Amy Grant brings back my childhood

On Oprah today I saw Amy Grant, it was a memorable experience because I grew up listening to her " baby, baby" and "Good For me" with a childhood friend, it was 1993-ish, my parents had divorced and I would enjoy dancing and being silly with Amy's songs, my friend and I would make up our own music videos and dance around her living room and hold up fake micro-phones. ( she was alot better at it than I was). When it comes to Amy's story, I am glad she followed her heart and has always done what she has wanted to do with her music and life. I am also admiring her relationship with Vince. I had tears when Oprah read from her book words Vince had said to Amy, "I welcome you, I welcome you and whatever you bring to the table is enough!"

http://music.aol.com/video/baby-baby/amy-grant/1903656

And when they mentioned the South African Greeting " I see you "
http://www2.oprah.com/index.jhtml
I plan on reading her book.
Time Does Matter, good quote Amy.

Advice and Tips from my Past- Almost 5'4"

In my modeling memoir I mention my gritty self discovering past of striving to be a petite model in NYC between 2001-2006. Although today I am working with national brands, names and networks, I have decided to share my roots, my naive moments, my growth and the road I have seen as a petite model. I declare to make it known that I am not perfect, I have made mistakes, and accept them. I like giving advice, and using my unconventional modeling story to give hope to those who dream. Who are the underdogs, who want to stand for something. Even if that something is themselves.
I have learned to self serve, take a chance, and to take risks, to engage in my pursuits, to try, to not give up. Fighting for the chance has lead to my book and my podcast and my blogs about being a petite model and no matter your pursuit sometimes you have to bluntly make it happen, pick up the phone, mail, pitch, and promote yourself, and it doesn't end through one source,-because trying something that is a challenge, only means it is something worth capturing time and time again.

Sincerely,
isobella jade

Isobella Jade video of Book Marketing Tips through Bookspoke.com on Media Bistro

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/video/isobella_jades_book_marketing_tips_71878.asp?c=rss

Isobella Jade Video of Reading on Media Bistro

http://www.mediabistro.com/fishbowlny/video/isobella_jade_speaks_71705.asp?c=rss

Weekend Photo Shoot

Over the weekend I am shooting against some artist paintings and also shooting hopefully while iceskating at Bryant Park or at Rockefeller Center while where some tee-shirts. I will have the photos posted soon if I get away with the shoot.
I also have an idea for promoting my book that will involve shots around NYC, so that is in production as well. I just got some really hot Nina Shoes, which I am anxious to wear and flaunt and pose in for my shoots.
http://www.rockefellercenter.com/home.html

Putting the wig on!

and then adding some personality at a local lounge in San Francisco. Pretty hot and it made the fun have a spice of funk which I wouldn't have gotten from my original hair, infact THE HAIR is the focus and story in the shot.

Wiggin it! The View shares advice on Wigs and Hair Weaves

Hair Wigs and weaves are also for white girls. Don't be narrow minded, you might be able to plump up your hair instead of shooting again your thin dry blond locks at your next shoot. Or change your look quickly from short hair to long! On The View today they mentioned unique weaves and hair wings, I have worn both at my shoots, for example see the photo enclosed! I loved how Joy Behar got in with the wig style and showed off her locks on The View today! She always has something sassy to say and she is my favorite and she looked very good. So girls, petite models, ladies, don't be afraid to use a weave or wig or extentions at your shoot. A few months ago, when I body doubled for a movie poster I had to use extentions, they clipped in and at the time I had short hair but within minutes I had long curly hair. The photo enclosed is from a shoot I did in San Francisco, by Christopher Jensen. I wore a wig.


http://abc.go.com/daytime/theview/index

Isobella speaks about her Book and Modeling

I spoke last night with Marion Maneker from Harper Collins about marketing books and the publishing industry. I hope you like my sass, and NYC underdog of publishing experience.

