Greta Barthel – from a village to the world

Proof that power can be built. Self-made model and entrepreneur.

Some people wait for life to begin. Others build it.

Greta Barthel is one of the builders.

At a young age, Greta Barthel stands as a globally working model, public personality, and entrepreneur, the founder of two international companies – ModelRoom Agency and Social Room Singapore. Her rise, however, was anything but accidental. She comes from a place where big dreams are rare, yet she refused to accept the limits of her surroundings.

“People think everything I touch turns to gold,” she says. “Nothing in my life is luck. I fall, I fail, I doubt myself , but I don’t stop. That is the difference.”

Greta grew up in a quiet German village small, boxed in, far from the world she would one day inhabit. Dropping out of high school was not a sign of weakness but of defiance; she simply refused to live a life that didn’t feel her own.

At eighteen, a mental-health collapse took her to a recovery clinic. What could have been an ending became a beginning.

“No one was coming to save me,” she recalls. “So I learned to save myself. If I’m still alive, then I’m going to live fully.”

At nineteen, Greta founded ModelRoom Agency from scratch no investors, no safety net, no connections. Soon after, she began modeling internationally, transforming her career into her passport. Today she has lived and worked in more than a dozen countries across Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas. She built a life in motion one that doesn’t fit into borders.

A World Without Borders

Greta’s international path connected her deeply to Vietnam, where she modeled for editorial campaigns and fashion houses that helped define a new creative movement.

“Vietnam represents a new era in fashion bold, modern, global,” she says. “Being part of that energy is something I’m proud of. Vietnam will always be part of my story.”

Her career has since included collaborations with Nike, Guess, Lacoste, Pierre Cardin, Vero Moda, Marks & Spencer, Lenskart, and Lee Cooper proof that persistence can turn vision into reality.

“I learned early that nobody will open a door for you. You build the door and then you walk through it.”

Courage, Not Perfection

Greta’s journey led her beyond modeling into pageantry, television, and entrepreneurship. She became Miss Thüringen 2020, a Miss Germany finalist, and placed Top 10 at Miss Universe Germany 2022, later earning the title Miss Elite Germany 2023.

In 2024, she joined Netflix’s Fight for Paradise and later became one of the leading personalities on My Style Rocks Germany, the fashion competition series. She stood out not for spectacle, but for character.

“I’ve always been straightforward,” she says. “I don’t fake who I am. People feel truth you can’t pretend it.”

But Greta doesn’t sell perfection.

“I don’t hide it. I still fight anxiety sometimes. Strength isn’t about being unbreakable. Real strength is facing your fears, your failures, your flaws and still choosing to move forward.”

Building What Didn’t Exist

In 2025, Greta expanded her business portfolio again, launching Social Room Singapore, a PR and marketing agency operating across Asia and the Middle East.

“I belong nowhere and everywhere,” she says. “I didn’t find home I built it.”

Her story is one of radical self-creation a woman who turned obstacles into architecture.

“I didn’t change my life by luck,” she says. “I built it. And I’m not done yet.”

I did not follow. I created.

Model: Greta Barthel @gretabarthel.

Styling: Rhiya Cintury @rhiya.xc.

Makeup and hair: Renuka Desilva @makeup_renuka.

Assisted by: Shilpa Barla @shilpabarla_makeuphair.

Skirt designer: Simran Agarwal @sim1rann.

Creative direction: Anshika Patwari @anshikapatwari.

Photographer: Abheet Gidwani @abheetgidwani.

Editor/sub-editor: Maria Ana Magalhães Azêvo @mariaazevoo.

Producer: Say Media @say__media.

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