MARGAUX from ELITE LA is Paris Bound

Who do you look up to?

I’d have to say my mom. She’s the strongest woman I know. She’s been independent all her life, and has raised me as a single parent since I was 15. She’s worked hard to make my life the best it can be and I owe her the world for that. She’s always believed in me and told me I can do whatever I want in life and I can’t thank her enough. She’s believed in me even when I  haven’t and I wouldn’t be where I am in my career or life today without her. I can only hope to be as amazing of a mother to my children as she is to me.

When did you first realize that modeling could be a possibility?

I never even thought about modeling as a career, my mom pushed me into it when I was nine years old. She heard an agency in Georgia (where I grew up) on the radio requesting child models to come in and meet me with them. So she brought me in and the rest is history!

How long have you been modeling and who are you with?

I’ve been modeling on and off for ten years. My first agency in GA was Arlene Wilson. I was with them for 3 years and then I moved to Costa Rica where I lived for 3 years, I didn’t model at all while I was there. Then I moved to California when I was 15 and signed with Brand in Orange County, and then when I was 18, I signed with Elite in LA and have been with them ever since.

Are there other models, artists or musicians that make you feel alive?

Kate Moss is a big inspiration for me because she is only 5’ 7” and I myself am only 5’ 8”. Whenever I get down about not getting a job because of my height I think of her and all she’s accomplished and all of the beautiful work she’s created. As far as musicians I’m really into the band Phoenix. Their music has kind of been the sound track of my life for the past year. This year has been important to me because I’ve been putting all I’ve got into modeling and trying to make it a full time job, and now that I’ve gotten the opportunity to go to Paris it seems like it’s finally paying off!

Paris! Congrats, that's pretty exciting! How did that come about?

It was really random, Elite called me and told me that Major from Paris wants to meet with me. So I came into the agency a week later, and found out they only wanted to meet me and two other girls from the whole agency. I didn’t want to get my hopes up because I am on the short side and I know Paris loves em’ tall! But I met with Major’s representative and it was just like a casting. He videotaped me, asking to see my profiles, smile, no smile, bangs pulled back, and then he asked at the end “If I’d rather be rich or famous.” I replied, “Famous, because you get a lot of unique opportunities that normal people might not get to experience.” And that was it. I had almost forgotten about the whole thing and then about 2-3 weeks later my agent called and said Major wants me to go to Paris ASAP, he said they really loved me and I was the only girl they ended up signing. I was ecstatic but very nervous, as they wanted me to leave in 2 weeks and stay for over a month, but by the time you read this it’ll be only a few days before I’m off!

What do you love best about running a blog?

Probably editing the videos I shoot, or just writing. I love writing, it’s such a great way to express yourself. Writing has become an crucial part of my life, even if it’s something as small as a status update on facebook. I like texting more than talking on the phone because I don’t feel pressured. I just write, and that’s  how I feel about my blog. I like being able to tell my stories about my modeling adventures, or just crazy times with friends. Occasionally I use it like a diary and just talk about what is going on in my head. My blog lets me do all those things, and unlike a diary everyone can read it. I hope to inspire people to express themselves either through a blog or a video and to go after their dreams like I am with my modeling. Some of my favorite blogs are fashion blogs that have no writing, just images from different magazine editorials. Those blogs inspire me as a model. A blog can be whatever you want it to be.

What are your goals in fashion? Any specific clients or photographers you want to work with?

The dream has always been to on the cover of Vogue as well as to be a Victorias’s Secret Angel but I’ll take whatever I can get. I’d love to work with photographers Annie Leibovitz and David LaChapelle. I know I’m not a “supermodel” by any means but I’ve already gotten amazing opportunities like working in Paris and I’m so grateful for that. Even if I never make a huge mark in the fashion industry I know I’ll have had incredible experiences nonetheless. I want to be able to tell my kids I went after my dreams, regardless of the outcome. I’m a very creative person so even if I don’t make it as a model I will still be involved in fashion some how, either as a photographer, a designer or a stylist I’m sure.

Any cool shoots or jobs you've done?

