Tag: Modeling

Back To School!
- 2009
- 2019
What a wonderful winter break it has been! After five weeks at home, I am headed back to school tomorrow. There are no classes tomorrow, but I do want a little bit of time to get settled back in and get all of my textbooks and materials. And in honor of the big “challenge” going around, here’s me in 2009 and 2019. Ten years does fly by! Anyway, here’s a recap of my first college winter break.

Over break, there are a lot of fun things that my family and I did. For one, we spent another great Christmas with family in New Mexico. This year we went to see the luminarias in my grandpa’s neighborhood and those were really pretty. Spending all of that time with family was just really nice and really fun. I always enjoy catching up with my aunt and uncle and sharing all of my accomplishments with my grandpa. We also had our annual Christmas morning breakfast at my great-aunt’s house and that’s always so much fun. The food is always delicious (ESPECIALLY her cheesy potatoes) and the company is always great.

After Christmas, things winded down and we awaited the new year. My sister and I recreated Bob Ross paintings of his painting, “In the Midst of Winter” and that was really fun. Oil paint is so messy, wow! While we did spend plenty of time recreating his painting, we also spent A LOT of time cleaning up the paint from our kitchen table and ourselves. That stuff is hard to clean up, let me tell ya.

In addition to unleashing our inner artists, my sister and I played plenty of tennis. We hit with our dad which is always a great time and I also had the opportunity to hit with some of the ladies at my club. It was refreshing to play against ladies with different playing styles. They challenged me and helped me adapt to become an even more well-rounded and educated tennis player. I’ve really loved growing with tennis, especially over this break. I really do love the sport! Allyson and I also had the opportunity to attend an open court at Denver Tennis Park, which is a brand new tennis facility right off the University of Denver Campus. We really enjoyed getting to play with other kids and show off our skills.

I also had the opportunity to experiment with some stuff for my modeling. I am truly interested in pursuing modeling, even if I do not take it on as my full-time job. Recently, my sister helped me take a few new pictures and send some of my stuff off to new agencies. I’m excited to see what comes from these opportunities and how I continue to grow as a person from all of this.

My sister and I also dogsat over both of our winter breaks and, oh boy, did that prove to be QUITE the job. Four dogs in one small house can sure make a BIG mess. We did enjoy our time with the four dogs, but oh my goodness, I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to step foot in that house again. The male dogs fought frequently and it was a stressful situation to be in a lot of the time my sister and I went over to check on the dogs. Like I said though, we really enjoyed being able to help our neighbors out and I’m glad that all of the dogs are happy and healthy!

And just like that, my winter break was over. Another Christmas and New Year celebration flew by and I now sit here writing this blog about how I go back to school tomorrow. Back to the grind! Have a good week everyone. 🙂
January 20, 2019
Knowing What’s Real in the Modeling and Acting Industries

Before I get started on this post, I would like to make it clear that I am not trying to trash any particular agency or group. I am simply sharing my experience and hopefully helping those who are interested in the modeling and acting industries stay away from scams and fakes. There are a lot of great agencies and people out there who will truly help you get what you want and there are also a lot of agencies and people who are completely in it for the money.

If the modeling and/or acting industries are something you are interested in getting into, I HIGHLY recommend doing as much research as you can on the various agencies in your area and in your state or country. I recommend learning about which agencies are legit and which are not. I recommend reading about the strengths of each agency and seeing if they are the best fit for you and what you want. Remember that you SHOULD NEVER be asked to pay to attend an audition or casting if the agency is legit. You should also never have to pay to join an agency. Any contracts signed or deals made should involve no payments on your part.

Onto my story now. I’ve been a part of an agency in Denver for the past couple of years that required me to pay to attend a “modeling” school for 60 hours. That part should have IMMEDIATELY been a red flag to my family and I but we went on with it because the deal seemed very legit. You attend the modeling/acting school every other Saturday until you complete the course and then you get a contract with the agency tied to the school and then you have the opportunity to get local work as a model or actor. This agency also attends an “international” modeling and acting convention which gives aspiring models and actors the opportunity to showcase themselves before casting directors and various agencies from around the world. To this day, I still question the legitimacy of many of the agencies that attend the convention. There are a couple of agencies that attend this particular convention that I know are real but I’m still a bit iffy. And guess what? If you’re selected to be a part of this “elite team” to attend the convention, YOU HAVE TO PAY TO GO. Hmmmmm. Even more fishy now, right?

Ever since that trip in 2016 (I think?) I have been on the hunt for a better agency and I’m working on it, but I have to wait until my contract finishes with this agency. This past year, I dealt with some extremely odd incidents with them. About part way through the year, my mom received an email that they had dropped me. There was no explanation. So my mom called the agency and they explained that my contract had expired and that I was no longer with them. They told me that they would still love to represent me though and see me again in classes. Interestingly enough though, my contract had not expired… We moved on from that and continued with the agency and that brings me to yesterday now.

Yesterday, I attended a pre-casting for our upcoming fashion week at my agency. They were worried about sending too many models to the actual audition so they help a pre-audition. Fair enough. I arrived and walked before the agency director and her secretary and all of the other models in the pre-casting. I have been practicing my walking for months and I know that I’ve been putting the work in, since I competed at Miss Colorado USA last October. After all of the models walked, the director made a decision and I was not selected to attend the actual casting.

