Progression of a Model and Actress: How I Got Into Modeling and Acting
Photos, story by Cassie Hepler
This is by far one of the most frequent questions I get from models, photographers, strangers, coworkers… pretty much everyone. So I wanted to share my story which may help inspire others to chase their dreams.
I was sitting at a corner cafe in Paris enjoying my beer blanche de bruxelles when someone stopped me on the street and said, wow you should be a model/actress!
Just kidding! That’s the cliche and not the norm (although that’s usually how runway models seem to tell the tale). My story is a more DIY tale much like me.
I was attending college at Penn State University, obtaining my communications degree in journalism with a minor in English. There was a website way before MySpace and Facebook called Friendster (do any other computer geeks remember that as well as a very antiquated chat program on green screen?). Anyway, I had posted some horrible, grainy quality photos of myself taken with the world’s biggest digital camera as my profile picture and some more for good measure. Shortly thereafter, I received a message from a photographer based out of Maryland who asked me if I ever thought about modeling? I said sure, of course I have. And ironically when I was in a car accident when I was 16 where the car rolled and my shoulder got eaten by the back window, fixed with stitches that now looks like it spells out “Slayer”, I psychically thought as it was healing, what about my modeling career?
So he suggested doing a photoshoot and would pay me. I agreed but only if my roommate could tag along as she was a photography major, take pics of us shooting and be my escort. He agreed and we went to the shoot, were greeted by tons of wardrobe, food, wine… pretty much whatever we wanted. It was a great shoot and a fun time and I still have pics of it somewhere in a photo album. He then suggested putting those photos onto the modeling Facebook of the time, OneModelPlace.com and being my mentor. I happily agreed as modeling was much better than doing any work study program or working at AccuWeather as I had been (the parental deal was college was paid for, I would pay my own living expenses however). But I soon found out State College, Pa. is smack dab in the middle of nowhere-ville and needed to travel to get work which usually led me to Philly, Pittsburgh or surrounding states.
Eventually I ended up in Philadelphia, taking a copy editor job at The Times Herald in Norristown and making my home base Manayunk, which is safe and has easy access to the trains and highway. And that’s when things started taking off for me. A new website, ModelMayhem.com had emerged offering a better networking and casting experience.
Networking through ModelMayhem.com had really given me the mileage and reach I needed to contact top photographers in NYC, DC and Philly easily. Being a “plus model” and bouncing from a size 8 to the largest size 14 in college, I am steadily at an 8-10 nowadays (and especially after scoliosis surgery in February 2016). On the East Coast, the plus size is smaller (like my size) and on the West Coast it is larger. But being a plus model is more difficult, which means you have to work twice as hard as the straight, standard sized models (size 0-2) to book gigs. I just took it as a challenge to help change the idea of beauty to a healthy standard (normal sized women in the U.S. are size 12 on average). Besides, strong is the new sexy!
Having fresh content, much like working in media, is also key to a successful modeling career thus why as a beginning model, it is imperative to find exceptional photographers and do trade work (TFP is the short version) where you trade time for photos. Two of the shoots above were trade work back in the day. If you can afford it, hire a couple of key photographers who may post your pics on their websites or social media. That kind of publicity you can’t pay for! And remember models and photographers, your name and face are your reputation, don’t end up on the dreaded black list (future blog post about that coming soon).
I am now signed with three agencies (see my ModelMayhem page for all my credits and info), and have gotten acting work (Amtrak, QVC, indie films) through MM as well as from photographers who have referred me from modeling shoots.
It’s taken a lot of hard work to get where I am now, working weekends while working a newspaper desk job and missing out of some fun activities sometimes. But if it’s your passion and your dream, you will never work a day in your life. And who doesn’t want a life they don’t need a vacation from?