Here is the video:

http://www.viddler.com/explore/jonsurfs/videos/1/

Sincerely,
isobella jade

Act of Kindness on way to the MTA

After the Bookspoke event on Bowery Street, I went to the downtown 6 train. I like the subway, well, I have a love/hate relationship with it actually. I looked forward to a easing quiet ride home. And I dug for my metro card and first swiped an empty one,Inefficient funds damning me. So I dug again. As I dig a hispanic man, an older graying man, with a cap says " need a swipe?" I say " no it's ok.." and he says " it's ok!" and he swipes me through. I say thanks like a New Yorker expecting to get robbed or hit on, and later on the train I wondered about his random act of kindness while reading my own book.

Isobella Jade at the Bowery Poetry Club today!

I am speaking about my book at 6:30 today, and discussing writing it at the Apple store, publishing it and the process of marketing myself!

This is a free event for anyone who wants to learn more about marketing their books and themselves at the Bowery Poetry Club, hosted by Bookspoke, www.bookspoke.com

Speakers: Isobella Jade and Marion Maneker
When: Wednesday, November 28, 2007, 6:30 PM
Where: Bowery Poetry Club
308 Bowery (@ Bleecker)
New York, NY 10003

Sincerely,
isobella jade

Modeling Workshops could be a Waste

Life is already expensive so don't pay for someone to tell you what you are good at with modeling, or the areas you should consider. Workshops and modeling events are either too pricey usually or right down scams! So I would instead consider your body, your personality, your look, and start pursuing the options you have. The first thing you will need is photos. They say so much more than any old workshop director. Don't pay for talent searches, or anything that involves someone else telling you what you are good at! Unless they are a friend or someone who believes in you and is giving you honest advice then do not pay to hear about what you are good at or not good for. Alot of models don't focus on themselves and instead worry too much about whatever anyone else says. I met a model once who had a mole on the side of her nose and debated getting it removed before she started modeling, I wanted to shake her and tell her "Noooo!" You don't have to change yourself, your natural self to be a model, and what might have happened to this model was that someone said" well your mole might turn off an agent!" And she listened instead of seeing the uniqueness in it, and it could be a personality trait or become her trademark! I think models obsess over perfectness. Which is really a wrong perception to have. Uniqueness is more of a selling point than being prime and perfect and flawless! Of course you might not want to sell your scars and blemishes, but your unique nose, or curly q hair is a selling point! Don't get sucked into losing yourself and your opportunities. You don't have to pay to hear it, and you don't have to change you! Modeling is about personality, bringing energy to a product, representing a brand. Or for handmodeling sometimes it is just about having the nail size and hand shape they are looking for. Does this mean I am getting fake nails to make my nails longer?? NO way, I am me. I am a model.

Isobella Posed in SF with some Wild Rocker Hair

Christopher Jensen began his photography career when he was seven with his Grandfather's camera and hand-held light meter. At the age of seventeen he started photographing pro- am skateboarders and hardcore music groups. While attending Parsons School of Design in New York he photographed Hip Hop groups in the early nineties. He became part of the Hip Hop music scene in New York and Los Angeles as Hip Hop was moving off the city streets and into America's living rooms. His unique and cutting-edge images captured a rare time in American music that now has become an everyday part of life. Since then he has photographed actors, models, musicians and everyday people all over the world. With years of experience and a knack for seeing the edgier side of things, he moved to San Francisco to form Jensen Photography.

In San Francisco I worked with a great photographer named Christopher Jensen. That hair was so much fun! Styling can truely transform you into a model with reddish rock and roll hair and the skyline to give even more personality.

Modeling hair style tips and advice from Bill Schrlau

As a freelance model sometimes I have had to style my own hair at my photo shoots when there wasn't a hair stylist, and without knowing any unique tricks the results really did effect the shoot and it was bad! I wished I had a hair professional helping me but I didn't know where to turn. I have learned over the years that modeling isn't about one thing, it takes the whole package to create an amazing shot and hair is so very important. Bill Schrlau, an award winning hairstylist and professional,shares advice for petite models and models who need some tips at their shoots for making their hair have personality. I met and worked with Bill during a hair modeling job I did at Wella and it is nice to hear advice from someone whose forte is hairstyling and hair fashion trends. (www.schrlau.com).

