The end of my "career", at least for a little while.

After modeling for Sears I started doing print ads for some local boutiques and managed to work right on through my awkward adolescent years. I did commercials and print advertisements up through high school.
At 14, I went to NYC, not for modeling, but to dance. I ended up meeting the right people and I signed with an agency. I started doing alot of runway and hair shows. I also booked several web advertisements and TV hosting gigs. Around that time I quit dancing and without the daily exercise I put on a little bit of weight.
At 17 I did a fashion show in Atlanta, and afterwards, I was approached by an agent who told me that they would love to have me in their "plus-size" division.
My size 8 heart was completely shattered. Until that point I had just been having fun with everything, but that comment really messed with my head. I quit modeling all together and didn't look back.

How It All Started

I started modeling at the age of 7. My mother had never been one of those pushy stage moms, she had let me make my own choices and I had known that modeling was what I wanted to do.

Ask anyone who knew me as a child, and they will tell you I was a ham! I would run away from my mom whenever we were in a store just to go pose in the front windows.

Old pictures of me show my signature poses; hands on my hips with my hips jutted out to the side and an impish grin on my face, or sitting down with my knees pulled up to my chest and a small smile.

I loved being the center of attention. So my mom started taking me to talent agencies and open calls. We had a meeting with a fairly prominent agency near my hometown and I could hardly contain my excitement.

However, when my mother started doing my hair, I freaked out like I always did when she tried to touch my hair. I hated it more than anything...especially when she used that damned crimper.

Anyways, I was nervous, excited, and frustrated all at the same time and before I knew it, I was passing out right there on her bathroom floor.

I came to and talked my mom into still going to the meeting and well...it was pointless. I didn't sign with them.

Luckily right after that debacle I started modeling for Sears (where someone else did my hair and makeup) and from that moment on, I was hooked.