I really like doing editorial shoots. They are always the most fun, which is unfortunate because they pay the least. But I’ve shot for Teen Magazine, Seventeen, Teen Vogue, WAD Magazine, Coast Magazine, Cosmopolitan and Nylon and all of those shoots have been super fun! They always start super early in the morning and go late into the day but it’s worth it because you get amazing pictures from it. The people are usually always really nice because you have to spend all day with them. I have made some really great friends that I’ve met at editorial shoots. Also because the images are being published, the wardrobe and styling is usually amazing and everything is really detailed, girls sometime even get their nails painted and hair cut just to have the right look for the shot.

What do you feel like when you walk runways?

I just started doing runway this past season. I walked for Fremont at Concept Fashion Week and Pleasure Doing Business. It was exhilarating. Pleasure Doing Business was my very first show and I got to open and close it. I had five changes and back stage was a whirlwind of clothes and people. You walk back stage to change and people are just tearing things off you and throwing more things on and then you’re out again, it’s really crazy! All organization went out the window the second the show started. For the Fremont show I only had one look but I sat in hair and makeup for two hours. That’s the funny party about runway, hours of preparation all to walk for 45 seconds to a minute depending on the length of the runway. But it was an incredible feeling of adrenaline and I really hope I get to do more runway in the future.

Do you see yourself modeling forever? If not, do you have a vision of your future?

I think Kate Moss and Heidi Klum are the only women alive that could model forever but that’s what I’m trying to figure out right  now. I’m seeing how Paris goes to see my real potential in this industry. I will definitely continue modeling in to my mid-late twenties if I can turn it into a full time career. I’ve always wanted to get into acting so that’s a whole other option I haven’t even begun to explore. But right now I’m going to school part time as a psychology major. It’s a very interesting major and I’m not sure if I want to be a psychologist in the future but for now I’m having fun learning more about it.

What personal struggles have you had to deal with being in the industry?

I get called too skinny, anorexic, or bulimic on a daily basis. It used to bother me a lot but I've come to the conclusion that I'm this way naturally. I was born skinny and I'm not this way because people told me to be or because I feel I need to be this way, I just am. In LA the average model is a size 4 but size 0s and 2s are still alive and well in Paris, it's all about finding the right niche or market for you but even above that it's about being comfortable with your body and not changing who you are to fit into the industry. Everyone will ask you to change, whether it's your weight, your hair ect, but don't ever change something your not comfortable changing. The real super models out there are loved for their personalities and showing them in their work, that’s what all models should strive for.

What is your personal SECRET to take on this modeling world?

You have to passionate and dedicated to make it in this industry, that’s so important, you have to push yourself mentally and physically and take yourself places that you’ve never imagined. It’s an incredibly tough industry and every market out there will have something negative to say about your look. That’s why my motto is “take everything with a grain of salt.” Take every comment or critique whether negative or positive and use it but don’t trust everything your people tell you. Know your own worth and strive for what you want. Modeling is my dream and I’m going to push for it until I make it or I have another dream.


http://margauxbrooke.iblogger.org/

The Life and Mind of TENLEY NORDSTROM

Q&A

Congratulations on Premier in London and the card is hotness. Lovin the blog and we think many around the world will too. You are taking the best travel photos. Feels like we're there.

Thank you. I am really Excited to be in London for the summer. I am so glad you like my blog! It's a new thing I started.


Tell us about your background coming from North Dakota.

I grew up in a town called Minot in North Dakota. It has a population of about 30,000. Which is a big city in North Dakota. I love my state and I am glad that I grew up there. I think that it's very middle class and the values are just a bit different. People there are very honest. We are, for example, about the only state who has an economy doing well right now. People aren't really going around trying to pull tricks on each other. It's really shielded us from what is happening right now in the states. We have a lot of farmers. I really love growing up in a place where cows are grazing in the grass, wheat fields are growing and so on. Loving big open spaces and being out in nature has really stayed with me.


How did you get started in the Modeling World?

I started modeling about 3 years ago. I had just started college at the time. Was on vacation with my mother in NYC for the first time. A photographer kind of plucked me off the street. He thought I had potential. Took some Polaroids and sent them around to agencies. Found an agency the next day. And moved to NYC a month later. I fell into modeling but I knew right away I loved it. I have a love for photography in general. And I love being apart of creating photographs. I love traveling. As a model there are so many opportunities presented to you. I would not have been able to do so many of the things I have done in life if I wasn't a model.

