Astrid Palca is a mature German model and medical professional. We had a little chat on how she became model turning 50, early life, professional work and passions.
When did your interest in fashion and modeling begin being a medical professional?
My interest in fashion already started when I was a teenager and far away being a medical professional. My mother was sawing clothes for me and my sister and so I started being a «fashion model» form y mom. During my study time I was dancing and we were creating our dance outfits by ourselfs. In my earlier days as a medical professional fashion wasn’t too important anymore, I invested a lot of energy into my career and migrated from Germay to Switzerland.
Modeling I started after my 50th birthday. The 50th bir- thday marked a special time / phase in my life. I wanted to be more creative and improve my style and wanted to mature in this way – elegance is definetely the special privilige of mature women. The interest in modeling really started after I was one oft he main protagonists für a job advertisement video and the production company was very excited about my presence and performance in front oft he camera. This was the beginning of my modeling career, if you want to call it like this.
What do you like the most about your job?
I love people and I love to work with people! This is a statement and I can say it as a medical professional as well as a model.
As a medical professional I like the most to be able to help people in difficult situations / finding the right way to treat or deal with health problems. And the most satisfying moments are trustful and thankful patients and to see, that they improve and grow during difficult situations.
As a model I love to work with different photographers. In my opinion a good photographer is like a psycholo- gist. I love to play different characters / different roles in front of the camera. Every shooting is learning about myself, is improving and doing new things. I love this «journey » of every photoshooting.
What are the biggest challenges for you?
First of all, I love challenges and I’m also open for some crazy, unusual stuff. Shootings in the cold are really challenging, because I’m getting cold very quick and it shouldn’t be seen in the pic, that I’m freezing. There is a lot of mental preparation I have to do and that helps to overcome this situations.
And I’m still nervous in front of a video camera, when I have to speak. But this also depends on the person be- hind the camera and the team. Usually I’m not nervous anymore if I can / they make me «forget» the camera.
Do you have any passion besides modeling?
I’m in general a passionate person. All my life I tried and did everything I wanted to try or wanted to do. I love dancing, I’m an art and design lover. One of my biggest passions is traveling. Because I was born in East Germany I wasn’t able to travel / or only to the eastern european contries, I became a passionate traveler.
Anything else that you would like to say?
Like I wrote in my intro:
Don’t let age stop your dreams and passions. We mature / 50+ women are not invisible, we are more visible than ever! We combine mature beauty, wisdom, experience and elegance. And we are more relaxed than ourselfs 20 years ago. A mature woman is like a good wine – getting better with age.