Okay keep in mind I would always recomend that you use a professional,they can see your hair unlike you can on your own. However we all understand that their are moments when you need to do the work yourself. These are the looks I would recomend and you should be able to replicate on your own. Also if you are paying for a haircut, eventually, your hairstylist should be willing to spend the time to help you learn these looks. It only looks good for the hairstylist if you can recreate the look on yourself.


1. Slicked backProduct & tools; comb, gel or light gel, water bottle
How to; A.Prep hair with water, B.apply product, C.comb through and smooth. Longer hair use ponytail fastener to hold back. Short hair comb toward center back, use bobby pins to fasten if needed. Keep in mind the angle of the photographer. The hair does not have to be perfect in the back if the back is not seen, stop wasting time making it perfect, LOL.

2. Ponytail
Product & tools; comb, gel, best product I have worked with for the wet pony is "Styling lotion, by Bumble & Bumble", "Does it all" hairspray by Bumble & Bumble, comb, cushion brush (maison Peirson $125- is the best quality, or you can get by with a denman $under $20-the quality is good, just not as good as M.P.), another product that will help with a smooth finish is, Bumble & Bumble "Defrizz". Use it at finish lightly though, to smooth any fly aways around the hairline, follow with hairspray. How to;A.Prep by brushing first. B. dirty the hair- with either hairspray (does it all) or styling lotion. Then make sure
the hair is dry. On days that static is an issue use cooler air and keep the air flowing downward. C.In front of mirror comb into back center into a ponytail, keeping in mind that there are three definate positionings for a ponytail and each says something different about your look. High is more youthful and sometimes juveniela(sp). Medium crown- gives you a lift in the face but not as youthful or too young. Low- nape area-screams class. It is a bit more elegant so for those shoots that you need a classy look this is the way to go, keep it low. D.once in place- fasten with a fastener (keep it soft,so that it is not too tight on the hair, this can eventually cause breakage.)

3. Upwork Product & tools, brush, comb, hair fasteners, bobby pins, hairspray, defrizz. How to; Prep hair get it dirty (not too dirty, but with texture so that it is easier to fasten with bobby pins), then brush into ponytail. Then back comb the pony tail (tease it), then twist a few bobby pins into the teased hair and fasten along the edge of the ponytail. You will have hair sticking up all over the place,or you can smooth the teased hair before fastening with bobby pins,this will give a more put together look. This one is a much more difficult look but be simple and if you need to push and prod the hair then go ahead, make it work for you, rough it up a bit to get that once over slept in look.

I hope this helps.

The best part of this advice is to have them get help from their hairstylist. Set a price on it. If you pay $80 or more for a cut your hair stylist should be giving you this help without being asked- at least two different looks on each visit. If they are not it may be time to seek another hairstylist out.

Thank you,
Bill



Bill's services and eye has been used for national brands and is a nationa leader published in American Salon, Modern Salon, Salon Today Magazines. He even offers his services to you and you can visit his website at
(www.schrlau.com).

Focusing on More than ONE Thing

I meet models all the time, who only are focusing on ONE thing, and they miss out on other things, for example at a hand modeling casting a girl had really great curly hair, funky and pretty but she had never considered hair modeling? I was shocked! Then she asked me how she would get involved with that….I told her to go to Barnes and Noble and to research hair magazines and submit the editors her photo. Simple, costs only a few stamps!

What About the Petite Girl? She has to get Dressed in the Morning too!

While Googling petite designers I ran into an article in the New York Times about the lack of Petite sizes in Department stores. MICHAEL BARBARO reports:

"It's not like American women suddenly got tall," said the designer Dana Buchman, who has supplied petite-size tweed jackets and chiffon skirts to Saks and Neiman Marcus for years. "I think it's a mistake."

Last year I got a Dana Buchman coat on sale, a very very good sale and I enjoyed that it was an Xsmall, a size that many designers forget about.

