Debora：Hi, my name is Debora Ying. I’m an ABC (American Born Chinese). I was born in New York. Raised everywhere and has been residing in Shanghai for the past 6 yrs. Growing up, I’ve always loved to do anything that’s creative. I loved to sing, dance, play dress up, write songs and poetry,and sold an underground zine for a quarter each, with 2 subcribers ~ my brother and sister. LOL! So I guess it’s inevitable that I went to NYU for creative writing and  prior to that, studied fashion design at Parsons. I am currently working as the creative director for Eliza Group ~ we’re a model agency & event production company. It’s a family owned company, so yes, my boss is aka my mom. 

S：About modeling industry, how long you have been in and whats your take on the modern modeling industry?

Debora：a) I feel like I’ve been in the modeling industry forever.  My mom has this joke that I was born in the backstage of a fashion show. As far back as I can remember, since I was 3, I was running around backstage amusing myself. Other kids may get a babysitter but my mom got creative on this one. Looking back, I don’t mind it at all. As I got older, my mom started giving me more & more responsibilities backstage and when I was 13, I started dj-ing for my mom’s fashion shows & model competitions. For awhile, my mom got me into modeling a bit as a pre-teen model. 

b) My take on the modeling industry in China is quite disappointing.  I think for the most part, the modeling industry is run by a bunch of half know-hows play-acting as pros. And most of the people follows them because they don’t know any better. So, from the start, Chinese modeling is build on a shaky base. We got unprofrofessional amateurs running the show and a group of miseducated models following them. Then on the other side, we got a group of unprofessional clients whose requests for models is at most amateur as well. This then becomes a vicious cycle. Amatuer agents meets the requests of amateur clients. This is not to say, at all, there are no professional people in this business. There are. It’s just few and far in between. 

S：So basicly every pretty girl has dreamed of being a professional model,what it really takes to become a professional model?

Debora：Hmmm…really? I didn’t know that. Haha!The basic requirements of a model is important. This is something you’re born with. You’ve got to have the height, the right body porportion, and the model look. With the right professional agents, they can pick this out at a really young age. The best age to start modeling is around 13-14. 

With the right agency, they can give you the right training, the right environment, and best way to market you as a model. With this as your starting point and your own determination and passion to want to be a model, you’re on your way to becoming a professional model. Even with all this, nothing is etched in stone. I don’t think there is a 100% fail proof formula on becoming a professional model. At this point I want to mention models that has not meet the professional models requirements and but still made a huge impact in the industry, i.e. Kate Moss and Devon Aoki. Just like in any career, there are always those exceptional exceptions and I love them. They’re like a breath of fresh air for the modeling & fashion industry.

S：Working with models could be a pain in the ass sometimes,pretty girls got tamper,how do u handle them?

Debora：Put them in their place. Take out my bitch-whip! Just kidding! Being domineering and bitchy is never my style in handling spoiled

models. I think my personality guides me more towards keeping an open and honest communication and relationship. I truly 

believe, no matter how pampered a model can be, when I sit down with them, look straight into their eyes and talk heart to heart

with them, they will listen. Of course some will continue their ill-gotten behaviors, as some don’t learn right away. I do give them 

some leeway and time to learn. But there’s a line I draw. And if you really want to cross it, then you’re out. 

S：besides working in model agency,u r also a singer/songwriter,what genre of music do you play?and any new stuff coming out?

Debora：Yup, I also sing, write my own songs & lyrics and play the guitar & keyboard. I always find it hard to put a genre to my music, becuause when I begin writing a song, it’s never like “Okay, I’m going to write a pop song now.” Everything just kinda flows. You let yourself go, and let music takes you wherever it wants to and at the end of the journey, a song is born. Once you put a genre to it, you limits its possibilites and its potential audience. But I know we live in a world where everything needs to be pigeon-holed. So I’ll adhere to it. If I must put a type  to my music, I suppose it sounds more towards indie folk/pop. I’m currently preparing for my debut album. I seem to be preparing for this album my whole life. It’s long overdue. I plan for it to come out thisDecember, but by the look  of it, it’s not happening. I only have time to work on my music when I’m off work and since work consumes most of my time, I hardly ever have time to work on my music. But I can say this, it’s in the demo stage. It’s almost there, so stay tuned!

your top 5 fav songs?

Debora：Argh!! This question is so hard to answer. Well, I’ve been listening to Christian music a lot lately. I like music that not merely entertains, but makes the listeners a better human being when they listen to it.. So I’ll just name

4 of favorite Christian songs and one secular songs. Here it goes in no particular order:

Debora： God Will May A Way by Don Moen – when things gets tough and I feel like there’s no way out of my troubles, this song always comforts me and lets me know that there is a way, God’s way. God will make a way for me, when there seems to be no way. It’s an oldie but a goodie. 

I Could Only Imagine by Mercy Me – It’s a song about imagining what it would be like the day I meet my Lord & Savior. This song serves as my escapism for everday’s hustles & bustles. To escape, I imagine what my encounter with God will be like.