Who is your mother agency?

My mother agent is Ford LA and that is where I am now based. I've worked in NYC, Milan, Korea and I have an agency in Copenhagen also. 

What was your favorite market/city so far?

I am really digging London so far. Even though I have only been here a week. I think it really suites me. I can be my rocker chick self and I love that. Hopefully it will continue to be amazing for the summer! For living, I love LA. Work has been good to me there also. I love so many things about LA. The music scene is amazing. It's not so urban either. Downtown is, but it's not a cement jungle for the most part. It's a beautiful place. I mostly love that even though it is a big city, and has all the great things that go along with that, But also you have the ocean and the mountains and you can really get out and feel like you are in the middle of no where. I started surfing when I moved to LA so that has really sucked me in also! haha :)

Tell us some of your favorite shoots.

I worked with an Australian photographer, Edwin Datoc, a lot in New York. We would just get together and do whatever we felt creatively. Rent out a room in the Chelsea hotel or whatever and just have loads of fun and take great photos. I love being able to shoot with film. A lot of the shoots I love are the ones that don't pay any money, which is a problem! haha. I just love creating photos and being able to really get into it with a photographer. Another photographer I love is Cameron Smith. We shot in LA for Russh Magazine. He is the one who encouraged me to come to London (he is based here). I loved working for a DJ headphone company called Aerial 7. Really great people and the photographer, Kat Bochart is awesome. I have also worked with Men's Health twice and loved it. And the people at Cosmopolitan are great too. Most every body I work with is really great to tell you the truth! So I will stop rambling! 

Do you get inspired by stuff outside of fashion? 

I am inspired constantly by the world around me. I am such a water person. The way I feel when I am out in the ocean surfing is indescribable. To be out there, just a dot, in this huge body of water. Dolphins and all kinds of creatures.  And the feeling of riding a wave is just amazing. It blows my mind. I think the natural world is constant source of inspiration. I love art also, mostly painting. I was in heaven for a week in Amsterdam. I was seeing so many great paintings from the best artists that have lived. It really inspired me to want to start painting myself when I get back to LA and get my own place again. Music has always been a huge part of my life. I played piano and numerous other instruments growing up.  I was in Chorus and other singing groups. I think it's a great way of getting out your emotions. I could not live with out it. Also, whenever you are feeling a certain way, you can always find a song to go along with that mood and for some reason that is so comforting. I also could not do with out my friends and family. They are so important to keeping my head straight. Modeling can be rough on the psyche. They help you to really feel like yourself again. It's such an important thing. 

What have you learned on your travels?

When I quit college to move to NYC and start modeling, a lot of people thought I was crazy. I have always done well in school and a lot of people still tell me I am wasting my brain away by being a model. But I've come to realize that I have learned so much since I started modeling. Moving from a place like North Dakota to NYC is so eye opening. You meet so many people from so many walks of life. And you can learn so much from that. Coming from a place in the country to a place like NYC, it is really sink or swim. I really had to grow a tough skin. I am still the same person at the core, but I opened myself up to what other people were going through and tried to learn from it myself. Going to other countries and seeing how people live is really amazing and eye opening too. You learn so much when you see that there are other ways of doing things. I think so many people let fear control their lives. I can also fall into this. I think that the more I break free of fear, the better off I am. So many times I have had to just jump in head first and then figure things out as I went. And I have learned so much from that. Life is not as scary as we can make it out to be. Taking chances is a big part of modeling and it's really seeped into the rest of my way of living. Taking a chance, not only on myself, but on other people. You are constantly showing up to shoots with a whole bunch of people you have never met before. And you have to get along and trust each other. Trust that they were hired for their expertise. You all were. To come up with whatever outcome that job needs. Learning from these kind of situations is great. You can really apply a lot of these things in your every day life and how you deal with people. Sometimes when you hear yourself telling someone that you are going over to Korea(or wherever) by yourself to meet and work with an agency you haven't met with yet. And to HOPE that you get jobs... You realize how crazy it sounds! But then you realize how cool it is that you are willing to stick your neck out and take that chance. And most of the time things work out. Even if a situation turns to shit, it in the end was a good experience. Mostly my time being a model in the past three years has really shown me how important it is to know that there is always more to learn. Always more out there that you don't know. There are people out there that you've never heard of because they are doing things outside of the norm. People in general don't like that. They want what is comfortable. They want familiar. Modeling has taught me that that isn't always a good thing. A lot of times the people on the outside doing "Crazy things" are the ones that exactly get it. For example, I am reading Howard Zinn's "The People's History of the United States." I am learning so much of our hidden history and it is amazing. I love learning about the people that struggled for the things that we enjoy today. It's so inspiring. A lot of times the guy at the top gets the credit, but it's mostly the people underneath coming together to create something that is amazing. The people that didn't want to just sink into a comfortable pattern. The people that knew they could take chances and fight for something better. I think we should always have a hunger to want to know. A hunger for life and all that it has to offer. Don't shut yourself down to the world. Don't stay in your comfortable little shell. Find other people who refused to stay in that comfortable little shell to inspire you. For me, the real education is from life experience and travel. Taking a big jump into the unknown will really reward you.

