The 2021 Shape Modeling International Young Researcher Award is presented to Dr. Melina Skouras for her significant contributions to shape modeling. For this award, the candidates must have received the their Ph.D. degrees within seven years of the award being presented. This year, 2021 is the year, which marks the passing of our founder, Professor Kunii, and the introduction of the new SMI awards. The SMI steering committee decided that the awardee’s publication should take an interview format. This permits a casual discussion of the research areas, insights, and contributions of the award winner. What follows is an edited transcript of a conversation between Melina and Brian Wyvill (University of Victoria, Professor and Canada Research Chair, retired), a long term SMI steering committee member and research contributor in shape modeling. The interview that took place on the 9th November, 2021, via Zoom.