Fashion magazines and shows make it all about legs legs and length but the average woman is still 5'3"!!! I understand for presentation sometimes a certain style of clothing can look better on a tall woman, but honestly it is really getting crazy when we have to alter everything we buy! I guess the tailor is making out pretty good!

As a petite woman myself and petite model finding a great fit, a great designer to lean on is an issue but it is a good feeling to hear it from a fashion designer like Dana Buchman that someone is thinking of the petite woman fashion silluette.

http://www.danabuchman.com/

Petite Fashion Problems

For more issues about petite fashion problems click the link below, it is very interesting and true but I don't think it says enough for the petite girls who ARE a size zero or who are skinny but have a shorter hem line. The whole range of petite needs to be covered, the short and wide, the short and skinny, the short!


http://www.fashion-era.com/image_planning/petite_fashion_problems.htm

Petite Clothing and Suits or Lack of

Something I find upsetting is shopping or considering shopping for a suit. I remember when I was around 20 my mother bought me my first suit. There weren't alot of choices and we ended up going to Petite Sophisticate. http://www.petitesophisticate.com- It was a nice suit but I felt a little too young to be in the store, now about 5 years later I still feel weird when it comes to finding a suit because I can't find one anywhere! It makes me sad to know that for the petite girl, or woman there is not enough petite lines. Not enough diversity out there. If you are between the ages of 20-25 or even 30, it is hard to find something that fits the fashion trends and which fits and makes you feel good. And without spending an arm and a leg. I am hunting for petite suits. Designers, and I am striving to interview a few. I don't wear suits alot but blazers and jackets, button down shirts are my favorites and I have a very hard time when it comes to spending under 100 bucks. It is like we get punished by the fashion world for being so petite.

Let's Hear it for the Underdogs. Holiday Glamour Special

I talk about petite models being jewelry models and I recently heard from a designer who uses a petite model in her advertising and also offers a discount to petite models. Her words are very inspiring and I wanted to share them with you.


At Corazon Latino, we believe that every woman is unique, that our differences should be celebrated, and that you do not have to be 5'10 & a size zero to be beautiful. Beauty is about passion, a love of life & living your dreams... That is the spirit behind Corazon Latino.

Isobella really has that Corazon Latino. Not only does she work hard to make her dreams a reality, she also helps other women to achieve their dreams with her down-to-earth advice & real insights into the world of modelling.

To support Isobella and to thank her for her support of Corazon Latino, I would like to offer you, her "readers" a special 10% off introductory discount on our entire range. Just visit our site www.corazonlatino.com, and take a look at the range. If you see something you like, just head to the checkout & when you register enter coupon code INTRO307 into the coupon code box for a 10% discount off your order. You can check out the prices in US & Can as well Aus (just click the flag & choose your currency). You can pay by all major credit cards safely & securely & we will ship worldwide within a week.

Enjoy! Catherine D'Arcy - Founder - Corazon Latino.

www.carazonlatino.com

Curves are a Good Thing

I go into the casting as a hand model today and end up being a full body parts model. Good thing I shaved. This is because my comp card shares not just Hand Shots, but photos of my body and other parts too. This is a good thing to consider when it comes to making a comp card. Show your diversity, even if it is for body parts, show your hands, feet, stomach, legs, curves. Curves are a good thing, don’t be afraid to get some shots taken of your body parts because there is a whole industry for these kinds of models and as a petite model it is a way to get your foot, and body into the door.

Say No to America's Next Top Model and Yes to Marketing You to Brands and Magazines

Even after Megg Morales, was recruited on Myspace for the show and then later voted off Top Model, before the show she had a contract with Elite and her answers in a 2006 interview for the Village Voice shared that after the show she really wasn't heading anywhere exciting with modeling and she was noticed because of the show when she tried to drink underage at bars but being the show didn't really bring her anything but a few segments of exposure on TV. After the show she was trying to get with an agency again since Elite dropped her I guess, and she was considering other options for herself, and passions,goals and careers,- even as a lifeguard.