Looking for You by Tait – it’s a song about forsaking God…going on your own way…realizing it…returning to God…kinda like the prodigal daughter has come home. This song reminds me to hold on to God tight no matter what happenes & never let go. Coz I went through a few years in Shanghai where I was completely lost & miserable. I was dazed & confused by my surroundings. I partied 24/7 party and bought into the whole hype Shanghai can give off. Now I know the truth. Don’t buy into the hype. It’s just all air and nothing in between…it’s a chase after the wind.

Hold On to Jesus by Steven Curtis Chapman – I love this song for it’s meaningful lyrics which I will repeat verbatim here. “I tried to hold many treasures. They just keep slipping through my fingers like sand. So I’m clinging to the one sure thing I know. I will hold on to the hand of my Savior. I will hold loosely to things that are fleeting. I will hold on to Jesus for life. “

S：The last song is my ringtone. It an uplifting & happy song. It’s “Life is Wonderful” by Jason Mraz. I love it so much, that whenever my phone rings, I hesitate to pick it up coz I just want to hear the song a little bit longer. Haha!

Debora：i heard you were in the New York Mafia right?how did u get involved?what is the life like as a mafia member?

Nono, not mafia. That would be Italian. I was in a NY gang, which is to be remained unnamed. I actually got involved by accident. I transferred to a new high school in my junior year. I was anxious for my first day of school, so I arrived early and sat out front on the “left” side. Little did I know, I sat on this particular gangster’s territory. As the minutes ticked, teenagers dressed in all black start circling around me with a vicious yet curious look in their eyes. LIke ” Who is this little bitch that dares to sit on our territory?!” Soon after, a girl from the group passed me a note and the bell rang. When I went to my first class, I opened the note and it read “See me after school. Same place.” I must say, up to this point, I have no idea these people were gangsters. At the time I didn’t even now what that meant. In my head, I was thinking, “Cool, I’m making friends on the first day!”  Looking forward to our afterschool encounter, I walk speedily to the “left” corner and waited. Soon, a group of girls dressed in all black and lighting up smokes came up to me.  “I like you.” one girl said. “You got guts sitting on our corner and showing your face afterschool.” To make a long story short, instead of getting beat up, here begins my initiation. It was stupid stuff at first. Picking up smoking and drinking. Cutting class here and there. Delivering or picking up things for people. Sitting in on drive by extortions. It all seemed surreal to me. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. As the days turns to months, my role in the gang became more aggressive than passive. I was getting in to fights with opposing gangs, extorting from anyone we wished…basically causing senseless trouble wherever we go. Consequently, I bought into the whole lifestyle of a gangster and the importantce of “respect,” I dropped out of school all together.  I really don’t want to recount all the idiotic, regretful things I’ve done in the name of “respect.” What I want to focus on is the fact that I realized I was going down the wrong road and was willing to do anything to start all over again. 

S：what makes u get out,is it Christianity?

Debora：What got me out of the gang was my own realization of my own stupidity and immaturity. I see the wrongs I have done and I was determined to change my ways. Thanks to former NY mayor Giuliani, he was doing a clean sweep on gangs & crimes on the streets. It couldn’t come at a more perfect timing. A lot of our leaders & heads was being put in jail. People were scrambling to find replacements. That’s when I left the gang and never looked back. I came clean with my mom for lying to her for 2 years that I was still going to school; fooling her with fake report cards I paid for $20 a pop. I enrolled myself to GED classes – it’s a test equivalent to everything you learned in high school. I took a three months intensive course, studied hard & worked myself to my core. I was focused and determined. I passed the GED exam with flying colors- with scores high enough to get me into schools like NYU (New York University), which I later really applied and got accepted, with scholarships too! On a sidenote, I remember taking the bus to my GED class each day and seeing a commerical sign for correspondent courses. On it wrote a quote that still inspires me today. “It’s never too late to be what you could’ve been.” I read that quote each day to and back from my GED classes and believed every word of it. I’m the living proof of it. 

S：When did u start believe in christianity?

Debora：I became a born again Christian when I was in college. Prior to entering college, I went through 3 days of hell, where I just suddenly brokeout in tears and I couldn’t stop the tears no matter how hard I tried. I was crying, not the sniff-sniff quite type. It was loud like I was howling to the gods with my fists in the air. It felt like some some form of injustice has been done unto me and I can’t quite remember what but I was grieving for all those moments. My mom tried to help me but I didn’t want to deal with anyone. I hide myself in my closet and cried for 3 days & 3 nights. Afterwards, I came out of my cocoon, knelt before my mom and begged for help. I knew something was desperately wrong with me but I didn’t know what. We went to see all kinds of doctors and I underwent all sort of tests but nothing came up. Not until we met the last doctor. He was a psychologist and after a session with him, he told my mom and I that I have mental disease called bipolar disorder. I didn’t know what that was at the time. I took notes on all the information he can give me and went home and read up on anything I can find on this disease. And all signs confirmed what the doctor said was right. I have bipolar disorder. I was put on meds that very week and from that week on there was another long and unbearable hell I had to go through before I found my equilibrium.

