'I have a paycheck from 2006 I'm still waiting for': Supermodel Coco Rocha debunks glamorous world of modeling - as she reveals how to make it in the industry

By Olivia Fleming

PUBLISHED: 16:24 EST, 18 April 2013 | UPDATED: 17:03 EST, 18 April 2013

Supermodel Coco Rocha proclaimed yesterday: 'Leave an agency like you'd leave a boyfriend. Get all of your stuff out before you leave - because you never want to see them again.'

The 24-year-old was giving a lesson on modeling at Columbia Law School - or more specifically, the business of modeling, sharing her personal tips for a successful career.

From how to deal with 'creepy' photographers, to saying no to nudity, the Canadian-born beauty debunked the industry's glamorous facade to a room full of fresh-faced models, revealing the tough hurdles that continue to plague even the world's most well-known faces.

Business in modeling: Coco Rocha (left), with Doreen Small who teaches fashion modeling law the Fashion Law Institute at Fordham Law School (center) and Sara Ziff, founder of The Model Alliance

'Who here has a copy of their contract?' she asked, addressing an audience of several dozen young women and men. A show of hesitant hands sprouted and a surprised Ms Rocha smiled. 'Good for you,' she said, before revealing that she only asked for a copy of her own contract last year.

'How many of you negotiated the terms of that contract?' was the next question. Just three hands were raised.

This is the biggest mistake a model can make, said the red-haired advocate for The Model Alliance, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to helping improve working conditions for models in what is a largely unregulated industry.

Under U.S. law, models are considered independent contractors, which means that many basic provisions of employment law - minimum wage, mandatory breaks, worker's compensation for injuries, and even protection from sexual harassment - do not apply.

'It is really important to know everything about your contract,' Ms Rocha implored to the group. 'I mean, how old were you when you signed? Were you legal to actually sign on your own behalf? Did you even have a lawyer sitting with you, actually discussing what this is all about?'

How to be successful and safe: Ms Rocha, 24, is an advocate for the Model Alliance, a not-for-profit organization helping improve models' working conditions in what is almost an entirely unregulated industry

Ms Rocha, one of the few models who has become known by just her first name, is famous for having one of 'the thickest contracts of any model out there' - so much so that Noami Campbell, her co-host on The Face, said to her; 'How do you work?'

Ms Rocha will not do: cigarettes; nudity or semi-nudity; war, political or over-sexual themes; and lingerie, which means no swimwear because that could make people think she’s willing to do lingerie; and on television - no cursing. She also refuses to work on public holidays.

Most models have no such clauses written into their contract. And if they won't get undressed for a photographer, refuse to wear fur if they are vegan, or say no to posing with a cigarette because they are adverse to lung cancer, they lose the job.

'The fear (and the potential consequences) of alienating your agency by being "difficult" or asking too many questions are very real,' wrote Jezebel's Jenna Sauers, a former model.

Ms Rocha was pressured into doing a semi-nude shoot at age 14 ('Which is one too many for me,' she says), before she laid out her strict parameters.

Now she advocates for model’s rights, and hopes to liberate models - many of whom wonder how Ms Rocha became so successful despite turning down shoots she deemed too provocative - from this fear.

'I don't do anything. I wear black, with pink accents, that's it,' she joked.

The Face: Ms Rocha, with co-hosts Naomi Campbell and Karolina Kurkova and on modeling show, The Face

'When I first started modeling, I was told I needed to do pretty much anything to be successful. I had to pick, do I want to be successful? Or do I want to keep to my morals and my values? Which, to me, was very important; but was 14, so I was very easily persuaded.'

The Jehovah's Witness, who describes her upbringing as 'very strong,' said she got to a point where she asked: 'Do I even want to be in this industry? I grew up a certain way, I believe in those values.

'Don't get me wrong, I enjoy this industry,' she added. 'But not for what they wanted, and how they wanted to sell me.'

So she told her agent: 'This is who I am. Can you work with this? If not, I'll just go back and be an Irish dancing nerd.'

It turned out her agency was willing to work with her values, and now, Ms Rocha, who grew up south of Vancouver in the shoreline city of Richmond, British Columbia, goes to photo shoots and 'eliminates all their [revealing] outfits,' she admitted.

'And then I go, "Oh by the way, the [male models], why are they not wearing anything?" So they're sent home - that actually happened,' she said to a room of giggling girls.

'I say all this in humor, but I want you guys to stand up for yourselves, because a lot of people will just think you're a pushover.'

Sara Ziff, a model and founder of the Model Alliance, chimed in: 'You should know what you feel comfortable doing, and you should never be put on the spot to do something you don't want to do.'

No tolerance: Elle Brazil Photoshopped out a body suit Ms Rocha was wearing for this cover shoot, adding 'fake boobs' in the process - despite a written agreement that she will not do semi-nude shoots

At a time when the fashion industry has increasingly marginalized models - to anonymous, size 0 waifs with a life span of three seasons who, more often than not, get paid with clothing instead of cash (even top model Nimue Smit recently admitted she was given a 'black gown with pink pearls on the shoulders as payment for a Alberta Ferreti campaign') Ms Rocha, and Ms Ziff want models to reclaim power in a profession that has been depleted of it.

This includes focusing on payment, or sometimes lack of it, in an industry synonymous with wealth and glamor.

Tight contract: Ms Rocha as a no cigarettes, nudity, and lingerie clause in her contract

Ms Ziff said: 'When I left my first agency, they owed me tens of thousands of dollars; they would not pay me.

'Eventually I had to get a letter written by a very angry lawyer, and I got a check in the mail the next day.'

Many models uncomfortable talking about money with their agencies, 'where there is generally little separation between the accounting department and the bookers,' wrote Ms Sauers.

'Models are often in the dark about money matters for more prosaic reasons too: most of them are very young, and many haven't mastered English.'

And even Ms Rocha, whose British husband, James Conran, helps manage her mini empire, revealed: 'I have a paycheck from 2006 I'm still waiting for.'

The fashion industry, which has generally preferred its models to be seen and not heard, has found a rebel in Ms Rocha.

After she wore a flesh colored body suit under a sheer dress on the cover of Elle Brazil last year, she took to her Tumblr to vent her frustration and anger after the the magazine used Photoshop to remove the bodysuit - despite written direction that they not do so.

'They put fake boobs on me!' she exclaimed. 'I didn't know what to do. I looked into suing them, but I would have had to move to Brazil to go after them, so instead I told the world my story, and I will never work for Ella Brazil again.'

Scouted at an Irish dance competition at age 14, Ms Rocha quickly went from doing catalog shoots to working with high fashion photographer Steven Meisel.

Then American Vogue featured her on its cover as one of 'The World’s Next Top Models,' announcing the 'Coco Moment'.

'Some people look at me and think, "Be glad that you even got a cover. Shut up model, you're just a model, it doesn't matter what they do to you, you're supposed to get naked, do whatever they say, you should be showing your boobs, shut up and don't talk, just be happy you model," said Ms Rocha despairingly.

'Well I'm tying to fight those people.'

Ms Rocha, who firmly expressed that she will 'out anyone' whose interests aren't aligned with a model's, added: 'I don't work with Terry Richardson. I out things like this. Tell your friends and agency when you work with a creepy photographer. Or else he'll do the same to another girl.

'Some people keep it under the carpet, but we need to tell people what's happening in our industry so it's safer for you and me, and the next generation.'