Valparaiso's Heather Kuzmich is focused on topping Top Model
By Derek Smith photo by Myrna anderson From the April 2008 Issue
Burning Question Q. Why does April wield the worst tornados?
Absinthe Minded The glorious green fairy flutters to town
Valparaiso’s Valentino Attorney by day, haute-couture designer by night
Lake Magazine covers the hottest information on the Lake Michigan area.
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After tasting the high life in a swanky Shanghai penthouse, Heather Kuzmich is residing a little closer to the ground – where she likes it.
“It was homey, but about as homey as you’d think an amoeba would find a Petri dish,” says Kuzmich, who was born and raised in Valparaiso, Ind. “You had this sense that someone was always looking at you.”
In fact, about 5 million people were: Kuzmich placed fourth in season nine of the hit reality series “America’s Next Top Model” – and she was part of the final-six girl group that traveled to China for the season’s last episodes.
It is hard to take your eyes off the 21-year-old: Her lanky six-foot frame, dark hair and flawless, nearly spectral skin could have provided inspiration for Poe – or Tim Burton. Her strange beauty both mystified and impressed Tyra Banks and her coterie of judges; now Kuzmich – a game art and design major at the Illinois Institute of Art – is taking a semester off to pursue a modeling career.
“I got hooked,” she says, sitting in a Lincoln Park diner near her apartment. Wearing a vintage white tee with a funky MTV logo and jeans tucked into black riding boots, it’s clear Kuzmich has a penchant for fashion. But she only auditioned for Top Model after a friend forced her to watch a marathon of season seven. “She sat me down and basically said, ‘Okay Heather, we’re watching this until you agree to go on the show,’” she says.
But life wasn’t always so pretty for Kuzmich. Diagnosed in her early teens with Asperger’s Syndrome – an offshoot of autism that impairs social and communication skills – she felt the awkwardness of adolescence deeper than most, and retreated into video games and comic books to deal with her shortage of friends.
It wasn’t until her years at Valparaiso High School – she’s a 2005 graduate – that Kuzmich came to terms with her disability and stopped caring what people thought. “People have their opinion,” she explains, “and I might as well be proud of myself for who I am, because they may never get the point.”
Although her run on the show wasn’t without awkward moments – she had to have her lines read to her during takes for a Cover Girl commercial – Kuzmich managed to nab the top spot in several challenges. Her award for one: a shoot with renowned photographer Matthew Rolston. Even better: his on-air comment afterwards. “I think that Heather is a beautiful girl,” he said, “and I think she has a future in modeling.”
“When I heard that I was like, ‘Eeeyyyeaah!,’” she says, cracking a piercing squeal and a smile that shatters the sculpted, high-fashion look she’s perfected for the camera. “He’s one of the top three photo-
graphers in the world. Him saying that was a total – yea! – boost!”
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