Zuzanna Bijoch, 28, supermodel from Poland, graduates Columbia
She is a model student.
European catwalker Zuzanna Bijoch, 28, has strutted in Fashion shows for Chanel, Gucci and Prada.
Now, the Katowice, Poland, resident has been named valedictorian of Columbia University’s School of General Studies’ Class of 2023 — and she’s about to make Wall Street her runway.
The 5-foot-10-inch stutterer sunk her modeling money into a financial economics degree from the Ivy League institution — an investment that appears to have paid off.
After addressing her fellow classmates at Monday’s graduation ceremony, she heads to her new job as a financial analyst at a prominent bank, BDT & MSD Partners.
“I started modeling when I was 13, but it was never my dream,” Bijoch told The Post.
Her older sister was a model, so she followed in her relative’s footsteps and sent out Polaroids to agencies as a tween.
Her first big break was a photo shoot in Greece for American Teen Vogue.
She said: “After that it was all about balancing school and modelling. I was still very young, but modeling gave me the opportunity to travel the world – Japan, China, Paris.”
By the time she was 16, she was running 15 calls a day in New York. But the grueling experience taught her not to “put all your worth into one job,” she said.
Bijoch was delighted when she booked her first big gig with Marc Jacobs. Then, at the last minute, she was told she was being cut—on her way to the show.


“That was the first big lesson for me. It’s great when it’s great, but you also have to know who you are at your core, be strong and not take it too personally. It shaped my modeling career,” said Bijoch.
Later that same season, she was booked for Prada during Milan Fashion Week.
“It was surreal. I was really happy, but I was also aware of how many girls do casting and really want this job. It was definitely intimidating. You realize how small the probability is of being that one girl out of thousands of beautiful girls,” she said.
Bijoch graced the cover of several issues of Vogue magazine, Harper’s Bazaar and Elle, and continued as a guest judge on Poland’s Top Model. A career highlight came when she received the Polish Woman of the Year Award, presented by Glamor magazine.

To feel more in control of her success and her career, she published a novel, “Modelka,” in 2017. Written in Polish, it is a fictional story based on her experiences growing up in the Fashion industry.
Likewise, using her earnings to study maths and economics was a way for her to take control of her financial future — rather than leaving her fate up to a cast member.
It was also something she had dreamed about for a long time. “In the future I want to study economics,” she told Vogue in 2012 when she was 17.

Bijoch enrolled at Columbia University in the fall of 2018. She will graduate summa cum laude, and as a member of the school’s Honor Society and Dean’s List.
“We are proud, but not surprised,” her agency, NEXT Management, wrote in a statement to The Post. “[Zuzanna] has always been diligent, hardworking and beautiful inside and out.”
“I came from pretty humble beginnings,” Bijoch said. “I was lucky to be able to support my parents when I started making money as a model. Growing up in Poland in a middle-class family is difficult. Modeling changed my life. It was great to be able to get myself through school.”
Zuzanna Bijoch, 28, supermodel from Poland, graduates Columbia