Born Ismeen Marlane Ashraf "Mimi" Elashiry, she grew up in a suburb of Sydney, Australia as the daughter of an Australian mother and an Egyptian father. Before launching her Instagram account and rapidly rising to fame as a model, she trained as a dancer and auditioned successfully for New York's Joffrey Ballet School. By late 2014, this fashion model and internet personality had attracted close to 519,000 Instagram followers and it grows bigger and bigger every day.