Sixteen-hour days. A foreign country. Casting after casting ending in the same answer: no. That is not the glossy side of modeling Petel Asaf wants people to overlook.
The Israeli-born model says her time trying to build a career in China was among the hardest stretches of her life. She was away from family, navigating an unfamiliar environment and trying to earn a living through an industry that rarely explains why someone does not get picked. She recalls crying almost every day. Then, after what felt like endless rejection, a SHEIN campaign gave her the break she had been fighting for.
It is a far cry from the effortless fashion-world fantasy. And it makes Asaf’s latest move, starting a new life in America, more than just another change of scenery.
Asaf had already become accustomed to packing up and beginning again. Born in Israel, she relocated to Guatemala in second grade and later lived in Costa Rica. Her professional travels took her to China and London, often without the ease of speaking the local language. She also returned to Israel, where she appeared on Big Brother.
Asaf began modeling at just 16, encouraged by her mother, who urged her to recognize the potential she could not yet see in herself. What started as a teenager’s ambition quickly became a serious pursuit of a career in an industry known for its fierce competition and unpredictable opportunities. Even with her mother’s support, the early professional years tested her confidence. Castings were relentless, bookings uncertain and independence sometimes lonely. Behind the polished photographs and glamorous appearances was a young woman learning to navigate rejection while trying to establish herself in an unfamiliar world.
Eventually, the work began to come. In China, Asaf identifies campaigns with SHEIN, Forever 21 and Missguided among her credits. In London, she says she worked on projects connected to JD Sports, ASOS and Juicy Couture, including billboards. Each booking represented a reversal of the repeated rejection that had once dominated her days. Seeing herself associated with internationally recognized fashion brands was more than a professional milestone. It was evidence that the years of persistence, sacrifice and uncertainty were beginning to produce tangible results.
Moving between international fashion markets also exposed Asaf to different cultures, creative environments and professional expectations. Rather than following a traditional path, she was building her career through experiences that required adaptability, resilience and a willingness to start over in unfamiliar places. Those experiences would eventually shape both her ambitions and her understanding of success.
There is a detail in her story that does not belong on a conventional model résumé: Asaf says she later put her career on hold for a year to volunteer as a counselor at a residential home for children in the welfare system. She felt a connection to their circumstances because of her own upbringing and wanted to do something meaningful before returning to her ambitions.
That choice complicates the familiar story of someone chasing the spotlight at any cost. Asaf has always wanted to be famous, she says, but she also knows what it is like to feel vulnerable, alone and overlooked. Her experience suggests that personal ambition and compassion do not have to exist separately, even in an industry so closely associated with appearances and public recognition.
Now she is in the U.S. with goals that include bigger fashion opportunities and, eventually, her own label. She hopes to build a name that extends beyond modeling, creating opportunities to express her personal style and establish a lasting presence in fashion and entertainment.
No single campaign guarantees a career, and no move guarantees fame. But persistence is the thread running through every place Asaf has called home. From teenage castings to international campaigns and now a new chapter in America, her story is still being written.
If the finished photographs make her journey look easy, her backstory tells a different story. Her Instagram profile offers another glimpse into her work and latest projects.
