Individuals often let their past traumas shape their identities, making their struggles the focal point of their stories. Whether they unintentionally seek validation through sharing these experiences or adopt a victim mentality to make sense of their shortcomings, this attitude only feeds a cycle of victimization and attracts more obstacles. On the contrary, model and hustler Sabina Kravchenko has discovered a way to access her inner strength to navigate even the darkest moments with grace. She emphasizes her strengths as a woman at every opportunity and hugs vulnerability in a way that many perceive as weakness. Kravchenko’s path towards success is as inspiring as it is heart-wrenching. But when I commended her for overcoming hardships that would have broken most people, she simply laughed, shrugging off her pain as just a small part of her larger narrative. Her honesty and openness were a refreshing reminder that our imperfections are what make us truly human, and that we must actively choose to fill ourselves with love and compassion, regardless of our past.
Growing up in a small Russian town, Kravchenko faced a turbulent childhood filled with neglect, violence, death, sexual trauma, and substance abuse. While her hardworking and kind grandfather provided stability and love, her grandmother’s mental health issues only added to the instability of her upbringing.
At just nine years old, Kravchenko endured harsh punishment when she was tossed out into the freezing Siberian winter, left shoeless in a stairwell until her grandfather returned home from work. The loss of her grandmother at 10 forced her to confront death in a way that no child should have to witness—her grandmother’s suicide. Instead of being taken to the morgue, paramedics washed her grandmother on a plastic sheet in her room, with Kravchenko assisting. This was the beginning of a series of losses, with a total of five close maternal relatives taking their own lives. By 11, she was working alone in a kiosk every summer, standing for hours on end, selling everything from gingerbread to cigarettes and beer. Then, at 17, Kravchenko became a mother to her daughter, Alisa, before later leaving her husband and moving to Los Angeles with less than $500 in her pocket. Yet, throughout it all, she never lost sight of the gratitude and kindness that can coexist in the spaces that repeatedly test our limits.
Today, Kravchenko is thriving as a model for top brands such as Scott Barnes, Windsor, Mary Kay, Wildfox, Selkie, Joe’s Jeans, Schwarzkopf, and more. She has also created the “Become a Model” project to help aspiring models break into the industry with the right guidance and support, a resource she wished she had when starting out. This project now serves as both a modeling school and a community mentorship platform, gaining vast popularity within the Russian-speaking community and expanding into the U.S.
Kravchenko finds endless inspiration in her daughter, Alisa, who she continuously learns from and evolves alongside. Alisa began her modeling career at a young age and has already collaborated with prominent brands such as Zara Kids, Old Navy, and Skechers.
Your childhood was quite intense, but you managed to navigate through it by changing your reality once you understood how you wanted to live your life. Share with me your background and the role your grandparents played in your upbringing. My parents were drinking a lot, and after a few years of always getting sick, my grandmother finally took me from them. I was six years old and I lived with my grandparents until I was 14. The situation with them wasn’t stable at all. My grandfather was amazing. He was the example of a man for me, but he passed away about three years ago. I had mostly good memories from my childhood with him. We spent a lot of time together. We went to our summer house, and he always bought me everything. He wasn’t rich or anything, but he was a hard worker and always took care of his family. My grandmother was crazy, a little bit psychopathic. She had a very bad childhood. Her dad was in jail for killing two people. She grew up in a house with no parents and her younger sister, who committed suicide. It was different in Russia back then. In America, people are more into therapy and care about their mental health, but in Russia, the older generation thinks therapy is not needed. They think therapists are just stealing your money. When I was a child, I was also sexually abused. People think it’s always a man causing the harm, but in my story, it’s different. It’s not something I even talked about until last year. My mom broke up with my dad when I was three years old and she started dating another guy, who had a daughter. She was older than me and had some mental problems, probably. When she was five, she did different things to me. It sounds silly because people assume it’s always some dangerous guy from the street, but it’s not. And when you grow up after something like this, you feel like something is wrong with you, like it’s your fault, and you can’t even really talk about it because she’s a young girl. I really appreciated that my grandmother took me from my mother because otherwise, bad things would have continued happening. My life from the outside looked very good. I was a very good student. I had the highest grades and I was the best in school. I was smart and I was a good kid. I never had that teenager angst, never wanted to go to parties. The first time I went to a party in my life was here in LA when I turned 21. I was just really interested in books and poetry. I was reading and writing a lot.
