About a month or so back, I was lucky enough to do an interview at a fairly popular New England morning radio show. I had written about the Market Basket story and how an upheaval like this was exactly what America needed. They had me on the show to elaborate on my essay, discuss my views on Market Basket, and finish up the interview with a talk about my modeling career — specifically, about my collection of essays about the modeling world (available where all ebooks are sold, hint hint).
It was a great experience. The DJs were incredible, the interview went smoothly, and I got a chance to shamelessly promote my writing. But I noticed something that stuck with me long after the interview wrapped: in the promos as well as in the interview, they described my book as the story of me “trying to break into the modeling world.” Now, I can understand the confusion: the first words of my book description have me facetiously asking if you want to learn how to break into the modeling world. Granted, a sentence or two later I say that I will not be answering that in the slightest, but still, I can see someone giving a passing glance at the book description and believing that that’s what my collection is about.
I think what has stuck with me, even though the interview is now nothing but radio waves in space (and digital files on the internet), is the fact that this type of description runs parallel with a common school of thought when it comes to models, actors, and the like. Whatever we’re doing, we must be trying to “break into” the industry.
But what if, as a model, I have no interest in “breaking into” anything?
I’m interested in getting work (cue Khia’s, “Get money bitch!”), but I have zero interest in trying to become a supermodel. Aside from the fact that the term is about as antiquated as a model’s “polaroids” being shot with actual polaroid cameras, I really have no aspirations of “making it” as a model. I’m perfectly content finding work, meeting new people, experiencing new things and places, and walking away with a few more paychecks to pay the bills with. Would being a big name mean more of said experiences and paychecks? Sure, but it’s not my goal in the modeling world.
To bring it all the way back to my book (still available for purchase, by the way): I actually discuss this in one of my essays. For every superstar A-list actress or jetsetting supermodel, there are thousands upon thousands of working actors and models who do what they do completely under the radar from mainstream media. And while some are urgently wondering when their “big break” will be, many are simply grateful that they can do what they love and get paid for it.
Yesterday, I had back-to-back go-sees, coming less than 24 hours after event #1 in a 5-part wedding expo series. Today, I have absolutely nothing modeling-related on my plate (unless you count putting away all my impractical high heels model-related), but I am teaching three classes in the afternoon, two of them back-to-back as well. I’m not trying to “break into” the yoga world outside of finding a nice, steady group of students and a variety of classes to teach. I’m hoping to sell a full-out manuscript or two — and I’d love for them to sell fairly well. But I recognize that fretting over superstardom is a fruitless task. I’m just enjoying life for what it is, even (and especially) when it includes quelling nerves just before a radio interview.
That (Not This) Abby Rose 