Vendela Maria Kirsebom is a Norwegian-Swedish model and actress living in Nesodden, Norway. Kirsebom was born in Stockholm, Sweden, to a Norwegian mother and a Turkish father. At the age of 13, she was discovered in a Stockholm restaurant by Eileen Ford. At 18, she graduated from the Rudolf Steiner School and moved to Italy to pursue a modeling career under the guidance of Ford Models. Contracted with Elizabeth Arden, she moved to the United States to work as Almay's spokesperson.