Feature
Astoria woman takes the stage
as suitcase model on
‘Deal or No Deal’
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
A Queens woman is helping
ask the age-old question:
Deal, or no deal?
Born and raised in As-toria,
Soraya Yd spent a lot of time
growing up hanging around Astoria
Boulevard. After graduating from the
Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, Yd, like
many high school grads, was unsure of
what step to take next.
“I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do,
but I knew that I wanted to have a focal
point,” Yd said.
After dabbling in modeling, it wasn’t
until Yd was an extra for a show on
MTV3 where it became clear that she
wanted to do on-camera work. She went
on to attend LaGuardia Community
College and majored in Communica-tions
and Television Broadcasting. She
signed with her first agency in 2011,
and after a few stints in Las Vegas and
Los Angeles, there was going to be an
opportunity that would change Yd’s life.
After a nine-year hiatus, CNBC an-nounced
in 2018 that it would revive the
popular game show “Deal or No Deal”
for a fifth season, and would be looking
for a new crop of models to present
the show’s suitcases. Yd’s agency set
her up with a Skype interview with the
casting directors at “Deal or No Deal.”
“My Wi-Fi actually went down right
before the interview, so I had to rush to
my agency’s office and set up for the
interview,” Yd recalled. “I was fortunate
to be seen for a second interview, where
you go and meet the people working on
the show. There were so many people
there, but I showed off my character
and didn’t hold back, and it worked out
to my benefit.”
36 MARCH 2019 I LIC COURIER I www.qns.com
Jeff Daly/CNBC
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