Just Because She's Pretty...
Doesn't Mean You're Not
Rachel Lee Carter was living the life that so many of us girls dream about. Mingling with celebrities, booking modeling jobs, and living it up in The Big Apple (New York City.) Yet, beneath it all, she knew something was missing…
So first of all, tell us how you got involved with the modeling industry. Has this always been
a dream of yours?
It wasn’t really a dream as much as it was a situation of “right place-right time.” I had been involved in pageants and had just competed in the Miss Teen USA pageant as Miss North Carolina Teen. I went on to compete in a similar competition, but this time for a potential modeling contract. I won the competition and had a decision to make: College or modeling? I decided to take a shot at New York City in the modeling industry, as I could always return to college when my time was up in the fashion world.
Growing up us as a young girl, what were the "beauty" dynamics like in your family? And by that I mean, did your Mom have a passion for fashion, wear makeup and teach you how to get all dolled up? Or was morning makeup prep-time not something learned from your Mom?
My mom had won her High School beauty pageant. I started participating in pageants, earning scholarships and savings bonds when I was 10. It was a good thing for me, because I had always been a tomboy. Pageants definitely helped me learn to conduct a proper interview, speak well on stage and present myself as a young lady among mayors, girl scouts or at any number raising support for charity or my platform.
Were your parents supportive of your dream to become a model?
My father passed away when I was 14, but he did support me in pageants, as well as my mother. When I got the opportunity to move to NYC at 18, my mom was supportive, but not until she made the trek with me—to meet my agents, see where I would live, and gain some understanding of how the industry worked.