It makes one wonder if sometimes too much exposure can be bad, and how careful we have to be when it comes to exposing ourselves,- even on America's Next Top Model. Especially since many of these girls are full of themselves and not really willing to work hard. The opportunity and chance and jobs wont just come to you because you have been on America's Next Top Model or any reality show for that matter, you have to seek for yourself the next step in your life and the show is just a stepping stone or a different stage of your pursuits but not the end all.

I guess what upsets me is that: The show invites you on and gives you un realistic ideas of the modeling world and then kicks you off and leaves the models with no further advice. It seems the girls show up, do the process and then get nothing to advance them into the real world modeling industry. Which takes places off camera and infront of real clients, castings, agents and photoshoots. It just boggles me. I think reality shows can be really lame, unrealistic and really pathetic and unhonest. It gives average girls and people a perception of an industry that is narrow minded on the TV screen and presented in a way that is not typical, normal, or the truth.

Say Something with Innovative Tee-shirts

I love wearing my
I'm a N3rd shirt from Snorg Tees on a cozy Sunday.
I like how these shirts cover my butt just enough to keep my tights and tee look classy and not trashy. The length of the shirts is perfect and it is hard to find a teeshirt like this. They are worth checking out if you are looking for something cute to wear but not same old'. They can even bring some flair to your photo shoots.

http://www.snorgtees.com/

They are fun to wear especially since I love a unique expression, and these tee's bring back the cool in making a statement on your chest!

isobella

Petite Models and Being a persistent, go-getter.

Girls, women, females of all ages are obsessed with being discovered. Except they don’t put in the effort to be found. For hundreds of years women have been the muses for artists, painters, sculptures, photographers, designers, writers, but yet in today’s world you have to fight harder to be a muse or a model, or seen or desired or the inspiration of anything artistic or related to art. When a girl asks herself or myself “How can I start modeling?” My answer is marketing. It shocks me when girls want to be models but they don’t know anything about it. It makes me wonder where the “want to be a model” comes from? When I started modeling I had a need to feel admired and wanted and seen and I grew obsessed with it, ( counting the hits and clicks on my modeling page on the Internet) but the industry hasn’t changed all that much and now even with the Internet the same old ( the client calls the agent, they don’t hunt on the Internet for models and talent, never have and most likely never will)… still takes place when it comes to getting discovered and getting work, and most of the time it means making it happen for yourself. Since the access to the modeling world is found through the Internet and it is so easy to feel like a model or the only option for the shorter models. But it’s not. Being discovered is a word for those who are tall, and expected in modeling. Making it happen for yourself, is a statement for those who can’t be limited to one source as their only promotional tool, if you want to do something and it is difficult or it makes you the underdog by trying it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try . It just means the BEING Discovered, is really Being a persistent, go-getter.

Marilyn Monoe got in the Car as a Nude Model

I have been thinking a lot about models now and then. Marilyn Monroe is titled bimbo perhaps, but I see her as a rare breed. Perceptive, able to handle her dreams, and chased them. Andre De Dienes worked with Marilyn for many years but their first encounter could have been just as risky as some girls who pursue modeling today. Although the difference is Andre called up the usual modeling agency called The Blue Book Modeling agency, which he used often,asking for any new models for nudes, what he got was Norma Jean Baker, a new model, who would become Marilyn Monroe, and their first photoshoot together was Norma Jean's first or one of the very first shoots she ever did.

Even asking for a nude model then must have been a shock to mothers' around America. First Norma and Andre shot at the beach and then a ritual of shooting would begin with Norma and Andre. He offered to pay her 100 dollars a week, and he would provide the clothing and accessories for the shoot and they would drive off in his Buick Roadmaster to the desert, the mountains, from California to Nevada, to Arizona. Maybe she said yes because he was a photographer she worked with through an agency and felt safe, assured and protected since they met through the agency. In the book called " Andre de Dienes," the photos show a Norma Jean with chipped red nail polish and a very raw and beautifully flawed Norma Jean. The book is a diary of the experience Andre had with her and the love, laughter and enchanting photography that followed.

