Viola Haqi is a half Dutch, half Iraqi model, born and raised in Amsterdam. At the age of 18, she was discovered by another model, on the train on her way to kickboxing class. Less than 3 months later Metropolitan Models offered her a modeling contract. She moved to Paris in the fall of that year, and after working hard and long hours her career started to take off.

With 13 French Elle covers in her pocket and having lived in Paris for 2 years, Viola became restless and curious. She was ready to try her luck in NYC—a place where she quickly worked with photographers such as Bruce Webber, Patrick Demarchelier, Walter Chin, and Michael Thompson. She did advertising jobs like Abercrombie and Fitz, Fila, Oil of Olay, ROC, Oenobiol, La Perla, La Mer, Revlon, Thermasilk, Galenic, Redken and Bioré, and has been in numerous television commercials for Clairol, Ushuaïa, Lee Jeans, Lexus among many more.

Viola loves music and has been playing classical piano since the age of seven. She saw her chance one day while working with another model on a tv commercial. He was talking about his rock band and she mentioned that she shares his love for music and singing. As a true American, he was open and suggested she’d join him for a rehearsal in a music studio on the Lower East Side. From then on, Viola shares her time between the two things she loves doing the most: making music and modeling. For a few years, she performed with incredible jazz artists in venues like Joe’s Pub, The Metropolitan Room and Carnegie Hall, and in this period she recorded her jazz album “If This Is Love”.