Karmen Pedaru

She is married to Riccardo Ruini, creative director of REM agency. They currently do not have any children.

She prides herself on not mixing her professional career and life, keeping business out of her personal relationships.

She was born on May 10, 1990 in Kehra, Estonia. Her mother died when she was five and her grandmother took over raising her.

From age six, she followed in the footsteps of her family's athletic legacy - her father had been an athlete and her grandfather had played professional basketball. She was involved in a wide variety of sports including basketball, football and handball and eventually was goalkeeper for Estonia's national football team.

She was 15 when she was discovered as a model while attending a play with her grandmother at a theater in Tallinn.

She was discovered for modeling when she was 15 years old in Taillinn. In 2006, she was signed with ‘Next Models’ agency and soon after appeared in ‘Teen Vogue’.

At 17, she made her debut on the fashion runway representing Christopher Kane. She also walked fashion shows in Milan.

In 2007, she appeared in ‘Louis Vuitton's’ Paris runway show. The following year, she was a smash hit at ‘New York Fashion Week’ where she walked for 43 designers, including big names like Marc Jacobs and Donna Karan.

In 2010, she opened for ‘Michael Kors’, ‘D&G’, and ‘Salvatore Ferragamo’ and closed for several other designers during their spring collection fashion shows.

Her performance in 2008 at ‘New York Fashion Week’ as well as her subsequent appearances cemented her stellar career as a runway model and, through the years, she has continued to walk for runway shows globally for many high fashion names like ‘Chanel’, ‘Christian Dior’, ‘D&G’, ‘Louis Vuitton’, ‘Versace’, among many others.

Since 2011, she has been the face and muse of the popular ‘Michael Kors’ brand and featured in the designer's runway shows as well as advertorial campaigns.

She has appeared prominently in editorials and on the covers of numerous magazines including ‘Harper's Bazaar’, ‘Elle’, ‘V Magazine’, ‘W Magazine’ and ‘Vogue’.

In 2014, she appeared as a part of the critically acclaimed ‘W Magazine’ cover with 11 other supermodels including Kate Moss, Lara Stone, Daria Werbowy, Raquel Zimmerman, among others.