Although I find the difference here between what happens over the web with aspiring models today is that they met through an Agency. Even though after the first shoot at the beach it lead to an exclusive road trip, and later was to be a nude shoot and taking places in other States, it still was with a photographer who had amazing taste, a great eye, and who captures Norma as a natural model and at ease. The photographer had credits, experience and a passion for photography, not just women, and he loved to create a story and this book shares the thoughts of a photographer so detailed and artistic. I find many times that models work with photographers they know nothing about, they only judge them from their photoshopped images and rush to their apartments and throw their panties on the floor and start shooting before they even can pronounce the photographers' name. If you want quality, ask questions, and if you don't feel the photographer is going to enhance your career with photos that you can really use to either get more work or submit yourself to magazines, or help you manage your career then don't bother. Andre treated Norma Jean with beautiful photos and she was paid for her time. Don't settle for working with people who are just GWC, ( guys with cameras).

If you follow the poses from the 1950's, you also will see how the models "aren't trying" so hard, they are just being themselves and even in a pin up shot they are the girl next door which is what many of us models really are!

The sad Prada Girls

In the latest issue of Vanity Fair there is a feature on Young Ladies of NYC Private Schools, it kinda makes me sick when one of the girls says of growing up in NYC, " We are so much more cultured," and then defines her culture advancement by saying, "In college you meet people who don't even know how to pronounce 'Prada'"
If she is saying that NOT knowing how to pronounce Prada is a bad thing, I beg to differ. I myself remember when I first heard the name Kate Spade during my freshman year of college at New York Institute of Technology, style wasn't even a word in my vocab and I turned to the Alloy Catalog, and before the Myspace.com popularity contest and AOL being free as long as you a connection, there wasn't the feeling of being behind in fashion by not knowing how to spell some fashion designers name or wear his name on the back of your sweater. Being from Syracuse, NY, although I am a model, I step back into reality when I visit, my mother now lives in Oswego and the latest fashion is a Coach bag, but most are in Flannel and jeans, and sneakers, heels for that matter are still not around, not seen at all, and even in my Sassy Payless boots that costs only 15 bucks, with a 3 inch heel,- I feel the stares around the Mall, -the average American girl doesn't really define and design themselves by fashion yet. I bet these girls in Vanity Fair don't even know the history of Prada, or anything about the launch and struggles and passion that went into the name???? Have they ever put passion into anything? Sorry, this article really pissed me off. Yet they wear it? I would never wear a luxury label without really knowing and understanding all the worth behind the name. The work, the image, the story. Chanel has a good story. I'd like to tell these girls to take a trip 4 hours into Upstate NY and they might actually feel pathetic carrying all their labels and logos...I don't admire people who judge others based on such a narrow minded viewpoint.Don't get me wrong, I love fashion, bags, shoes, shoes!!!... but the difference is I love the art of it, the creation process, the production, the work that goes into creating a fashion line. I have a handbag designer friend and I have watched her build her company from scratch and seeing her do it from her heart first hand makes her price of 300-400 wholesale worth it, yet these girls who think not knowing how to pronounce a name of a label degrates their position in society is seriously wacko!
I am glad I don't have the type of culture these girls have, it is very shallow and really it distances them from really making their circle wider by judging people for not knowing the latest trend.
www.vanityfair.com

Remembering those who have Helped Along theway

Visiting my hometown of Syracuse, NY for the holidays, I am thankful for a lot in my life. a good bus ride will make you think of it all. My thoughts and thanks go to my friends and family who have supported my goals and I have enjoyed also watching my family and friends grow as people and dreamers themselves and aspiring even further than they even imagined, that alone is a gift to see and experience and be apart of.

Modeling Minus Wasting Time

If you focus on quality all around you will get ahead as a model.
From your images to the goals you have, make it about benefits and don't waste your time waiting for things to happen. Sometimes you have to make it happen.

