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We discovered some photos of her and then had a look at her Instagram. We really like her attitude and charisma. That's why we asked her for an interview.
We were lucky and she agreed. So today we can introduce you model Vanessa Hartmann based in Berlin, Germany. Vanessa, please tell us a little bit about yourself to begin with. (How old are you, Where were you born and where do you live now, What is your profession and do you have other besides modeling? I’m 26 years old and I was born in Berlin Neukölln. I lived with my parents at my birth place until I was 21 years old. During my engineering studies, I moved in with my former boyfriend and so in the meantime I lived in the vicinity of my university in Brandenburg. I moved back to Berlin shortly before my Bachelor’s degree. Now I live in Berlin Prenzlauer Berg with my current boyfriend but we are on the apparently endless search for a larger apartment. I have been working for more than 2.5 years as a contract manager at IT-Dienstleistungszentrum Berlin, the IT service provider for the Berlin administration. |
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Your focus is on fitness modeling. How and when did you start training?
I started playing volleyball when I was 9 years old. Since I am very tall and have always been, I was literally made for this sport. When I was 12 years old I went to a high school for athletes and played in the Berlin representative team and later in the youth national team, too. This meant to practice twice a day, having a lot of matches at the weekends and often missing out school lessons when having a training camp or tournament abroad. Shortly before I graduated high school I pulled back from competitive sports to have more time for learning. At this time I only played in my home club in 2nd league and did 2-3 weightlifting workouts a week. At the beginning of 2015 I completely stopped playing volleyball because of health problems. I gained more weight since my Bachelor's degree because I did not have the same training schedule and tint, but still continued to eat whatever came to my hand. I never was never overweight but still had 83 kg when I had do make a cold turkey from all sorts of sugar due to my health problems. This sounds kind of hard but for me it was the best thing that could ever happen. First my world collapsed but I quickly realized how well life can be without the urge to eat sugar. Because sugar absolutely is a poison to my mind and it’s simply as addictive as drugs. At that time I lost 15 kg within a few months. During this time, I worked diligently in the gym with heavy weights and on other days I did cardio training. But I also made one huge mistake: I ate way too few calories. And that’s why I was never really satisfied, because I left weight but my muscles didn’t grow. I was so called “skinny fat” and nothing more. In addition the lack of calories made me dissatisfied and grumpy all day. My current boyfriend is a very good looking and muscular man and from him I learned how important it is for muscle growth to get enough calories. This has completely changed my life and I have been training continuously for 1 year now, eating enough, good and healthy and feeling fantastic with this. Yes, I gained a little so my weight is 71 kg now. But all that plus of weight is muscles, proved by the doctor.
I started playing volleyball when I was 9 years old. Since I am very tall and have always been, I was literally made for this sport. When I was 12 years old I went to a high school for athletes and played in the Berlin representative team and later in the youth national team, too. This meant to practice twice a day, having a lot of matches at the weekends and often missing out school lessons when having a training camp or tournament abroad. Shortly before I graduated high school I pulled back from competitive sports to have more time for learning. At this time I only played in my home club in 2nd league and did 2-3 weightlifting workouts a week. At the beginning of 2015 I completely stopped playing volleyball because of health problems. I gained more weight since my Bachelor's degree because I did not have the same training schedule and tint, but still continued to eat whatever came to my hand. I never was never overweight but still had 83 kg when I had do make a cold turkey from all sorts of sugar due to my health problems. This sounds kind of hard but for me it was the best thing that could ever happen. First my world collapsed but I quickly realized how well life can be without the urge to eat sugar. Because sugar absolutely is a poison to my mind and it’s simply as addictive as drugs. At that time I lost 15 kg within a few months. During this time, I worked diligently in the gym with heavy weights and on other days I did cardio training. But I also made one huge mistake: I ate way too few calories. And that’s why I was never really satisfied, because I left weight but my muscles didn’t grow. I was so called “skinny fat” and nothing more. In addition the lack of calories made me dissatisfied and grumpy all day. My current boyfriend is a very good looking and muscular man and from him I learned how important it is for muscle growth to get enough calories. This has completely changed my life and I have been training continuously for 1 year now, eating enough, good and healthy and feeling fantastic with this. Yes, I gained a little so my weight is 71 kg now. But all that plus of weight is muscles, proved by the doctor.
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In regards to weight training, can you provide us an overview of a typical week?
