Greetings!
I’m back from London now.
London itself is a very big town and as such is home to many modeling agencies with lots and lots of models. But after a week of scouting and meeting countless agents and models alike, two conversations stand out most in my mind.
The first one I’d like to tell you about was with Tina, a very pretty young woman from Zimbabwe. I had never met anyone before from that country and I was a more than a little surprised by her answer when I asked her where she was from. With her platinum hair and pale skin she looked more like a Swedish milk maid to me than a citizen of Central Africa. But that just goes to show how much I know.
I could see right away, that although Tina was pretty and had an interesting look, her type wasn’t right for us. In the course of the conversation I told her that and suggested other markets I thought she would correspond more to (Germany, Spain, Milan). But as I was speaking to her, almost immediately we got on to a very interesting tangent.
As I usually do, I asked Tina how she got started and about her experience as a model. What she had to say really interested me and I asked her to tell me more. She began by saying that she got started in modeling at 16 but there wasn’t much going on in her area in the way of modeling and so she soon moved to South Africa to pursue her career.
Tina told me that she did model for a couple of years, first in Zimbabwe a bit, then in South Africa and finally in London. But that it all became too much for her and she stopped. I asked her why–what happened?
Tina said that as a young teenager she focused her energy and attention on how she looked, rather than on getting to know who she was. She was never satisfied with what she saw in the mirroir; she was always comparing herself (unfavorably) to others, while at the same time ignoring who she was becoming at this crucial stage of her life. In the midst of all that, she decided to model.
I write about a similar phenomenon in my home study course The Secret in Modeling. I call it the “Ugly Duckling Syndrome”. This is where someone who was considered ‘homely’ by their peers and by themselves, goes through a physical transformation, suddenly waking up to find themselves model material. But that is another blog post.
Let’s stick with Tina’s story for the moment. She told me that she entered the business, inordinately concerned and insecure about her looks while at the same time not very much in touch with herself. And the more she got involved in modeling, the worse this condition became. She felt that many of the people she dealt with in the business were very interested only in how she looked and not very interested in who she was. Finally it became too much for her and she quit modeling altogether.
Tina took a break for a couple of years. She took the time to know herself, to get in touch with and develop her inner self. Now she’s back she says, stronger and better than ever. Tina says that she now feels that she has a foundation beneath her feet. The foundation of being clear on who she is and of her own self-worth–and secure in the knowledge that the opinions of others can do nothing to change that.
Reminds me of that book title, “What you think of me is none of my business.”
Be well!
Kim
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