Ask yourself " How is this experience,shoot, person, photographer, going to get my ahead." Usually the answer can explain if something is a scam or waste of time. If you are freelancing, managing yourself and acting as your own agent sometimes, you are a business, and treat your self and your goals like one.

When starting out modeling, or trying to get more work, we do make mistakes sometimes and it stems from taking a chance, not every clothing company gets sales when the store opens on the first day and the first hour, it can take time, thought, and conceptualizing to know how you fit into your market. The market of modeling.

This means making sure you stay organized and being hands on with your career, so if you want to start this coming new year off right, make some goals, write them down, stick to them, it is only 6 weeks away and you can start by preparing today. If you want something you fight for it. The effort is worth it.

Focus on getting better photos, quality, images that sell you and then take these images and do what is best...start marketing yourself to make yourself a model worth hiring.

You shoot with Film?

I love a crisp shot, when the photography catches even the fuss on my shirt. I love how it sees everything! Robert Caldarone gives his thoughts on film

Robert Caldarone's words: With all the advances in digital cameras and backs over the years, I'm still amazed at how huge the visual information gap is when digital is compared to modern-day film. Today's professional films from both Kodak and Fuji deliver more visual information than any other capture medium. And what really blows my clients' eyes away is the finished product. I enjoy the fact that today's professional films continue to keep offering a level of depth, color, texture, sharpness, and resolution that a digital back or camera (due to the flat-chip design of the medium itself) can never achieve. When you think about all the three-dimensionality which lies in the chemistry of film, and the way it can capture slightly different records of the same image within the ever-changing mosaic of its silver halide crystals there's not a man-made chip now or in the future that could ever come close to what film offers today, yesterday, or in the future! Film is not going away, no matter how hard a digital camera sales person tries to make their weekly quota.

I'm Not Perfect By Isobella Jade

I'm not perfect and my website doesn't flaunt my perfectness. Instead I am going to tell you about all of my mistakes, flaws, and scars straight up. I will tell you the raw, real honest truths of my experiences and my life, pursuits, and daily grind of self serving, self managing and striving, and history, is based on taking a chance and it is not glossy, an airbrushed, and powdered with perfection.

It isn't only the success it is also about the road.

The Hustle of A Model

The hustle of a model is something most people would never consider real life. Real life is reading Us Magazine and watching VH1 and America's Next Top Model, not being on it. Or pursuing anything that involves risk. Most people wont take the chance, the chance of failure.
I live for the chance. I am inspired by the fear of failure and the hustle of a model is bringing forward the artist in myself.
Not many people may understand the dedication it entitles to have the title of model.
Every day throwing ourselves, our appearance, and letting us be judged.
Most people run from being judged, or put down, instead daily, we get the diss, from not getting a call back, booking the job, from being scammed, or making a mistake, and when we do succeed, win a tear sheet or ad campaign, it seems like a simple thing to those who don't understand the pure work it takes to be in a league of our own, to run every day for the chance, to wake up for it, it is too hard to give up, to even think for a moment life could be anything else. We live to strive, to try, and it might just be modeling, or a floosy thing to those who have never felt the lens or in another style of pursuit even achieved their goals, or even ever had one beyond the typical thing, but for us, typical isn't our way, it is the artistic hunter in us that wakes up each day curious for the unknown. It excites us, we are the dreaming hustlers of modeling, we are a unique breed and it might seem vain, and unstable...and it is,every day is different, sometimes the jobs pay shit and it takes forever to get paid,-we chase our work, and we sell our face, our bodies, the curves, the smile, the teeth, the hair, for the sake of feeling a purpose and leaving a mark. It is the hustle of a model.

Putting more of Purpose Behind your Shoots

Shooting just to shoot wont get you anywhere. Showing up at some photographers apartment without a plan and only shoes, thigh highs and some makeup wont do you any good. Being the tease for the afternoon, making some cash, really isn't going to get you in a magazine or help you reach your higher goals.

Make your modeling shoots have more of a purpose besides just feeling admired for a few hours.

Ask yourself. What is your Story? Why do you want to Model? What are you bringing to your own pursuits? How are you letting and making your goals come true?