In the absence of parental guidance, many children struggle to find role models and establish their values and aspirations. An unstable home life can greatly impact their academic performance as well. How were you able to stay motivated and prioritize your education during this time? It’s hard to explain. I was just really interested in school and everything I was learning. I wasn’t always studying though. I was communicating with everyone and having fun. Books were also so interesting to me. My grandmother from my father’s side was a teacher of Russian literature and a teacher at my school. She was amazing and very much an example for me when I was in school. My memory is also really good, so it was easy for me to study. Most of the people in my family were very smart; they just had a lot of other problems. I remember reading and every time something bad happened, I would go back to the people and stories in the books.
In the chaotic surroundings you found yourself in, was there a special place you sought for peace or safety? I didn’t know what peace was, not until now. The hardest part for me when growing up wasn’t the difficult things. I handled them easily. I had problem after problem, but I fixed them and moved on. It’s hard to live in peace after all of that. It took me a very long time to live a normal life. When you feel normal after all the bad things, it feels weird because you’re not used to it. People think when you feel bad with your mental health, it’s because something bad happened in your life, but for me, it was when the good things happened. I still felt bad on the inside. I felt empty. I think the problem though, is when people make themselves out to be the victim. When a person feels like a victim and talks about their problems a lot, they attract more bad things. And when they get attention from others, the victim attitude gets stronger. In my life, when I was a child, I wasn’t telling people about my grandmother—how she threw me out of the house, committed suicide, was running around with knives, or tried to kill my grandfather. I acted like everything was good, so no one gave me the feeling that I was a victim. And you can look at each situation in a different way. You can focus on the bad, like, oh my God, I am so unhappy, why do all these bad things happen to me? Or, you can just say, okay and accept it. For me, it’s okay. It is what it is. [Laughs.]
“It’s crazy because sometimes I look at her and can’t believe she is my kid. I really try to instill safety in her. I want her to know she doesn’t need to be perfect. She doesn’t have to study every day or do anything she doesn’t want to do. She is allowed to be herself. I have a lot of trauma, but with her, I am healing. She gets to be who she wants to be and live the kind of life I never had the chance to live when I was her age.”
During your childhood, you were always vigilant about hiding knives and sharp objects to prevent anyone from getting hurt. Why did you feel the need to always protect others and assume a responsible role? My grandmother wasn’t stable at all. One day she was good and the next, she was totally crazy. I never knew what side of her I would get or what would happen. I used to always call her after school to hear her voice and see how she was feeling. I knew I had to go back home and wanted to see what her mood was like. She used to take knives and run towards my grandfather with them, and when she was drinking, she got even crazier. Now, if my boyfriend has one beer, just the sound of him opening it triggers me. When I wasn’t perfect, she would tell me to pack my stuff and go to my mom’s. That was my punishment, and in my head, going to my mom’s was the worst. She also started trying to commit suicide. One day, when I was 11 years, I was on my way home from school and I called her. She told me she was having a hard time breathing and that she was dying. Then she hung up. I had no idea what was going on. When I got home, there were police and emergency people there. She had committed suicide. I never felt stability inside the home, but outside of the home, it was perfect. Everyone at school loved me. I had great relationships with my teachers and classmates. The good thing about my childhood was that no one ever called me stupid. My grandfather always loved me and my grandmother told me I was smart. She supported me in her own ways. She listened to my poetry and told me I should be an actress. But at the same time, it was all just so unstable. Thank God I don’t have any kind of personality disorder or anything. Therapists told me it’s because my system was frozen for a long time. I would read books and study, kind of running from reality. I sort of blocked a lot out. I didn’t feel a lot of emotions for a very long time in my life because if I could feel them, I thought I would get crazy too. From my childhood, I always felt that I was an adult because I was more normal and responsible than the adults around me.
