When she was discovered at 14, Coco Rocha was far more interested in Irish dancing than international modelling. But the persistence of the agencies paid off - and now she is well-established as one of the hottest new supermodels. Interview by Georgia Dehn. Fashion by Daniela Agnelli

How much is a supermodel worth these days? £10,000 a day? £7 million per year? Toronto-born Coco Rocha was recently estimated at 10 camels and a silver teapot. 'While I was in Morocco on this shoot,' she says, 'my mum had many opportunities to sell me to market traders. I think that was the best offer we got.'

Floral silk chiffon dress, £3,465, by D&G (020-7495 9250). Antique textiles from Liza Bruce's private collection

Rocha was 14 when she was spotted at an Irish dance competition in Vancouver and asked what she thought of modelling. At that point, just five years ago, her primary concern was Irish dancing - she fell in love with it after seeing Riverdance - and thought the idea that she could be a model was hilarious. 'I was this gangly thing who didn't know which clothes should be put with what,' she says. 'I knew nothing about fashion. I didn't even know who Naomi Campbell was.'

It took her a year to agree to the persistent agent Charles Stuart, who approached her time and again at subsequent dance competitions. Since then she has ascended at lightning speed to become one of fashion's superstars.

After a two-month stint in Taipei doing catalogue work so that she had enough pictures to produce a portfolio, she was booked by the fashion photographer Steven Meisel for an Italian Vogue shoot. It was from there that things started to snowball. 'I always go back to that shoot and think, this wouldn't be happening if it wasn't for him.'

Last year American Vogue included her on its definitive 'Hit Girls' cover, along with the likes of Agyness Deyn, Lily Donaldson and Jessica Stam, to showcase the world's next top models. And her distinctive, rather bolshy stomp down the catwalk has seduced the industry; after word got round that she was an Irish dancer, Jean Paul Gaultier chose her to open and close his autumn/winter 2007 show with a traditional jig.

While Rocha, who is represented in Britain by Storm, is reluctant to talk about her income, she admits that at certain points she has earned so much money she doesn't know what to do with it. She is currently the face of the YSL fragrance Elle. Such a campaign would have paid anything from £25,000 up to a six-figure sum depending on the contract. She recently bought herself an apartment in the Gramercy Park area of New York and has employed the interior designer Rafael De Cardenas to spruce it up.
Floral silk chiffon dress, £3,465, by D&G (020-7495 9250). Antique textiles from Liza Bruce's private collection

Rocha, an only child, was brought up by her flight attendant mother in Richmond, British Columbia, and finished her schooling while she hopped on planes twice a year for the international catwalk circuit and editorial shoots. It has become a ritual that her mother accompanies her on shoots whenever she can. 'I am self-sufficient now but it's a treat having her there,' Rocha says. 'Corny as it sounds, she's my biggest inspiration, and we're very close.'

Rocha has a mature, philosophical outlook on modelling and seems to have escaped its potential pitfalls. 'People forget you are a young girl and they are asking you to grow up way before you need to,' she says. 'But I think it helped me more than harmed me. I see now that I am a lot more self-assured.'

It may seem that Rocha was born under a lucky star and has been charmed with the glamorous life that many teen girls can only dream of ever experiencing - she finds it incredibly flattering when she receives emails telling her as much - but she certainly keeps her mind on the right side of reality. 'It's all about the computer these days. People might look at a picture of me and say, "Wow, I wish I had her body", but they should realise that I often look at a picture of myself and say, "Wow, I wish I had my body." '