| 1 | 1 | | 'We Are All Free,' screams the powerful hypnotic voice from the booming |
| 2 | | loudspeakers, and trust me, Ioni's not wrong. With a face like a goddess and talent shining |
| 3 | | from every inch of her very tall body, this woman is free to do anything she wants - and |
| 4 | | she does. |
| 2 | 5 | | With her second single, We Are All Free, due to hit the streets in a few days' time and |
| 6 | | already having a response that's simply incredible, you'd think th at Ioni had dedicated her |
| 7 | | entire life to this one spectacular height - but she hasn't. |
| 3 | 8 | | 'When I was 13 all I wanted to be was an athlete. I really wanted to get to the top |
| 9 | | and be the best so I plunged my whole life into training, I did absolutely nothing else. I was |
| 10 | | actually training to be a hurdler but then I injured my knee and had to forget the whole |
| 11 | | thing. |
| 4 | 12 | | I felt desperate when I found out that I couldn't run any more. It feit like everything |
| 13 | | had been taken away from me and that totally destroyed me. I just sat back and thought: |
| 14 | | "Weil what do I do now?" I jumped into the first office job that came along and I met a |
| 15 | | guy there who suggested that I go into modelling, so I did.' |
| 5 | 16 | | For the injured hurdler it was a case of jumping from one success to another and |
| 17 | | Ioni found that modelling came naturally to her, and she was soon working with the likes |
| 18 | | of none other than top model Naomi Campbell. |
| 6 | 19 | | Things didn't stop there for the 6ft wonder woman. After three years of modelling |
| 20 | | she decided to move into yet another career - stand-up comedy: 'I used to do impressions |
| 21 | | of people like Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and TV magician Pa ui Daniels. I found it |
| 22 | | really easy, I could just hear avoice and I'd be able to copy it. |
| 7 | 23 | | But I don't do impressions any more because when I went on a TV talent show, they |
| 24 | | sabotaged my act. They wanted me to wear different clothes and they totally manipulated |
| 25 | | everything I said. I didn't enjoy it because it wasn't me up there, it was something else that |
| 26 | | they made me. So I gave up with the impressions as from that moment.' |
| 8 | 27 | | It's a good thing that she did because letting the impressions go meant that Ioni |
| 28 | | could then make way for her singing career, something which came about after meeting a |
| 29 | | guy on a train who simply invited her to test her voice out in his studio. |
| 9 | 30 | | There you have it, the charmed life of Ioni, the woman who's stumbled across every |
| 31 | | talent imaginable: 'I don't know why I've done so much, I think it's because I missed out on |
| 32 | | so much when I was young and concentrating on athletics. Now I'm just trying to catch up |
| 33 | | by cramming everything into my life. Now I live on the theory that I do what I want to do.' |
| 10 | 34 | | With this theory in mind, it's a typical case of preaching what she practises as far as |
| 35 | | her new single is concerned: ' I feel that everybody is free in their own minds, we're all free |
| 36 | | to do what we want over here in the UK, within reason. We can go where we want to go |
| 37 | | and do what we want to do and with We Are All Free I'm basically saying: "Live life, be |
| 38 | | free and express yourself! '" |
