Catrinel Menghia is a Romania

Romania

Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...

n model

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

.

She was discovered at the age of 16 on the street by a local agent who took her to Bucharest

Bucharest

Bucharest is the capital municipality, cultural, industrial, and financial centre of Romania. It is the largest city in Romania, located in the southeast of the country, at , and lies on the banks of the Dâmbovița River....

 to meet Liviu Ionescu of the MRA Agency. Six months later, her parents allowed Menghia to move to Bucharest and start her modeling career.

She participated in the Ford Supermodel of the World Romania contest in November 2001, where she won the second runner-up prize.

Menghia now lives in Milan

Milan

Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...

. She has done campaigns for major fashion houses and is the face of Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani

Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer, particularly noted for his menswear. He is known today for his clean, tailored lines. He formed his company, Armani, in 1975, and by 2001 was acclaimed as the most successful designer to come out of Italy, with an annual turnover of $1.6 billion and a...

 worldwide. She was also one of the new faces in the 2006 South African Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated

Sports Illustrated is an American sports media company owned by media conglomerate Time Warner. Its self titled magazine has over 3.5 million subscribers and is read by 23 million adults each week, including over 18 million men. It was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the...

Swimsuit Edition and has appeared in FHM

FHM

FHM, originally published as For Him Magazine, is an international monthly men's lifestyle magazine.- History :The magazine began publication in 1985 in the United Kingdom under the name For Him and changed its title to FHM in 1994 when Emap Consumer Media bought the magazine, although the full For...

and Maxim

Maxim (magazine)

Maxim is an international men's magazine based in the United Kingdom and known for its pictorials featuring popular actresses, singers, and female models, sometimes pictured dressed, often pictured scantily dressed but not fully nude....

. She became the pitch girl for the Fiat 500 Abarth coupe in 2011 .

She has been the face of the French lingerie brand Lise Charmel since 2005.

She is married to the Italian ex-footballer Massimo Brambati

Massimo Brambati

Massimo Brambati is an Italian ex-footballer; he played as a defender.-Career:Brambati began his career at Torino, but he first established himself as a first-team footballer during a two-season loan spell at Empoli. He moved to Bari, whom he went on to captain, in 1989...

. Her sister, Lorena, is a high-jumper, currently competing in the US college system.

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