That part didn’t bug me. It was the comments after. My director stood before all of the models after the decisions were made and said that she was highly disappointed in some of her previous convention attendees (like myself). She mentioned being embarrassed and then recommended I come back for more classes! I know that I’ve worked hard to have the body I currently do and I know that my runway walk was better than half of the models that were picked to attend the real casting! And while I do want to give credit to some of the girls that walked at that precasting that should walk at a big fashion week event like the one coming up, many of the models there would NEVER be cast for something like that if they were with a legit agency.

I find it extremely frustrating that I allowed myself to get into a situation like this and I hope that those of you reading this who aspire to be actors or actresses or models learn to be careful and not make the same mistakes I have. I feel that somehow, I belong in either the modeling or acting world and I will continue to put my best foot forward and put myself out there. Now though, I know that I will never allow what happened to me to ever happen again. Have a good week.

January 13, 2019
Not a Big Fan of New York, New York

I’ve been really lucky to do more travelling than usual this summer and this past Friday, I got home from New York after spending a week there, competing at a modeling and acting convention. I will definitely agree with most that New York is a really cool and different city, but I think I’d prefer my Rocky Mountains and 300 days of sunshine in Colorado.

The view from our hotel room

My mom and I arrived in New York on the 9th, early in the morning. Our trip began with a thirty-minute taxi ride from JFK to the Hilton Midtown in Midtown. Wow, was that an adventure. Taxi drivers in New York City are RUTHLESS. The man we had driving us was super sweet but once he got behind the wheel, he became an aggressive, hardcore racecar driver. It was kinda cool to see how he dodged cars and semis and sped down the highway. We got some pretty good air hitting a jump one time too. What a thrill ride!

Once we arrived at the hotel, the week was a whirlwind. There were a lot of outfit changes, late nights, hairspray and makeup, and quick runs to grab food. I wish that my schedule at the convention allowed for me to do a little more sightseeing and wandering around the Big Apple, but it is what it is. The convention itself, was fun, but not nearly what I expected it would be. I think that for some people, it opened doors, but for the most part, it seemed fake. There were a lot of promises made by agencies and the convention themselves that were not followed through on and that’s ok. I had a lot of fun and learned a lot from the experiences I had and I’ll never forget that adventure. Something I learned from my experience this past week and the whole experience I had with my former agency was that you have to be really careful in the modeling and acting industries because there are a lot of real, good people and there’s also a bunch of sneaky people who might seem like they are legit but actually aren’t. They could care less about who you are and are only concerned with how much you’re willing to pay to sign their “contract”. I respect who I’ve worked with in the past and I wish them all the best and I’d just like to say that it’s tough to discern who the real people are but after this interesting journey, my eyes are more open than ever, and I know what I have to do.

When I had time to be outside of the hotel, my mom and I had a lot of fun. We visited the Rockefeller Center and took a tour of the NBC Studios which included seeing the sets of the Tonight Show, SNL, and the Late Night Show with Seth Meyers. That was super cool. It was exciting to get to be in the same room and even step in the same places as some famous and talented people. My mom and I even got to make our own late night TV show at the end of our tour and we enjoyed that. That was probably the highlight of my NYC trip.

We also visited Central Park and Times Square while in the Big Apple and those were both cool places to visit. I honestly imagined Times Square, specifically where the ball is dropped on New Year’s’, much bigger and wider than it was. There were a lot of sketchy people and pushers making attempts to sell my mom and I stuff or get us to take pictures with them. That was definitely uncomfortable. Also, it was incredibly hot and humid while we visited Times Square and that made it a struggle to do a lot of walking. We spent about thirty minutes wandering Times Square and then frantically searched for the nearest Starbucks or air-conditioned place to cool off and head to Central Park. After a quick trip to get some iced tea, we walked to Central Park and I enjoyed seeing nature and trees and endless (not really) green. It was a nice escape from the dirty, crowded, and crazy place that New York City is. I enjoyed getting to see the many different people in Central Park and see a variety of plants and trees, because trust me, there were soooo many different types of trees. It was pretty cool.

At some point during our stay in NYC, we also managed to find a few good places to eat at, like Fresh & Co, an artisan bakery with really yummy sandwiches and coffee, and a great pizza place called PizzArte. Food, well actually everything, was EXTREMELY pricey in New York and it was crazy how much we spent on food. At PizzArte, one of the pizzas we got was $24!! Holy cow, was it expensive, but it was also probably one of the best pizzas I’ve ever had. We also found an ice cream truck chilling right by our hotel one day, and that half-and-half ice cream cone was one of the best ice cream cones I’ve ever had. I never wanted it to end.

I did enjoy my time in New York City, but I will honestly and confidently say that it’s not my favorite city. I wish I did a little more sightseeing, as mentioned earlier, and I hope to go back in the future and see more of the city. I could do without the gross smells and the unhappy people and the sketchy people and the trash constantly fluttering the streets and the awful traffic and sound of sirens every hour or so, but not every city is perfect. Actually no city is perfect! The time I had in New York was worth it and I’m ready to go back (whenever I do) and have another adventure.