Anything to leave us by?

Always be Fearless. And do not let the rejection phase you. No matter who you are, in the modeling world, there is a lot of it. Hemingway is one of my favorite writers. He used this saying in his private letters and on occasion inscribed these words in books he signed for friends. "l faut (d'abord) durer" (One must, above all, endure). 


Check out Tenley's blog:
http://tenleynordstrom.blogspot.com/

Tanisha Harper - World Class Appeal

We saw Tanisha Harper in some shots from an earlier post and we had to meet up with her for some coffee. This girl has done it all! Looking confidant and gorgeous, the Tokyo born belle walked in having just come from a casting for a runway show. This had been Tanisha's calling since being scouted out at 15. The biggest names she's  walked for are Oscar De la Renta and Ralph Lauren which doesn't hurt when being selected for Project Runway and the companion show Models of the Runway. She's also graced every other medium including billboards, campaigns, and movies too. InStyle, Vanity Fair, Bloomingdales, Nordstroms, Jaffra, MAC, L'Oreal, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Tyra Banks Show, and "Forgetting Sarah Marshall". Read this quote about her we found online:

"[Tanisha's] career began to take off after a shoot with famed photographer, Patrick Demarchelier for the Cosmopolitan Cover model search that brought about national media attention for Tanisha, and was heavily profiled by newspapers and news stations through out the country, including, Entertainment Tonight and an interview with Katie Couric on Today for NBC."

Tanisha has a Bachelors in Media Arts which is so important when branching out from just Photo Stills. It may be hard to book her, but you can find the bombshell with Steve at FORD LA for print and with L.A. Models for runway. 

ADVICE FOR ASPIRING MODELS:

"Always stay true to yourself and be professional. Don't worry about what other models are doing. Just stay focused on yourself and the goals you wish to achieve within your modeling career. You must have a thick skin for this industry and love yourself for who you are naturally. If you don't feel comfortable doing something. Don't do it. Never let anyone pressure you into doing something you don't want to do. Stay focused!"

Photographer - George Favios

Hair Artist - Sunnie Brook

Makeup Stylist - Bebe Booth

Emily O Rata. FORD's Sultry Vixen.

Emily O Rata feels like she's letting people down when she tells them she's not Brazilian. But being a Polish-European mix doesn't hurt Em's chances at being one of FORD's sexiest models. Being curvier than the typical fashion model hasn't stopped Emily from booking great jobs including a Boulee Billboard on Sunset Blvd, Cosmopolitan, 944 Miami, Swim Suit Issue of Surf Magazine, Forever 21, and a very steamy XOXO Campaign Photographed and Filmed by John Urbano. What's cool about Emily is she has this very deep artistic side to her. She's using that in her studies at UCLA majoring in Fine Art but her schedule is getting a little difficult. Emily might have to put school on hold for a few years due to her overwhelming modeling schedule. However, she did tell us that for aspiring models they should not think modeling is everything. There should always be other life plans in the works. When it comes to juggling her busy life with family and friends, she say's "It's not easy. You make plans and then have to break them all the time for last minute jobs." Well as long as you keep booking those jobs we'll keep our eye on Emily. 

We at SOMW love Emily O Rata! Natalie from FORD has done it again. ;)