Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid had a chance meeting with this 20-year-old skater in Venice Beach, and with their help, he became a model. This is John Economou's story.


He worked as a local male model for most of his but after dropping out of college, he moved to California to find bigger opportunities with nothing but his skateboard and some clothes.


He said:

“I packed up my backpack and flew from Milwaukee to LAX then just came here to the beach and I’ve been here ever since — just chilling.

“I don’t like saying I’m homeless — I like saying I’m on an adventure. I’m a traveller.”


He would sleep in the sand with nothing but a sheet for protection and he would work out and shower at a Gold's Gym in the morning the next day. Some nights, he would be lucky enough to stay with girls.


Then one day, he met two beautiful girls who had some trouble with seagulls.


"I saw seagulls swarming around the girls because they brought the food out and I started walking over there to shoo them away.”

Turns out, it was Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid.


They told him he should be a model and he told them his story.


Jenner asked her manager to hook him up with an agency and they did. He was soon signed by Two Management, under the same man who started Jenner in modeling.


Sometimes, all it takes is some luck and chance.