Travelling the world, playing music, having hordes of adoring fans:

people would say rock star Fish from Marillon was living the perfect life. But for his daughter, this week's cover star Tara Nowy, he had a different one in mind. When she embarked on a modelling career, her father was not keen. "My dad didn't exactly agree when I started, as I think he wanted me to have a proper job," says Nowy. "Or what he calls a proper job.

"I think he doesn't want to see me go through what he has. Obviously as a creative, you are constantly battling and trying to find work. You are always looking and I think he would rather it was more stable. But I like that. It is excitement. I don't think I could handle a nine-to-five job."

Not content with being a rock star's daughter and a model, Nowy is branching out and embarking on a career as an actor, writer and model mentor. Nowy, 23, is a veteran of her business and perfectly placed to act as a mentor to a younger generation. She is in Dubai and will soon begin her new role where, through her modelling agency, she will assist with a series of boot camps. "It is basically a way to scout new models and teach them," she says. "The girls are 14 to 18 and they get to see what it is like to be a model for a couple of weeks and go through photoshoots and learn about posing. They also get a makeover and styling. It is a confidence builder for young girls."

Nowy started modelling at 15 and is well versed in its pitfalls. Asked about the sleazy side of modelling, Nowy admits it exists and says you have to be strong and not get tricked by older men who target young models.

There are other pressures. "In the first couple of years it was hard to separate myself from modelling and not take everything that people said to heart. Every model has heard it, that you are a bit on the chunky side or that you are too short, or you've got this or that."

Nowy, who was educated at Glenalmond public school, says a thick skin is an essential. "I laugh criticism off now. I am sarcastic and manage to brush it off. I think that is the only way you can do modelling. If you were to take everything to heart, you wouldn't leave the house."

Nowy experienced the rough side of the industry when a spat between her father and Scottish Fashion Awards founder Tessa Hartmann about how she was treated at the awards made headlines. "It was heartbreaking because it was completely out of my control," says Nowy. "I went home after the awards and woke up the next morning to all these text messages and missed calls. And then all the newspapers with my face in it. It was horrific."

She understands, though, why her father came out gunning.

"He was like any father. He was upset and went for it. I had a lot of horrible responses, especially from people I had worked with, which was quite upsetting. But these things happen. It was something that was misunderstood and, as I said, out of my control. That was the good thing about it: I learned who was properly on my side. It was negative but it was also positive. I learned a lot from that."

Clearly her upbringing was the making of her. "I meet models who come from strict backgrounds and they are different. I think I am open. My parents never limited me. They never told me I couldn't do this or couldn't do that. They were always very supportive."

By becoming a model, Nowy is following in her mother Tamara's footsteps, who starred in one of Marillion's videos. "They met when my dad was recording the album, Misplaced Childhood, the one that has Kayleigh on it," says Nowy. "He was recording it in Berlin and the studio belonged to my granddad, my mum's dad, who was also a musician, and there was a bar attached. My mum worked in the bar and they just started talking. I know Dad asked her to be in the Kayleigh video before they even started dating. That was basically when they were strangers. They used to walk around with dictionaries trying to understand each other because Dad couldn't speak German and Mum couldn't speak English."