Eyes that Move Mountains

Eugenia Kuzmina just wants you to smile. After decades of gliding along catwalks as an international supermodel and being told not only not to smile, but to haughtily gaze just above the heads of her audiences, this mom, anti-human-trafficking activist and aspiring race car driver (don’t discount this woman) is looking to make you laugh. 

You heard right. She’s on the fast track to becoming a comic. It’s all part of her outreach. And when Eugenia reaches out, her arms spread wide, worldwide, actually. 

Eugenia has seen how young men and women can be easily seduced by the potential for stardom in her current hometown, Los Angeles. “People are not educated that human trafficking is the number one problem right now in Los Angeles. They start modeling, a lot of times, for people who say, take their passports and then tell them they own them. I think it's really important to educate young girls and boys,” she says. 

Her broad vision comes from humble roots and long experience. Born in Siberia to two Russian scientists, Eugenia, her parents and her sister first lived through the transition from Russian communism to Russian capitalism, and the anarchy in-between. It was a rough time for the family, who had lived comfortably before the regime change. But with change came opportunity, and by 13 years old Eugenia had been “discovered” by Russian designer Slava Zaitsev. She wasn’t the tallest, but the designer saw something, and took her on. Suddenly money wasn’t a household problem anymore, with Loreal, Max Mara and more knocking on the door. 

She was too young for the Miss Russia beauty pageant title, but a scout in the wings convinced her and her parents to sign on with a Paris agency, and Eugenia moved there. Her father died. The pressure on Eugenia to provide for her family drove her into anorexia. It was not a good time. And then again, another designer, this time Yves Saint Laurent, took the chance, and Eugenia found herself strolling the runway with Naomi Campbell, Carla Bruni and Claudia Schiffer, among other greats. She was a supermodel. 

Over time modeling (and parenthood) led to her other passions, from acting and stand-up comedy to golf and, these days, driving competitive race cars. 

Eugenia found auto racing because she used to hang out around race car drivers and model with cars. “My image was on a lot of calendars,” she chuckles. 

“And one day, I showed up to this photo shoot with my high heels and they said, you're hired here to race cars, not just to model. So I took it seriously! I mean I would love to do Formula One and I'm going to Monaco this year, which is a pretty intense race,” she continues. 

To date Eugenia has done some drag racing, which she deemed super fun, and some wild road racing as well as track racing. 

“When I prepare for a race, I have to be super focused,” she says. “It takes a lot of adrenaline and it's amazing. You have to be in the moment. You must think about the race, the car, how it behaves. It all takes a lot of dedication, a lot of sleep, too! And I always think about my kids,” she smiles.