Xenia Tchoumitcheva | |
---|---|
Born | Ксения Чумичева 5 August 1987 |
Modeling information | |
Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
Hair color | Brown |
Eye color | Blue |
Agency | CAA[1] |
Website | www |
Xenia Tchoumitcheva, known professionally as Xenia Tchoumi[2][3][4] (Ксения Чумичева, born 5 August 1987),[5] is a Russian-Swiss model, actress and blogger.[6][7][8]
Xenia Tchoumitcheva was born in Magnitogorsk, Russia. When she was 6 years old her family emigrated to Lugano, Switzerland.[9][10] Tchoumitcheva lived in the Italian part of Switzerland[11][12] before moving to London, England.[13]
She graduated in 2010 from the Università della Svizzera italiana with a Bachelor Degree in economics.[14][15][16] She speaks Italian, Russian, German, French, English and Spanish.[9][14][15]
Tchoumitcheva has interned at several financial institutions such as Merrill Lynch, The London Hedge Fund Duet Group and JP Morgan Chase.[9][14][17]
Tchoumitcheva began modelling at the age of 12, and became famous in her hometown. When she entered the national "Miss Switzerland" pageant in 2006,[18] she was judged as both 1st runner-up and Miss Photogenic.[19][6] It stirred up a national controversy. For the first time in history, the Miss Switzerland organization took the unprecedented step of offering Tchoumitcheva an appearance contract similar to that of the winner.[9] After the contest she was considered the "most eligible single woman in Switzerland".[20] In May 2009 she was elected as the Best Bikini Body, according to a survey by the magazine Schweizer Illustrierte.[21] In 2012 she was featured with a photoshoot and personal interview in the Spanish GQ magazine.[22]
In December 2012, the Swiss edition of Maxim magazine put her on the cover and granted her the title of "Most Beautiful Woman of the Year".[23][24][25]
Tchoumitcheva has worked with several modelling agencies including Option Model Agency (Zürich), Oxygen Models, Tess Management, and Elite Model Management (Barcelona and Miami).[26][19]
She was elected as one of the 99 most influential women in the world for 2016, according to the AskMen annual list for the category influencers.[27][28] As a digital influencer, she collaborates with names of the likes of Ferragamo, Dior and Vogue.[29] In fall 2016 she shot fashion editorials with magazines of the likes of ELLE, Vanity Fair and L'Officiel.[30][31]
In September 2019, Tchoumi—who has worked with brands such as Chopard, L'Oréal, Moët & Chandon, Bulgari, American Express, Tom Ford and Samsung—signed a representation deal with the talent agency CAA in areas including television, endorsements, personal appearances and publishing.[1] September 2023 sees Xenia making her debut catwalk at New York Fashion Week for Jovani's runway show.[32][33]
Tchoumitcheva gives regular public speeches at universities and conferences about her online business, brand creation and, most often, female leadership.[34] Amongst her speeches, she spoke at the Swiss Web Program Festival,[35] at the Cantonal Bank of Geneva[36] and at the University of St.Gallen Alumni Conference - where she also interviewed the ex-Deutsche Bank CEO Josef Ackermann.[37] In September 2015 she gave a TEDx talk about female leadership and internet against prejudice.[38]
In 2017, she gave a talk at the United Nations HQ about the power of digital women, and was officially nominated an ITC SheTrades ambassador.[39][40][41]
In December 2020, Tchoumitcheva published a book "Empower Yourself".[42] The book discussed motivation, independent thinking and gender equality.[43]
Tchoumitcheva began to work in commercials and music videos in 2007 (e.g. "Candino-Festina").[44][45] She starred in the short movie Les Enfants de la Honte of the French film maker Alain Margot,[46] which appeared on the NIFF film festival.[47] She was in the music video with Italian-Swiss singer Paolo Meneguzzi in May 2010.[48] In June 2011 she was supporting role in the short film Lines.[49][50]
After graduating from the university in 2010, she travelled to New York City and took acting classes at the New York Film Academy.[9]
In January 2011, Tchoumitcheva finished shooting a role as a rockstar in the French cinema production Bob et Les Sex Pistaches starring the French actor Jules Sitruk.[51] She also appeared in the film Without Men with Eva Longoria and Christian Slater in 2011.[9]
Among several hosting engagements, she presented the Miss Switzerland 2011 pageant live on the three national channels on 24 September 2011.[52]
In March 2012 Tchoumicheva started to host her own TV show about successful Italian businesses called "L'Italia che funziona", on Italian channels Rete 4 and Italia1.[53][54][55] She also hosted Miss Ukraine 2012 in Russian, alongside the Russian comedians "Prozhektorperiskhilton" (ПрожекторПерисхилтон).[56][57][58]
In April 2013, Tchoumitcheva was the official host and catwalk model of the annual Energy Fashion Night with Irina Shayk.[59][60]
Since 2013, Tchoumitcheva works as a journalist for the Swiss economic magazine Bilan and has her own online show called La Recette de Mon Succès.[61]
Tchoumitcheva has modelled for different brands including Visilab Sunglasses,[9] Audi,[19] Burger King[19] and Casino Lugano.[15] In 2012, she was the official face of the Spanish airline Air Europa,[62][63] Revlon cosmetics and Nikon cameras.[64] In 2015, Xenia becomes the official brand ambassadress for Swiss Smile luxury products.[65][66][67] She also collaborated for her blog as the official fashion influencer with the Pirelli Calendar 2015,[68] together with Scott Schumman from the blog The Sartorialist[69][70][71] In 2016, Xenia's yearly partnership with the luxury watch brand IWC was announced.[72][73]
As of 2012, Tchoumitcheva co-writes a monthly column for the cultural magazine Schweizer Monat and the luxury US magazine Haute Living.[9] She also launched her own online business and luxury blog called "Chic Overdose" in the spring of 2013.[74]
As of 2015, Xenia has changed her official public name to the shortened version Xenia Tchoumi, as it's internationally easier to pronounce.[2][3][4]