section_path: Early modeling career/Relocating to New York
section_name: Relocating to New York
paragraph_text: Relocating to New York
  
  Zampolli urged Melania to travel to the United States, where he said he would like to represent her. In 1996, Melania moved to Manhattan. By this time, she was already 26 years old, much older than most aspiring models. Zampolli encouraged Melania to live near and socialize with people in the fashion industry, and he arranged for her to share an apartment with photographer Matthew Atanian in Zeckendorf Towers in Union Square. Her rent was taken from her pay with Zampolli's agency. Once she resided in the United States, she returned to her home country only sparingly and only for short periods of time. She lived a healthy lifestyle, managing her diet carefully, and she avoided the drinking and partying that often consumed the lives of the models around her. She did not lead an active social life and only went out on rare occasions. Melania was featured in a sexually explicit photo shoot for a 1997 issue of Max, a French men's magazine, with another female model. The photos were shot by the photographer Alexandre Ale de Basseville, and the work was unpaid, instead promising Melania exposure in a prominent magazine. The photos were largely forgotten until they were published by the New York Post in 2016.
  
  For her first weeks in the United States, her travel visa did not allow her to work in the country. Despite this, she accepted ten modeling jobs that earned her approximately $20,000 (equivalent to $40,000 in 2024). She then received an H-1B visa that allowed her to work. She received her first major job when she posed for a Camel cigarette ad shot by Ellen von Unwerth, which was displayed as a Times Square billboard and ran in Rolling Stone. The opportunity came about from a law that required cigarette ads to only feature individuals above the age of 25, which excluded most aspiring models. When her roommate Atanian left New York, Melania moved to an apartment off of Park Avenue.
  
  Zampolli urged Melania to travel to the United States, where he said he would like to represent her. In 1996, Melania moved to Manhattan. By this time, she was already 26 years old, much older than most aspiring models. Zampolli encouraged Melania to live near and socialize with people in the fashion industry, and he arranged for her to share an apartment with photographer Matthew Atanian in Zeckendorf Towers in Union Square. Her rent was taken from her pay with Zampolli's agency. Once she resided in the United States, she returned to her home country only sparingly and only for short periods of time. She lived a healthy lifestyle, managing her diet carefully, and she avoided the drinking and partying that often consumed the lives of the models around her. She did not lead an active social life and only went out on rare occasions. Melania was featured in a sexually explicit photo shoot for a 1997 issue of Max, a French men's magazine, with another female model. The photos were shot by the photographer Alexandre Ale de Basseville, and the work was unpaid, instead promising Melania exposure in a prominent magazine. The photos were largely forgotten until they were published by the New York Post in 2016.
  
  For her first weeks in the United States, her travel visa did not allow her to work in the country. Despite this, she accepted ten modeling jobs that earned her approximately $20,000 (equivalent to $40,000 in 2024). She then received an H-1B visa that allowed her to work. She received her first major job when she posed for a Camel cigarette ad shot by Ellen von Unwerth, which was displayed as a Times Square billboard and ran in Rolling Stone. The opportunity came about from a law that required cigarette ads to only feature individuals above the age of 25, which excluded most aspiring models. When her roommate Atanian left New York, Melania moved to an apartment off of Park Avenue.