Sean
"You definitely feel more; you believe in yourself."
"I feel more confident."
Like, oh hey,
I can do this.
"When I feel my earrings moving around, I know I look good."
"As a performer I always say the fear never goes away —
you just get stronger."
"I took a deep breath and tried to feel confident in myself."
exhilarated.
I feel like I just did something super fun and new.
"This is my first time; I really want to do more of this"
"I black out — I'm a very panicky person, so I autopilot it."
"It's not about looking rich and hot —
it's about having fun."
Seeing people model before me relieved a lot of my stress.
"They treat you as a person, not as a model."
"I model to support other artists. This event is not about me; it's about them, so it's my responsibility to showcase their art."
I live as Chiamaka.
I love being Chiamaka, and I love being able to share art as Chiamaka
"I wouldn't be able to do this if other people weren't participating; seeing everybody embrace their individuality inspired me to show the world who I am"
In my head I'm like —
I did that.
"the energy kind of like passed on me too"
go try it.
the rest of the models were doing amazing — so relaxed, so confident and beautiful - and the energy kind of like passed on to me too.
"All instinct."
"it was just whatever my body naturally went for."
I thought about what I was gonna do, and I was watching some of the other people walk, and then it all went out of my mind, and it was just — get up there and move.
"I just completely let loose and did my thing."
"My heart is here."
every single piece speaks to who I am
Regardless of the medium — fashion, music, anything — you have the opportunity to show the world who you are, and it's your job to do so
"I'm still nobody, you know — I'm just glad that there's a community here."
"not every place you go, you feel like you belong."
I felt right at home,
and that's a pretty rare feeling.
It's a snowballing effect. We need more positivity in the world.
What changed once you stepped off the runway?
