Timotej Letonja leads a busy life. Being Editor-in-Chief & Creative Director of Numéro Netherlands you could find him at the coolest events around the world. He is based in Haarlem but you can find him spending lots of time in Amsterdam. His career in fashion started in his twenties when he worked as a model followed by several other jobs that shaped him where he is today. His motto is to follow dreams and live life passionately. Another one of his passions is food. Based on his Instagram stories he only eats at the best restaurants and drinks the most amazing cocktails. 

Timi is comfortable with who he is and what the future holds and has big plans for 2022.. 

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Please tell me about how you got your career start and how you ended up where you are today.

‍My career in fashion started in 2013 with modeling which led to working as a modelagent after some time, followed by directing my own agency. That was truly incredible, yet it did not make me happy. So after a few years I decided to focus on casting and production which I did already prior for magazines such as Vogue, L’officiel, Elle, Man About Town, Harper’s Bazaar etc. After moving to The Netherlands back in 2016 I first worked at a modeling agency for almost 2 years. First as an intern which was part of my studies. After that I realized that I wanted to do something more creative and something that I am more passionate about. In 2019 Numero Netherlands was born. That was a dream of mine.

What motto do you live by?

‍Definitely work hard, enjoy life and see the world. Follow your dreams and live life passionately.

Can you tell me a bit more of what your childhood looked like? Did you see yourself when you were younger doing what you’re doing now in life?

‍My childhood was amazing. Spent a lot of time with friends and family, went to a great school and spent a lot of time doing sports such as swimming, skiing, tennis, volleyball and athletics. Not really to be honest, fashion was not really on top of my list at the time. I was more into becoming a doctor, an athlete or something way different than working in fashion.

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Your Instagram feed has a distinct point of view. How do you feel about social media?

Thank you. I think social media has two sides: Good and bad - like a lot of things in life. Good in a way that we can express what we like, what we do and share our memories as well as network, make friends, make money. The downside to this is that it could be a pretty fake environment, because we mostly only share highlights and not our bad moments or sad moments. It can also be cruel as there is plenty of cyber bulling and also it is pretty addictive, as we spent a lot of time using social media.

All in all I do look at it mostly on the positive side as I have met some incredible people through the years over social media and it gave me many incredible opportunities so far. Instagram: @timiletonja

What's inspiring you right now? What gets you excited?

Inspiring right now is already the fact that we can finally live a bit more freely and can travel, that for sure is always what inspires me; to see new places, meet new people, hear new sounds, explore the nature and a variety of cultures. Seeing and experiencing all that is what truly inspired me along with my friends, family and people around me, who also inspire me.
The more I think about it now I could find a lot more things to mention that inspire me such as music, film, our minds, conversations, food etc.

On a scale of 1 to 10 how comfortable are with yourself and what kind of journey has this been for you to feel this way? 

Not sure what number to say really but I live confidently and I am comfortable with who I am and what the future holds for me. Definitely my journey had some challenging and scary moments but that is all part of growth.

What does comfortable mean to you?

‍To me it means being happy with who you are, the way you live and to have dreams. Enjoy every moment.

You’re a big foodie. What’s your top 3 restaurants in Haarlem and Amsterdam?

Haarlem: Maita, Olivijn and Diga.

Amsterdam: Yamazato, Taiko and Rijks. 

What's next for you?

A lot of thinks are in the process at the moment, all very exciting for me. Working on more events, new issues and creative new additions to our way of working is what is next with Numero Netherlands. The magazine is going more green, fully English, we are launching Youtube and starting to work with fashion and art schools to name a few things coming up soon. Especially excited about all the great places I am planning to see soon from London, Seychelles, Slovenia (to see my family finally) and Iceland.

Excited about creating more content and working on some great collaborations as well as working on two design collaborations where I will get to fulfill dreams of mine and be part of the design process, something I have always dreamed about. Stay tuned for more soon..

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Tell me about what your skincare regime consists of. What products you use? What treatments do you love?

‍Honestly my skin routine changes regularly. I use face masks every week which is one of my favorites for sure. In the morning I always first wash my face, followed by either only face serum or a full morning routine of moisturizer, cleanser, face cream and face serum and eye cream.

Some of my favorite brands to use on daily or weekly basis are: Aqua Di Parma, Midnight, Kenzo Beauty, Madara Cosmetics, Givenchy Beauty, Aesop and Le Labo. For my hair routine I wash my hair daily with my absolute all natural Midnight shampoo. On regular basis I love to use Balmain Hair texturing or sea salt spray.

The day does not go by without perfumes. Some of my absolute favorite scents are: Moncler, Givenchy Gentleman, Le Labo - Amsterdam, Calvin Klein Obsession, Louis Vuitton Cactus…. and many more. Super important is also my daily shaving routine. A must have is a great razor and good shaving cream & after shave. Some of my favorites are: Harry’s & Aqua Di Parma.

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Do you have personal goals that you can share for 2022?

Definitely. My personal goals for 2022: To spend more time exploring and traveling to new places. I am aiming for more time off and relax a bit more. The hardest part is to really enjoy this time, as my head is always working overtime. Another personal goal is to see my family more often. I would like to continue growing the company and growing personally. Oops! I almost forgot..to quit smoking..

Any tips for newcomers in the magazine industry?

Go for it. Explore, reach out, try, fail and do not limit yourself, go for your dreams. Also always keep in mind to push boundaries.

What do you like most about working at Numéro magazine?

What I like most is creating (creative) content, my team, projects and collaborations we get to work on, meeting new people from all different fields, traveling, learning about heritages of brands, organizing events etc.

What’s your biggest wardrobe piece you invest in?

Bags & jackets. Two of my latest big purchases are Fendi yellow cross body bag and the heavy leather jacket from Diesel.
I love the Givenchy small cut out bag in box leather bag as well.

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What would someone never guess about you?

Maybe that I trained so many sports as a kid such as volleyball, tennis, swimming, running and more.

In your early years you’ve been working as a model. Do you miss this and why?

I do not really miss modeling to be honest, but it pushed me in the right direction as this is how my career started in fashion.

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What’s your favorite Numéro cover and why? And your favorite production?

Hard to answer as I LOVE ALL OF THEM. 

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Celebrity crush? Male and female.

Male would be Brad Pitt and female crush is Zendaya.