to New York. They were amazing.