My mom felt helpless by my side as she see me slide from ecstatic euphoria to suicidal damnation. She turned to my grandma and asked her to pray to God for help. My grandma has been a Christian for as long as I could remember. My grandma started praying for me and taught my mom to pray for me as well. Soon thereafter, my mom started attending church and will come home telling me about Jesus and how He can save me. How God is Love and that God loves me. I use to throw pillows and anything I could find at her and tell her to shut up. “If God is Love and He loves me, then why is He doing this to me?” I will scream words along the same line to her. She would retreat and be quiet. But everyday, without giving up, she will come into my room and tell me about God and on most of the days, she will be shoved into a corner by the violence that came through my mouth. Months went by and  on one particular night, I gave God an ultimatum. “If there is a God,” I say to Him, “then prove to me You really exist.”  I went to sleep soon afterwards and when I woke up something happened to me. I can only explain it’s something supernatural because I can’t explain it with logic. It’s as if all the violence, hatred, depression and suicidal thoughts has been lifted up and away from me. I felt a complete sense of release and freedom. I felt like a completely new person. I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t make sense of it. But I wanted more of it. That very week I volunteered to go to church with my mom. I sat down near the pulpit, still with a slight sense of doubt & trepidation. But the minute the pastor opens his mouth, I started balling. Loud  & unbashful cries came out of my mouth. But it wasn’t tears of sadness. It was tears of relief, comfort, joy, hope, gratitude, and love. To make a long story short I basically cried throughout the pastor’s whole entire sermon. Like what Matt Damon says in the movie Good Will Hunting, “Let the healing begin!”  Well, the healing has begun. I was never the same from that day forth. God completely and irrevocably answered to my ultimatum. Shortly after that I was baptized and became a born-again Christian. It’s the proudest day of my life. Nothing can ever top that.

S：From NY to Shanghai,whats the biggest culture shock when u first get here?

Debora：People’s etiquette and mannerism. Need I say more. If you know it, you go it. If you don’t, God bless your heart.

5 things I like about NYC & Shanghai?

5 Things I like about NYC

1. You are surrounded by the best of the best, and that makes me aspire to be the best I can be

2. People watching – just sitting by any coffee table in the village and look out the window -  I get a lot of my writing inspirations just by observing the unique variety of people that makes up NYC. 

3) It’s a city that inspires you to dream big and believe that anything is possible, as long as you work hard and keep at it.

4) It’s cultural diversity and the authenticity of it. It’s for realz bro! East Side Pride yo!

5) The freedom to be whoever it is you want to be and not be afraid or even care about what other people say.

5 Things I like about Shanghai

1) It’s still a city finding it’s identity, like a teenager going through puberty. So anything is possible. 

There are still territories unclaimed, thrones untouched, titles yet taken. 

2)It’s been called “Muo Du.” From my perspective, if you can survive here, you can survive anywhere. So I’m making its negative work for me.

3)I love the fact that I live here with my mom. Thank God for my mom. She’s the reason that I’m here. 

4) I love my church – in a city that’s so easy to get lost in its pseudo glamour & glitz, I found true meaning and purpose living my life here

5) God is in China – last counted, there are 70 millions Christians in China and the number is growing in expotential rate. Korea has the biggest church

in the world now. I hope to one day see this happen in China! 

S：any plans for the near future?

Debora：World Domination. World Peace. Overthrow the Big Brother. Just kidding la!

I’m currently the creative director for our agency’s 2014 Universal Chinese SuperModel Contest.  

Below explains exactly what I’m doing now and in the near future.

An Appeal to Your Conscience: From My Heart to Yours

Intro to the idea of FairTrade & Eco-Conscious Production & Consumerism 

Please refer to the following link:

http://wfto-asia.com/

http://www.fairtradefederation.org/

For the first time in China, the modeling competition world will join hands with fair trade and eco-conscious

producers/companies/individuals to produce a 100% eco-consious modeling contest. To transfer this belief into

actions, starting from the selection of location, the clothing that the models wear, the way the stage is built, 

what the models will eat, who we collaborate with, etc…everything will be selected from a eco-conscious

& socially responsible way.

There has never been a model competition in China where the entire production is built from a eco-conscious 

& socially responsible way. I want to make this dream a reality. But I am only one person. This dream can 

only become a reality if a group comes together with a common purpose we’re passionate about. 

When the power of many becomes the power of one, we can make anything possible. 

The Chinese fashion & modeling world do not weigh such topics high in value, if so, it’s been scarce. 

I want, by making these decisions together, we can make a ripple effect together.  I believe we are at the tipping

point where the time is right to make such a collaborative effort.

At the same time, I want the Chinese modeling & fashion world  to be educated on these issues. 

True beauty comes from within. It’s not just about looking pretty on the outside. I want to abolish this self-depreciating thought.  

We are what we eat, use and wear. What we choose to buy affects our economy as a whole and the neighbor next door. 

From rich to poor, we are all inter-connected. 

 know all this cannot be done by just a few people. So I am brainstorming, doing research and reaching out for help. 

I hope you are just as passionate about this event as I am. If you have any ideas, or other people that can join us 

in this effort, please feel free to share with me. I really want to bring these issues to the forefront of Chinese modeling

& fashion world and make a lasting change! 

It is my most sincere wish that you will join me in this effort.