AT 36, Lisa Selesner (better known by her stage name Lisa S.) seems to have everything most people can only dream of. She is wealthy because of her successful career as a famous TV host and model in Asia, she often travels to exotic places, and last but not least, she is married to Hong Kong movie star Daniel Wu, who is often dubbed "the most handsome guy in Asia."

While some women can become obsessed about holding on to their man, Lisa said their relationship is built on trust so she doesn't really worry about losing Wu.

"He trusts me, and I trust him," she said, laughing. "And I'm not a jealous person. I can't be jealous. To be jealous takes a lot of my energy and I don't have that much energy to give. So I just keep it simple."

Lisa was in Shanghai recently for a modeling job for Italian fashion brand Stefanel, which has opened a new boutique at Citic Square. She took the morning flight to Shanghai, stayed at the event for a few hours before flying back to Hong Kong, which she now describes as home, later that evening.

The American said her schedule is hectic, but she is used to it and knows how to juggle everything.

"The best way to balance work and life is to always remember what is most important to you," she said. "I love my job, but I know in my mind that right now, my personal life comes before my job, which makes it a lot easier to be able to organize everything.

"After that, it goes by money," she added, laughing. "It goes by whoever pays me more." And then, she gives this witty, naughty "did I just scare you?" look, and we both began to laugh.

Lisa is open, direct and talkative. She said she is always the loudest model backstage. She also made me feel as though she was willing to talk about anything. Perhaps it's because she sometimes interviews people for her TV shows, so she knows exactly what is expected of an interviewee.

Two of Lisa's strengths are her confidence and willingness to "go for it."

Six years ago, she watched "Dolce Vita," an English lifestyle show produced by TVB, Hong Kong's most popular television broadcaster. She told her agent immediately that she wanted to be a part of it.

"I was told that it is impossible because it's TVB, and you have to know somebody to get the chance," she said. "So I said, sure, I will (know somebody)."

From then on, every time she bumped into show's crew, she'd go directly to the producer, introduce herself and ask for a chance. At first people thought she was joking. On the fifth occasion, when she met the same team at IFC, a popular shopping mall in Hong Kong, they finally agreed to give her a chance.

"At first, they thought I'd be too expensive because I'm a model," she said. "For me, I don't do TV for money but for fun. And I think I'm quite good at it too."

Now Lisa works for Fox International Channels as a video jockey for Channel V, a music station, or "whenever another channel needs me." She also appears on the silver screen from time to time. She has appeared in five films, including "A Mob Story" and "Rob-B-Hood." According to her, all her roles are "flower vase girls," a term used by Hong Kong people to describe girls with a pretty face but no personality.

"I'm always the girl standing in the corner looking pretty," she said, cheerfully. "I'm used to it. I have to face the reality that I'm too tall and most male actors in Hong Kong are shorter. After all, I just do it for fun, and I'm not Nicole Kidman."

She met her husband on a boat party, where she introduced herself while they were both resting on a couch. A week later, she happened to shoot a magazine cover with him and two other models. At the end of the shoot, she wrote down her phone number on a piece of paper and handed it to him.

"I remember I said to him: 'Hey, you know what, if you ever want to go to a movie, here is my number'," she said, all smiles.

"I tell girls all the time that we have to go for what we want," she said. "As women, we have limited time, so just go."

While a lot of women try to play games to win guys over, Lisa said she doesn't have time for such childishness.

"When you play games at the beginning of the relationship, you will have to play games for the rest of the relationship," she said. "So you might as well be yourself from the very beginning."

At first, she didn't expect the relationship to last more than six months. In fact, she was planning to leave Hong Kong to go back to New York, where she lived as a child, when she was discovered by the Elite model agency.

It was on February 14, 2000, when she first arrived in Hong Kong. She remembered the date because she had a huge fight with her then boyfriend a day earlier when they were supposed to be celebrating Valentine's Day together in Thailand.

She was so angry that she felt she had to leave. She called her agent from Thailand for help and the next day she found herself in Hong Kong for an interview.

At that time, there were only five international models in Hong Kong.

"I worked so much and made so much money," she recalled. "When the contract was over, I said to myself, fine, I will stay for another three months. Then again, I made a lot of money. I talked myself into staying for one more year until one day, I realized that I had to stop because such a hectic life was driving me crazy."

Then she met Daniel - the exact month when she was about to leave Hong Kong.

"I told myself that he's such a big star that he will break up with me for sure in six months and then I could go back to New York," she said. "But six months later, we were still together. One year later, he was still calling me. Now it has been eight years. And I have a car, a house, a husband and a dog, I guess I'm stuck (in Hong Kong)."

On April 6, the two got married in a forest near a small village in South Africa, where Lisa owns a house. The wedding was hosted by a local shaman.

The couple invited only their closest friends and family members, who shared their happiness together with the locals.

"It was very special, very unique," she said. "We were on our knees for two hours but I couldn't feel it at all. Time just flew away."

The couple travel to South Africa every year and stay in the village for at least one month to "find peace." There is no electricity in the house. For a long time, there was not even a mirror. Lisa would wash her hair and let it dry naturally. In that small village, she is not a super model, and he is not a movie star.

"We just sat there looking up at the sky and the clouds, and we didn't have to say anything, but felt at ease," she said. "Deep inside, I think I'm a hippie. Both of us are."

Lisa's parents, her father is French-Chinese and her mother American, divorced when she was very young. She was brought up by her mother and step father. She said she has never believed in marriage, not even now.

"But Daniel Wu asked me to marry him, what am I going to say? No?" she said, bursting into laughter. "We have been together for eight years, I already felt like we were married. To me, this is more for our families than anything else.

"We're in the year of 2010," she continued. "There is no difference if you sign the paper or not. The reason why two people stay together is out of true love, not the paper."

Her engagement ring is quite unique. Lisa said her husband bought the stone first and they designed it together. It took them two months to work on it but it is one-of-a-kind - "just like our love, haha."

The versatile, energetic woman now plans to launch her own jewelry line with her jewelry making teacher from Hong Kong. She began to take jewelry making classes three years ago because she was "bored and wanted to do something interesting."

It will be an organic jewelry line, where they will use semi-precious stones such as aquamarine, topaz and quartz, instead of diamonds.

They are working on the sketches and modeling at the moment and the line probably won't be ready until early next year. Meanwhile, she's trying to come up with a name for the line.

Speaking of names, she hopes she will need to think of another name (for baby) very soon.

"The reason why we got married is because we wanted to start a family," Lisa said. "So anytime, I'm ready. We're ready. Whenever it happens, it happens!"