Viva spends a day with busy New Zealand's Next Top Model judge Sara Tetro and finds the busy TV star, model agent and mother of two is nothing like her tough on-screen persona.
Her day began at 5.30am, waking up in a panic thinking of all that needs to be done. Last night she was filming New Zealand's Next Top Model late into the evening - the makeover episode; there were tears (the girls, not her) - and is set to film another
episode this afternoon. Right now, however, she is in the car, driving five chattering young girls to school and listening to the Jersey Boys soundtrack.
Sara Tetro is a busy woman, who talks fast, walks fast and acts fast. It's likely you've already read five stories about her in the past week (the Top Model PR and marketing machine has been in overdrive) so you'll know her backstory: Top Model host and judge, celebrity manager, model agent, successful businesswoman, mother of two young girls. Did I mention that she's a busy woman?
Talking, walking and acting fast are key to her success; Tetro doesn't have time to waste time. She's the queen of multi-tasking, switching between personas throughout the day.
"Last night I was Top Model Sara, now I'm Mum Sara and soon I have to turn into 62 Models Sara," she explains during the school run.
We meet at her impressive Herne Bay home just after 7am on a Tuesday morning, where she greets me looking seriously perky for someone who has been up since 5.30am.
Wearing no makeup ("I need to let my skin breathe") and a grey Self Titled jumper with black skinny jeans and strappy black ankle boot wedges, Tetro hands me a Diet Coke, two mandarins and a tupperware container full of Gingernut biscuits to hold in the front seat of her seven-seater car (this is what she snacks on throughout the day). She explains to me later that she would normally wear socks with these shoes, but doesn't want to get sock dents on her legs - "it sounds silly, but it matters when you're on TV ..."
Her daughters try to teach me how to say "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious" properly, and the youngest charms me by saying, "you could be a Top Model girl".
I mention that I'm probably too short to be a model, among other things.
"Oh no, anything is possible if you put your mind to it, isn't it girls?" encourages Tetro.
She is a master motivator, a cheerleader and supporter for her family, friends and clients. On a wall at home is the saying, "when I grow up I want to be a tall poppy", to encourage her daughters to strive to be the best they can be, and on the school run Tetro asks the carload of girls to each name their goals for the school term ahead.
The adults aren't exempt either: Tetro's goals include creating a public awareness campaign to educate parents on the need to keep children in booster seats until they are 1.48m-high; I mumble something about wanting to visit New York.
After dropping the children to school, Tetro arrives at her 62 Models office, located in a beautiful building just behind K Rd. She's been based here for 15 years, the first tenant in what used to be an old ambulance building. It's all brick and ivy; we just missed the leaves says Tetro, who photographed them on her beloved iPhone and replicated the image for the office's large communal desk. It's here where her staff of four sit, model bookers who wear headsets, answer countless phone calls and gossip about Lindsay Lohan.
Tetro seems to genuinely like her staff, sitting with them at the centre desk rather than at her own in a separate room - she says she likes to be part of the team. When she is in her office, with images of celebrity clients pinned on one wall, personal photos on another and a Hermes box sitting on the shelf behind, she usually sits with her legs up on the very large desk while she takes calls from editors and clients.
The calls start almost as soon as she sits down - someone with a "really important question about Sally Ridge", someone else calling about contract negotiations for one of her clients - but Tetro deals with them all with ease, while tapping away on her iPhone. The queen of multi-tasking, remember, and probably the most efficient person I've ever met: things that need to be done are dealt with (except for the voicemail messages on her mobile waiting to be cleared, which are too daunting in number for her to think about right now).
"I'm really busy, and if you don't deal with things, they compound and you worry about them - I don't want to do that: I want to do my job and go home with a clear head."
In between calls she discusses some of 62's clients with her bookers - they'll organise a "walking session" for some of their younger models before Fashion Week in September, as well as model mentors; a young, new face on the books is probably too small to take part at the moment but they will let her go to the model casting because she's "a determined kid and will want to be included in the process" - all of which is a reminder that supporting models isn't just for the benefit of the Top Model cameras: it's actually Tetro's job, and one that she has obvious passion for.
Photographer Russ Flatt comes into the office to show Tetro through the shots from the previous day's Top Model shoot; they talk about how great it is to see the girls starting to believe that they're beautiful and begin enjoying the Top Model process.
Tetro's reactions to the photos range from "that's extraordinary" to "she looks a bit bland and non-descript", but she's quick to point out that "contrary to public belief, I'm not mean!"
She isn't - she's very open and warm - but she does admit, several times throughout the day, that she is a bit of a control freak. I'm reminded of this discipline when a client comes in, and after being told that a reporter is shadowing her for the day, asks Tetro jokingly, "so are you being yourself then?"
At midday she asks one of her team to turn on an out-of-office message and we head to TV3, where Tetro sees the NZNTM marketing material for the first time; this season's theme is gold and it's quickly given her seal of approval. Last season's winner Christobelle Grierson-Ryrie stares out haughtily behind the word "Whatever"; Tetro jokes that her daughter said it to her recently and she was insulted beyond belief.
Lunch is at a Japanese restaurant near the top secret venue for this afternoon's filming of a fashion show (everything Top Model is top secret), where we discuss gossip columnists, information leaks, going from looking after celebrities to becoming one (she doesn't see herself as a celebrity; "I never wanted to be a TV presenter, I wanted to rep TV presenters") and how she's perceived on TV as opposed to who she is ("I came across as pretty tough and schoolmarmy in the first series; which is the opposite of what I actually am").
Normally, Tetro says, she would have had three big meetings today, but she has had to "shave the afternoon off for the shoot and fit them in [during] the rest of the week". Today is, apparently, a "down day".
We arrive at the venue where Tetro gets her hair and makeup done while tapping away on her phone and trying to connect to the internet on her iPad. There is no wireless, but a producer scrambles to find something that works, asking her if she needs any lunch.
"No thank you, I ate yesterday," she jokes.
Fellow judge Colin Mathura-Jeffree is here and ready to go, heading downstairs to do his thing backstage before the other judge, Chris Sisarich, arrives; the judges are so glossy haired and beautiful that everyone else in the room seems scruffy in comparison.
There's a strong sense of camaraderie between the team with lots of playful teasing, and an underlying "let's get to business" attitude.
Much like, it seems, Tetro.
