Chrissy Teigen opened up about life before she became a supermodel and cookbook author.

When I started out in the modeling world I was bouncing around from agency to agency. I thought it was cool that agents wanted me and that I could get work,” she said to Revolve and celebrity hairstylist Jen Atkin. “And I think when you’re young and excited to begin that world you don’t really think that anyone has any negative intentions. You just get so excited, you’ll do anything. You’ll do all the favors.”

“I remember living in Miami in this apartment with five other young models, and it was two bedroom and we were each paying like $4,000 a piece,” she continued. “Looking back it doesn’t make any sense, but for me it was so cool that an agency wanted to move me to Miami. It felt glamorous, and it felt cool but I didn’t realize how many people pull fast ones on you and I would have definitely gotten a business manager a lot earlier as a young person.”

“Be humble,” she added. “The world is really small. Word travels so fast with how you treat people. How you speak to people. Little things go a really long way.”