The Hidden Lessons Paris Taught Me About Modeling and Womanhood

In this solo episode of Not Alone, Valeria takes listeners on a journey through her past and present, from celebrating her 35th birthday and Rosh Hashanah with family, to reflecting on the early days of her modeling career in Paris and Japan. She opens up about the lessons learned from those formative years, from living in cramped model apartments to finding her voice and standing up for herself in an often unforgiving industry. Valeria also shares how she’s been reconnecting with joy and confidence lately, discovering new passions like dance, heels classes, and even a few unexpected finds (like smut & Quinn). It’s a nostalgic, funny, and refreshingly honest episode about growth, self-expression, and feeling empowered at every stage of life.

Shop my looks from this episode: shopmy.us/shop/collections/2723615

Follow me: instagram.com/valerialipovetsky

What I talked about:

0:30 - Start of the episode

1:00 - The decision to throw a birthday party

3:20 - The family birthday dinner

4:00 - Rosh Hashanah & family traditions

5:50 - Early modeling days in Paris

8:13 - The hard lessons learned

11:25 - Living in a model apartment

13:15 - Standing up for herself and others

16:00 - Living in Japan & enjoying life

17:06 - Being part of the golden era of modeling

18:11 - Discovering smut & spreading the word

21:00 - Stumbling upon Quinn & loving it

22:20 - Taking a heels class

24:50 - Dancing in the Russian culture

25:59 - Feeling herself & learning new things

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