You met your ex-husband at 16 years old and became pregnant at just 17. What emotions were running through you at this period in your life? I can only imagine how overwhelmed and frightened you must have been. When I was 14, I moved back to my mom’s. She wasn’t tough on me like my grandmother was, so my first relationship was actually my ex-husband. She really liked him. For me, he was super normal and responsible. No one thought I would get pregnant at 17 because I was never into boys and I was always studying, but I found love. Eventually, I started noticing he would smoke weed, which is illegal in Russia, and he’d drink as well. But I watched from the side. When I turned 17, I finished school and he started talking to me about having children. When I reflect now, I know why. He was abusive and narcissistic and wanted to have a baby to keep us together. In the summer, we chose names for our kids, but I wasn’t actually ready. Then, when we started living together, he was like, “let’s make kids!” I said no at first, and after the second time, he started manipulating me. He told me I didn’t love him and he was very upset. To be honest, I thought because I was super skinny, it wouldn’t even happen, but I decided to try. When I found out I was pregnant, I thought my life was ending. I didn’t understand what was happening, but he was perfect during my pregnancy. After I had my daughter, he started drinking and doing drugs and breaking up with me constantly. Right now, when I think about myself years ago, I don’t know how I did it.
What was the final outcome of his situation and the relationship? I broke up with my ex-husband and had to figure out what I was going to do. I had to decide how I wanted to live my life. It was super painful. Everything hurt. I had a panic disorder and post-traumatic relationship syndrome. I was so busy trying to save his life, trying to save him from drugs, and here, I was face-to-face with myself. I felt really bad. I was checking my blood a lot and going to the emergency room. At the time, I saw a movie [Clouds], a true story about a 14-year-old boy who got terminal cancer. He started singing because that was his dream, and after putting a video on YouTube, he went viral. I realized that a lot of people only start really living their life when they know they are going to die at a certain point. I also realized that I wasn’t living my life either. I had a lot of problems and I was suffering all the time. So, I started doing therapy and reading a lot of books. When I understand what’s going on and it’s bad, I’m the type of person who needs to change it. I tried really hard to help myself and started to understand that I had emptiness inside. A lot of people think they can quickly find something to fix that emptiness, like one thing and the can wake up the next day and feel good, but that’s not how it works. I was also looking for that and I realized the emptiness inside wasn’t going to disappear. You have to decide what you put inside yourself.
Ultimately, you found yourself in the role of a single parent raising a child at a young age. How has this experience changed you, and how has your daughter’s love influenced your self-love and sense of worthiness? When I had her, I had a really hard time. A lot of women have a baby and immediately fall in love or talk to other moms about their kid’s poops or something! [Laughs.] But for me, when I had her, my ex was breaking up with me almost every month and I didn’t feel safe. Motherhood was hard. I had a child, but I didn’t know how to deal with it at that age. I had to study and I didn’t have anyone to help me. We also moved a lot and didn’t have much money. This period of my life was difficult and I always felt like I was doing something wrong because my ex was abusive. I just tried to deal with everything myself. I didn’t have this mother’s instinct either. I actually started to love her more and more over time. I loved her from the beginning, of course, she’s my child, but I felt that love much deeper with time. I am really happy that I had her at this age because I had more energy and I was healthier. I gave birth and was right back to normal. Also, everything I went through, we went through together. Alisa is an amazing kid. Kids usually learn from their parents, but I’m learning a lot from her. She is so easy going, funny, and friendly to everyone. She is really good with herself and who she is. She never tries to be someone else. It took me years and years to get to where she is and she’s already there. She is one of the reasons I didn’t give up.
Tell me about a moment when you felt the purest kind of joy with Alisa during difficult times. I used to not cry, ever. I cry now because it’s a good thing. Literally, any little thing and I burst into tears. But there were times when I tried to hide my tears or pain from her and she would come hug me and tell me I’m the best mom. She was little—I mean, she’s still little—but she was around five years old. It’s crazy because sometimes I look at her and can’t believe she is my kid. I really try to instill safety in her. I want her to know she doesn’t need to be perfect. She doesn’t have to study every day or do anything she doesn’t want to do. She is allowed to be herself. I have a lot of trauma, but with her, I am healing. She gets to be who she wants to be and live the kind of life I never had the chance to live when I was her age.
