Phillip Koch spends a few days in paradise with the supermodel and learns how cleverly she blends business and fun.
It is almost 10pm and a mini-cyclone has blown up in Fiji. Waves batter the beach, rain buckets down and palm trees dance like a bunch of teenagers at a rave party.
It could almost be romantic, except that Aussie supermodel Jennifer Hawkins is stuck in the middle of the storm, in a small boat, in the pitch black of an angry Pacific Ocean.
With no words of reassurance from the skipper, even the unflappable Fijians charged with welcoming the former Miss Universe start to look decidedly nervous. Then, just as everyone starts to fear the worst, Jen arrives, laughing off the near disaster and looking a million dollars, despite rain flattening her famous blonde mane.
“What fun!” she says.
Jen, 25, is on Fiji’s Vomo Island for a three-day shoot to promote her second collection of signature swimwear, Cozi by Jennifer Hawkins, and not even a mini-cyclone will stop her.
Her boyfriend, builder Jake Wall, is with her, taking advantage of her time on this tiny island paradise to spend a few days together after the shoot.
The couple have just one day to enjoy the balmy Fijian weather before Jen starts work on the shoot at the unforgiving time of 4am — to catch the best light of the day.
“It’s a beautiful location,” she says. “And I’m very lucky I have a team of people I work with all the time and they are all here to help me put the shoot together, which I’m really excited about.”
Jen’s life has changed dramatically since she won Miss Universe five years ago, but her work ethic has, if anything, become stronger — particularly since she launched Cozi by Jennifer Hawkins last year.
“I wanted to do something I could do creatively,” she explains. “This is obviously a business opportunity, but it’s also great fun and a way I was able to put my lifestyle into something I love — and the swimwear has got even better since last season.”
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