We've all heard the stories -- models and actresses that were "discovered" by some Hollywood big shot while they were waiting tables, or just walking down the streets of Los Angeles. These rags to riches tales of instant celebrity are pretty ridiculous -- especially when you consider the hundreds of thousands of beautiful, talented young people aspiring to a career in the entertainment industry.

But apparently, every once in awhile, it really does happen.

Irina Kulikova is the fashion industry's latest modeling sensation. In the runway shows for fall/winter 2007-8, she walked for huge design houses like Prada and Chanel, and will soon be featured in advertising campaigns by Prada, Jill Sander, Marc Jacobs and Pringle of Scotland.

So how did a virtual nobody become such an overnight success? Rumor has it that Liv Tyler, the American actress, spotted Kulikova eating in a Moscow restaurant, and voila -- instant success.

I've subsequently decided to start taking my laptop to Pizza Hut, so that a book publisher will "discover" me. International fame and untold fortune is right around the corner -- I can almost taste it! (And, as you might suspect, fame tastes like pepperoni.)