Whether she's sashaying down the catwalks of New York, Singapore or Thailand, Mimi Tao is known to designers as "one of the fiercest models on the runway".
But the model nicknamed by some in the media as "Miss Cheekbone" didn't always lead such a glamorous, jet-setting life.
For six years during her childhood she wore the saffron robes of a Buddhist monk.
Born a boy, Mimi was sent to temple school at 11 when her family hit financial trouble.
After six months she was ordained a monk and spent her days waking early, talking quietly, practicing mindfulness and living by more than 200 precepts.
But was during that time living at the temple that Mimi started to question her identity.
"I started to act like a girl, talk like a girl and become more interested in girly stuff like make-up," she told the Bangkok Post.
Behind closed doors Mimi and her friends would experiment with clothes and make-up.
"At the time the best we could do was put baby powder on our faces, draw our eyebrows on with pencil and sometimes put on red lipstick," she recalls.
They modified their monk's robes and put on make-shift fashion shows. When one boy introduced contraceptive pills to the group, Mimi started taking the pills to give her a more feminine figure.
After six years in the temple, Mimi decided to leave the monkhood and set out with a goal to pay off her mother's debt.
After several months working in cabaret, she decided to pursue modelling, inspired by international Thai model Rojjana "Yui" Phetkanha.
Yui took Mimi under her wing and taught her catwalk technique, posing skills, how to book jobs and how to get in the best light at a photo shoot.
When she attempted to break into the Thai modelling industry, she was turned away by casting agents, who told her: "Thailand is still not ready for somebody like you".
After successfully booking some jobs in Singapore, Mimi headed for the bright lights of New York.
Auditioning for New York Fashion Week, she was thrilled to find that her gender was irrelevant.
"All they cared about was how tall I am, what size clothes I wear and how my walk is. This is unlike Thailand, where I have to declare my gender before they even look at my portfolio and simply turn me down."
Now Mimi Tao is a household name in Asia, starring in everything from lingerie campaigns to high-end fashion shows.
She says she's proud to be a role model for other transgender people, in Thailand and around the world.
"I don't really care much about being a supermodel," she says.
"The only thing I really want is to be remembered and look at as a good role model for other transgender people.
"I really want to let everyone know that you can be anything as long as you put all your heart and effort into it to make it happen."
