The face

MANILA, Philippines - It’s the awkward girls in high school who take the real stages later on in life.

Half-Filipino and half-Norwegian model Tini Dahl describes herself as a dangly kid in her mid-teens, with limbs too long for her body; a tomboy who couldn’t fix her hair to save her life. She also had the stereotypical dorky health issues, like asthma and allergies. It was her older sister, Lala, who seemed to be born wearing stilettos. Lala eventually eased Tini into the world of all things feminine.

Tini’s life has been as exotic as her looks. Studying in an international school in Sweden and meeting students from all around the world made her realize that she wanted to travel constantly. Since then, she hasn’t spent more than nine months in one country. She studied in England, took a year off to backpack around Southeast Asia, worked as a waiter in Oslo, and moved to Spain on a whim at the age of 19, where she met her boyfriend. An International Relations and Development Studies major, Tini came to the Philippines through a grant that enabled her to do her thesis abroad. “I fell in love with the place and couldn’t book a ticket fast enough to come back,” she says. She returned four months ago to work as an IT analyst for a Norwegian oil company.

Completely unplanned

Despite her strong features, modeling was completely unplanned. Tini merely took a little fashion risk and showed up at a club in what she describes as “really eye-catching striped pants” and caught the attention of Look’s Carmencita Sioson, who asked her to do a small style feature depicting a girl in her 20s. Her unforeseen career has snowballed since then. A week later, she was booked for a Preview editorial. She also did the AVP for Jerome Ang’s Fashion Week 2013 showcase.

What’s endearing about Tini is how unassuming she is. She has no qualms about admitting that she’s fresh and is still testing the waters. When asked about what she thinks it takes to make it to the top, or what the top would even look like, she doesn’t hesitate to admit that she honestly doesn’t know. And contrary to the popular notion that models don’t eat, Tini laughs, “If there is no food at the shoot, there is no me.”

Her favorite thing about modeling is getting to witness how an idea or vision comes together through the whole team, though on the occasion that a shoot gets terribly messed up, Tini has no problem rolling with the punches. She gamely recounted one she did with photographer BJ Pascual and stylist Miguel Urbina. With the makeup and styling all set, they suddenly had to change cameras and pick the new equipment up all the way in Cubao in the middle of rush hour. “The make-p artist and hair stylist eventually had to leave, and by the time the camera arrived, my makeup was completely ruined with nothing to fix it!” With no decent supplies on hand, they winged it and started brushing her hair and spraying it with whatever they could find. “Even our driver was putting bobby pins in my hair! The shoot turned out to be one of the best ones I’ve done.”

Punctual person

She does, however, have something to say about showing up on time for shoots, which, here in the Philippines, can often get delayed by hours. “I’m a very punctual person and I start sweating if I realize I’ll be late for something. And I really don’t like waiting. I guess I’ll just have to download more games on my phone and bring more books.”

In an industry where people are employed to obsess about how they look, Tini stands out for her easygoing nature and the way she doesn’t take herself too seriously. “Smile and laugh and be proud of what’s different about you. I used to really dislike my frizzy hair and the moles on my face when I was younger. Now I’m happy I have them because I got them from my parents.”

And while we regular people may have huge qualms about taking self-esteem advice from a drop-dead gorgeous model, you take one look at how Tini works features that we commonly perceive as flaws, and realize that this former awkward tomboy makes a very good point. Instead of going for flawless, she goes for what she actually has and becomes undeniably distinct for it, proving once again that all it really takes is conviction.

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