Looking back on your life so far, what is one of the most significant lessons you’ve learned about yourself and your strength as a woman? I have met so many women with very different life experiences and circumstances. I really feel women are stronger than men. Women can handle some really hard things. One thing I am learning is that I really want to live my life, not just do things for money or because I have to do them, but to really live and feel my life. I’m also learning a lot about success. For me, being successful means being happy. It doesn’t matter how much money you have or what house you live in; it’s about being happy and doing what you want to be doing. Years ago, when I was going through everything, I thought money would make me happy, but it actually doesn’t. I have to be doing what I love to do.
How has breaking into the U.S. modeling industry shaped your approach to fostering support and community within the “Become a Model” project? I never wanted to be a model, but when my daughter was a few months old, I was living in Bangkok with my ex-husband and he said I should try. I didn’t really feel confident, especially with him breaking up with me all the time. I didn’t have a portfolio or professional photos, but eventually, I started to feel better and took a few jobs through an agency. Then, my ex-husband got depressed and wanted to go back to Russia. When I turned 19, people in Moscow told me I was too old to start modeling, but I started posting a lot on Instagram. After I moved to the U.S., I was almost 21 and wasn’t even thinking about modeling because I thought it was too late. Instead, I started working different jobs. My first job here was selling ice cream for $11 per hour, but I am terrible in the kitchen and my ice-cream looked like poop! [Laughs.] I thought I was so stupid because I couldn’t even make the ice-cream right. My boss was yelling at me and my self-confidence got worse. But if you’re doing something you don’t like, you can change it. After that, my photographer friend did a test shoot for me and when I told her I was too old to model, she said the industry was very different than it was. I started taking jobs every single day and posting as a means to survive, but still never really wanted to be a model. I wanted to do something deeper. I started putting together events to teach people how to model, which got really big in Russia. I didn’t actually think anyone would go. I never did advertising either. It was all organic from posting and word of mouth. I even hosted a free modeling camp for 50 girls because it’s cool and it was good promotion. I was seeing their lives change, not just in modeling, but in general, and in their confidence. I started connecting with a lot of agencies and now I scout adults, teenagers, and children. For me, it’s so cool that I’m the girl from Siberia who got rejected, but now I am working as a scout for those agencies.
As a mentor and mother agent, what qualities do you look for in aspiring models that go beyond just physical appearance? A lot of people think modeling is all about looks, but that’s not true. It’s not just about a beautiful face or long legs. You need to have personality and just be you. A lot of girls try to be perfect, but you don’t have to be. Right now, people want real people. I sign girls who have personality. I have some girls who are crazy, but in a good way. They aren’t perfect, but they grow super-fast because of their personality. The market now has changed. I just had a meeting with an agency who was only looking for models who were over 26 years old and that older and mature was better. All agencies are different, but the industry is changing a lot.
“Alisa is an amazing kid. She is so easygoing, funny, and friendly to everyone. She is really good with herself and who she is. She never tries to be someone else.”
Given your openness about having cellulite, stretch marks, varicose veins, and wrinkles, do you believe there is still room for improvement in accurately representing diverse bodies, despite the apparent changes in the industry? There are different countries and different markets. Everyone wants something different. If a brand is trying to sell a product in a catalog, they have to show body diversity so that the person buying it can see what the clothing would look like on their body type. Right now, there is also a trend for plus- size male models. I’ve had cellulite my entire life, but I don’t do swimsuit modeling. It’s not really my thing. I do a lot of modeling for beauty brands as my face is the strongest. Some girls can be short, but they have a gorgeous face and can model for specific brands. One of our girls has really beautiful legs, so she gets casted for leg work.
Reflecting on your journey and personal growth, how has your understanding of love, connection, and belonging evolved over time? My company name is called About Love and if I were to write a book about my life, I will call it that too. Love has always been important in my life. I love everything. I try to put as much love into my life as possible. I love the people in my life, every piece I put in my house. A lot of people talk about self-love and I used to think it was about getting a massage. Like, oh my God, I love myself so much, I’m going to get a massage! [Laughs]. Self-love is really about accepting who you are. It’s about letting myself be, even with all my ups and downs. My life is love. I am super open. I always try to help people, but I also believe that if you have the capability to help, then you should help. I embody love, but I can still fight.
