Who was your role model as a child an how did that help in being a model?
It’ s not so much a role model- but I grew up absolutely loving music videos. So I think that whole creative side of things definitely relates to the modeling industry. I also absolutely love Beyoncé and grew up with Destiny’ s Child as my goddesses. But, again, I think it comes back to the creative side and probably also standing up for what you believe in.
What did your parent / s first think of you being a model and where they supportive? Funnily enough, my parents pretty much pushed me into my modeling career and would have liked me to start it earlier. I think they are incredibly proud of what I’ m aiming to achieve in this industry. They’ re definitely very supportive- you could say they’ re almost the leaders of my fan club. How do you feel about the industries representation of disabled models?
That’ s such an interesting question. Honestly, there simply just isn’ t enough of it. I think it’ s about 15-20 % of the global population that’ s living with a disability, so logically about 15-20 % of media, advertising and fashion should feature someone with a disability. Sometimes it’ s hard to believe that brands and companies are still neglecting such a large portion of their market. To me, it just doesn’ t seem like smart marketing. If your were not a model, what other profession would you have been doing instead?
This is a pretty easy question for me because I often have that sliding doors moment where I think“ what would my life look like if I didn’ t have my accident?”. I probably would have become a doctor in Australia, as that’ s what I was studying at the time. And although I could still pursue that, my time away from it has allowed me to realize that modeling is what I feel passionate about at this stage in my life. I guess it’ s a more creative side of myself that’ s being allowed to shine through, which is a lot of fun.
What are guilty pleasures food wise?
Oh my gosh! How many pages do you have!? The list could go on and on! Seriously, I’ m a food lover. But if I had to choose, I think a good dark chocolate and chicken nuggets would be my main guilty pleasures.
If a young girl / boy wanted to be a model what would your advice for them be?
If I were to pass on advice to a young person about modeling it would be that it takes a lot of persistence and hard work. You hear those stories of people going from nothing to international star“ overnight”. But what you don’ t often hear about it is what they did to be discovered and how much effort they put in before that. I would also tell them to trust their photographer and / or crew. If the crew are happy with the end result, then you can feel confident about your performance. For instance, one of the easiest ways I know if I’ m doing well in a shoot is by the feedback from the photographer and crew as we are shooting. If they’ re saying things like“ hold that pose- I love it!” then you know you must be doing something right.
Where do you see yourself with your modeling career in the future?
Sometimes I wish I held the crystal ball that told my future- but unfortunately I don’ t, and I’ m not 100 % sure what lies ahead for me. I’ ve just been featured in Stellar Magazine- which is an amazing magazine that reaches almost 3 million people in Australia. We did an incredible fashion shoot and I worked with some of the best in the industry. So I absolutely hope there’ s more of that type of work in my future. But I also hope there’ s more interviews and spreading of positivity and inclusivity. Some TV appearances would be fun and I’ d love to wheel down a catwalk at a fashion week. But I’ m taking it all one step at a time, so we’ ll see what comes my way.