Vyalitsyna was born in the Russian city of Gorky (now Nizhny Novgorod). Both of her parents are physicians. Her father is a sports doctor for an association football team and her mother is a pediatrician. Vyalitsyna started her professional modeling career at the age of 15 after IMG Models scouts saw her in Saint Petersburg while looking for new faces for MTV's Fashionably Loud Europe. She entered the contest and moved to New York after winning a contest sponsored by IMG and MTV.She became an American citizen on 16 November 2013