I took this picture near Carnegie Hall on the way to Central Park. What’s with the giant pile of trash?!

July 16, 2017
A Step Into the Modeling Industry

My six months of hard work had all led up to this moment. It was always about an hour-long drive down to Greenwood Village and back every other Saturday. It was four hours of etiquette, runway walking, poses, workouts, and makeup. But finally September of 2013 had arrived and it was time to put my knowledge to the test. My first fashion show was about to begin in five hours.

Before any of this could happen, it all started when my mom and I were spending a Saturday wandering throughout the Flatiron’s Mall. A representative for Barbizon Model and Talent Agency pulled my mom and I over and handed me a small green slip.

She grinned and remarked, “We’d love for you to come and audition for our agency. We’re looking for new faces.”

I carefully scanned the pamphlet for Barbizon Southwest. It seemed pretty real and trustworthy to me. My mom nodded and replied, “Okay, if you want to try it,” and helped me fill out the audition slip.

The following weekend, I attended the audition and the director for the Southwest region was very eager when I walked up to meet her. The audition went very smooth and that same night a contract was signed with the agency and I began modeling classes in Greenwood Village at their facility a week later.

My mom and I pulled into the Embassy Suites parking lot at 8 A.M. I yawned, hopping out of the car to grab my outfits from the back and head into the dressing room.

Luckily, I was one of the first models there so I grabbed a good comfortable spot, prepared my outfits in an organized fashion, and touched up my recommended makeup for the day. We had some interesting themes for our outfits. There was the fall casual outfit which consisted of brick orange skinny jeans, a white blouse, brown leather jacket, peach scarf, and knee-high boots. Adding onto that my group had a high fashion or New York City model look. This outfit had a tight black and white stripped top with a belt slightly below the rib cage, black slacks, shiny, red pumps, and a ridiculously heavy coral necklace. The other group would be walking onto the runway with a “neon Tokyo” look. The final outfit was our formal wear dress or the dress we planned to receive our graduation diplomas in. Mine was a long, sleek black dress with a halter top and sequins running all over the dress.

About ten minutes later, one of my friends strolled into the room. Her shoulder length brown hair was curled to perfection and for once we were the same height because she wasn’t wearing ridiculously high heels. She looked just as excited and enthusiastic about the upcoming event as I did.

Miss Michelle, my instructor for the classes, came striding into the room just as the last few people shuffled in. Loudly, she announced, “Alright ladies. We’ll start rehearsals now. Please get into your first outfit and we’ll run through everything and you’ll learn the choreography for your group dances.”

Those five hours were some of the most fun but stressful hours of my life. The show hadn’t even started and my feet felt like they were about to fall off. It’s hard wearing heels for over five hours!

Finally, 2 o’clock rolled around. Family members from all over packed into the ballroom where the runway and lights were all set up and ready to go. The fashion show was underway.

My heart beat a million beats per minute. In my head I thought, “Don’t fall off the runway. Look at the audience. No, look at the wall. No, try to find your family. Okay, okay, just don’t fall off or trip. Haha, it’s going to be alright.” And that’s when I took my first confident steps out onto the runway in front of over a hundred people in my fall casual outfit. It was an amazing feeling.

The next feeling was not all that amazing. The second I couldn’t be seen by the audience I sprinted back to the dressing room for a two-minute quick change into our high fashion outfits.

I got to the dressing room and got everything but my shoes on. I frantically searched. They weren’t anywhere near my stuff! Just then my friend also came dashing into our little area. From her bag, I spotted my red heels.

“Hey, um, I think those are my shoes.” I pointed towards her bag, keeping an eye on the time.

“Oh, oops! Sorry! They looked a lot like mine.” My friend exclaimed handing me my shoes.

“Thanks. You’re good, it happens.” I smiled back and quickly shoved my feet into the heels.

Turns out we made it just in time. We were ready to go and made it onto the runway for our high fashion walk. Shortly after, we surprised the audience by dancing to “Harlem Shake” in our high fashion outfits. It was absolutely crazy, but so enjoyable.

The last part of the fashion show, the diploma ceremony, had finally arrived. I stood just behind the curtain anxiously awaiting my chance to walk solo onto the runway and receive my diploma. My name was called and I glided out from the curtain in my long beautiful black dress. The Barbizon director gave me a warm hug and shook my hand. I glanced down at the diploma. I had just taken my first step into the modeling industry.

From this wonderful experience there was so much to learn about myself, body image, models, and the industry. With models, they aren’t just the perfectly toned women or men. They are the people with a strong work ethic and an outgoing personality. When a person actually experiences the modeling industry, all of the stereotypes of modeling vanish. Body image is important in this world and it is something to be aware of but it shouldn’t control and destroy lives. People need to work to keep the good body structures they want and need. If I could do another fashion show or become more involved in the modeling industry, I would definitely do it. I got the chance to meet so many outstanding people and the experience brings you a sense of catharsis, in a way. From this, I got to learn more about my confidence and what I can do to become stronger and lift up others too.

September 28, 2014