I’m an absolute woman of habits who wants to have a plan for almost everything. That’s why my week is structured as well. I do my workouts with heavy weights 3 times a week. Currently my focus is more on my glutes and legs, so I have more exercises for those but I work out each part of the body at least 1x during the week with different exercises. Sometimes I put in a 4th day on which I do a HIIT workout to boost the afterburn effect for reducing body fat. Currently I'm thinking about adding a 5th day of yoga and stretching. I like to train from Monday to Friday from 7 or 8 pm for almost 2 hours, so I can spend time with friends on the weekend and play, squash or volleyball.
I’m an absolute woman of habits who wants to have a plan for almost everything. That’s why my week is structured as well. I do my workouts with heavy weights 3 times a week. Currently my focus is more on my glutes and legs, so I have more exercises for those but I work out each part of the body at least 1x during the week with different exercises. Sometimes I put in a 4th day on which I do a HIIT workout to boost the afterburn effect for reducing body fat. Currently I'm thinking about adding a 5th day of yoga and stretching. I like to train from Monday to Friday from 7 or 8 pm for almost 2 hours, so I can spend time with friends on the weekend and play, squash or volleyball.
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How much and what types of cardio do you do?
If I ever do cardio, I’m doing HIIT on the stair master. But squash and volleyball is somehow also cardio, right? All in all I don’t do a lot of cardio. I more like the heavy weights and barbells. What is your favourite healthy and favourite cheat food? My favourite healthy food is basmati rice with chicken breast and mixed vegetables. This is what I eat every lunch – as I said: I’m a woman of habits. My favourite cheat food is something only one human on earth can cook: goulash with dumplings from my Mum. Who are your favourite figure competitors or fitness models? I honestly never thought about that because I don’t want to compare with others. Everyone is special and I can only make the most of my genetic foundation. But I really like antoniaelena.official because she is so inspiring to me. |
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What is your best body part? My best body part is my back. I love it how fast I see results in gaining muscles here. 
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Photos: Sascha Schulz
What three tips would you give to any woman, who likes to get a feminine physique like yours?
My three tips are: - No fear of heavy weights - Good and healthy food is half the battle - Rome was not built in a day |
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Modeling is a very challenging field. Do you have any help or support to break through or are you on your own with it?
I have a good friend who’s a photographer, too. He sometimes takes some of his time to take some photos and try new things. This helped me a lot to understand how much potential there is in me. Plus my boyfriend is a really huge support in the fields of weightlifting and nutrition and he is always behind me. We have seen, that you are pretty tall. As a beautiful, confident tall woman, we are sure you get lots of unwanted attention. How do you deal with it and do you have any tips to offer to other tall women who are bothered by this? I actually get a pretty much undesirable and sometimes even extremely intrusive and unpleasant attention. Especially from much smaller men. I never really understood what it’s all about but there might be a fetish for everything. For keeping them away, most of the time it’s enough to tell that there was a boyfriend in my life. But sometimes this only gives them kind of a kick and they got incited to go further. What helped me here is just to block this person if the whole thing is only on social media. On the streets I’ve never really been badged this much. And even if there was someone stupid annoying me I just did a cheeky statement and they left me alone. Of course in this case my height is a big advantage because people connect it with a certain strength. Do you agree, that most agencies have a standard height requirement and being a tall model is an additional challenge? I have never been in a modeling agency. I’ve often read that have a minimum height requirement but never about a maximum height requirement. For catwalk models it is certainly a disadvantage to have like my height because they would never fit in any of the designer clothes. However, it can also be challenging for the photographer to get the full length of the model on a photo. |
Photos: Sascha Schulz
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Tell us about some of your recent shoots.
My recent shoot was an autumn shoot in Uckermark at a tiny boat bridge at a small lake, Suckow Manor and in the woods around it. It was a great and sunny day and reasonably warm. The leaves already turned slightly into those warm and autumnal colours and the area was simply gorgeous. No surprise the photos just became so fantastic.
My recent shoot was an autumn shoot in Uckermark at a tiny boat bridge at a small lake, Suckow Manor and in the woods around it. It was a great and sunny day and reasonably warm. The leaves already turned slightly into those warm and autumnal colours and the area was simply gorgeous. No surprise the photos just became so fantastic.
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Photos: Sascha Schulz
Which photographers in the industry do you most enjoy working with?
Since I’ve been shooting only with my good friend Sascha Schulz from Iscoutu I cannot make any comparisons. All I can tell is that I just feel totally well and in good hands in front of his camera. He makes it so easy to show my good sides in front of the camera and always has a lot of creative ideas. |
Do you struggle to find clothes that fit or have you solved this issue?
