Yanaa was born Jana Synkova, and brought up in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic). There, while still a Gardening and Park Architecture student, she once accompanied her friend, an aspiring model, to a small modelling course.
It was then that she was introduced to modelling, an introduction that changed her life dramatically. Yaana was but a child at the time, only 16 years old. Still, despite her youth, once at the agency, she shined -- she learnt how to pose and walk, earned good marks, and secured her professional modelling certificate.
After she graduated, she signed with the same agency, and began to work in earnest, travelling the world -- Japan, Europe, and the USA -- on assignments.
"After working for some time, I got fed up, and wanted to take a break," she remembers. "So, at the age of 21, I came to India -- as I had heard about the Osho Ashram -- for meditation."
Yanaa was soon married to famous painter, Satyakam Gupta, but the duo seperated in 2005.
Photograph courtesy: Maxim
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