Finding suitable clothes has unfortunately become a nearly impossible mission in today’s fashion. There seem to be no pants and no long-sleeved shirts that are long enough. I mean there is. But 95% of those are sporty clothes like hoodies. Lately I was out looking for some sweaters for the winter which are stylish and fashionable like for real ladies. I found some with sleeves long enough for me. But guess what. They are too wide, my boyfriend could’ve fit into it together with me. No joking I was literally sinking into it. So after I scoured every clothing store in 2 big shopping malls which has costed me 7 hours I ended this shopping trip with 2 summer tops and some jewelry because I didn’t want to go home without buying something. I stopped asking myself if there was something wrong with me because I know there are many women with the same or similar problems. Nowadays you should really not have this kind of problems anymore. It must be possible to make the sizes S and M in extra-long versions but unfortunately nobody does.
What are your favourite places to shop for clothes?
Since I can’t find clothes for me very often I also have no favorite shop for it. For short summer clothes I like to go Olymp & Hades, Colosseum, Vero Moda or Haily*s.
Finding suitable clothes has unfortunately become a nearly impossible mission in today’s fashion. There seem to be no pants and no long-sleeved shirts that are long enough. I mean there is. But 95% of those are sporty clothes like hoodies. Lately I was out looking for some sweaters for the winter which are stylish and fashionable like for real ladies. I found some with sleeves long enough for me. But guess what. They are too wide, my boyfriend could’ve fit into it together with me. No joking I was literally sinking into it. So after I scoured every clothing store in 2 big shopping malls which has costed me 7 hours I ended this shopping trip with 2 summer tops and some jewelry because I didn’t want to go home without buying something. I stopped asking myself if there was something wrong with me because I know there are many women with the same or similar problems. Nowadays you should really not have this kind of problems anymore. It must be possible to make the sizes S and M in extra-long versions but unfortunately nobody does.
What are your favourite places to shop for clothes?
Since I can’t find clothes for me very often I also have no favorite shop for it. For short summer clothes I like to go Olymp & Hades, Colosseum, Vero Moda or Haily*s.
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Many people on the tall Facebook groups discuss every so often, if tall women should wear heels. What is your opinion? Do you like to wear heels or not?
Tall women and heels, yes that’s quite an exciting topic. In general I think every woman should wear what she wants to. We shouldn’t be prescribed what to wear and what not to - no matter by whom. Personally, I don’t like to wear heels. I used to avoid them in my teenage times because it was hard enough to find a boy who’s taller than me and wearing heels only made it worse. That’s why I’m not used to walk in heels and I might be really bad at it. I love my flat shoes. Vogue or Harper’s Bazaar? Neither. I more prefer fitness magazines like Women’s Health or fit4fun. |
What is your personal style ... sporty, formal, elegant, ...? Do you go for jeans, skirts, dresses ...? Who would you say is your 'style muse'?
In autumn and winter my personal style is due to the lack of a stylish and fashionable wardrobe more casual and sporty. On those days I’m wearing Jeans, Boots and hoodies. In summer I love to wear blouses, tops with a casual business style and chino shorts with sandals. I also have some really nice colorful summer dresses with floral design as well as business dresses. I don’t have a “style muse”. I just go through the stores and take to the changing room whatever looks nice to me on the hanger. Then if it fits me and it matches my wardrobe at home I’m buying it. Your favourite designer is… ? And is there any particular designer piece you are crushing on right now? Unfortunately, I never found a real designer garment that fits me so I don’t have a favourite designer either. For sports clothes I can say that I’m a fan of Under Armour and Smilodox. I especially fell in love with the seamless style. 
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What do you hope to be doing in the next 5 years?
In the next 5 years I hope to start a family while staying fit all the time and return to my old shape afterwards. Maybe I can even manage that my name means something to the people in the fitness industry. But that’s more of a subordinate goal though.
If you could be anywhere else but here, where would you go?
I would definitely make a looooooong journey to many different countries on earth. For example to Norway, Iceland, Canada, Maldives, Seychelles, Bali, Egypt, Thailand, Australia. Just see the world.
In the next 5 years I hope to start a family while staying fit all the time and return to my old shape afterwards. Maybe I can even manage that my name means something to the people in the fitness industry. But that’s more of a subordinate goal though.
If you could be anywhere else but here, where would you go?
I would definitely make a looooooong journey to many different countries on earth. For example to Norway, Iceland, Canada, Maldives, Seychelles, Bali, Egypt, Thailand, Australia. Just see the world.
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