Petite Modeling Ideas for Shooting

This is a nice shot idea for the next time you shoot Jewelry.

www.corazonlatino.com

When height Doesn't matter

As a petite model, I focus on shooting for products where height doesn't matter.
Like focusing on Jewelry and Hair and beauty products, and I love decorating my photo shoots with accessories.

A great item is silver jewelry or a simple necklace that can bring some shine, bling and allure to your shoot.

I discovered a great jewelry company called Corazon Latino. You can check them out at
http://www.corazonlatino.com/

Jewelry like this brings some flair to your simple headshot or fashion story. Modeling is about telling a story, saying something without words, and relying on the expression in the eyes, and letting the colors and textures in your shoot speak.
So what! Maybe you aren't 5'10, and it wont be easy to get a modeling agent, maybe it will take some work to get the right shots to market yourself, even the taller girls have struggles, modeling involves persistance and regardless of height sometimes selling yourself, means having the right accessories, to back you up, to prove, Yes I Can Model, handbags, jewelry, shoes, and beauty products,...sometimes you need to show in your images that you can.

Petite Modeling Advice

Since so many people who get ahead are untalented, it means just because you have a website, a compcard, an agent, doesn't mean you will get ahead.

Sometimes you got to use your own stamp!

Isobella Jade, petite model, Not just shaking her Ass

There are lots of models who shake it to make it, and if that feels go to them then, go them! but for me, I need more in my portfolio, and more of a purpose beyond being just the hot girl sometimes. At least I need a product involved, something that says, I am actually modeling more than just my great ass.

Any petite freelance model who tells you the jobs just came to me, is lieing, or at least lucky. For me The Internet has helped my pursuits and straight up and honest, no joke, Craigslist has helped to build my book, regardless of agents I am always fending for myself, but when I was growing my resume, and building my reel, I used Craigslist to get ahead, here are some gigs I gained from being careful who I worked with and from taking a chance:

Coheed and Cambria,- lead in the music video - MTV
Wella hair modeling
Distraction Jewelry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyXy_IGSEA0
Elvis Martinez- Univision
Fuji TV
International Beauty Show
Shoreline America- catalog
Urge Commercial- Commercial- MTV
My American Heart- lead in music video
Fitness book for Mind Over Muscle
White Mountain Shoes- Shoe modeling

These are just a few gigs I have booked on my own and since the Internet also makes the industry more competive as well, you need to plan, create goals, and chase them.

Another Hand Casting Today

I had another hand modeling casting today way in the Meat Packing district, neat 10th Avenue. I had to pretend I cupping water, maybe from a faucet. Slowly, and showing the front and back of my hands.

Funny how detailed some castings can be. Zooming on your hands. The portfolio and compcard doesn't matter, at the casting they use a video camera to capture your fingers, nails and hands. Thats all that matters, I was told when I handed the lady the latest issue of Bon Appetit, which is a tearsheet of my hands which is yet on my compcard.

Yesterday I had another one, I got a manicure first for ten bucks on 23rd street then zipped over to 25th Street and 10th Ave for the casting.

True Confessions

IN THE FLESH EROTIC READING SERIES
TRUE SEX CONFESSIONS NIGHT
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15th at 8 PM
AT HAPPY ENDING LOUNGE, 302 BROOME STREET, NYC
(B/D to Grand, J/M/Z to Bowery, F to Delancey,
http://www.happyendinglounge.com)
Admission: Free
Happy Ending Lounge: 212-334-9676
http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

True Sex Confessions are back, with a wild mix of memoirists, sex
bloggers, and comedy. Audience members will have the chance to
anonymously share their own confessions as well. With Anna David
(Party Girl), Kimberlee Auerbach (The Devil, The Lovers & Me: My Life
in Tarot), Selina Fire (author of the blog The Real Sex in the City),
nude model and memoirist Isobella Jade (Almost 5'4"), altporn pioneer
Lux Nightmare (Boinkology.com), and comedian Rachael Parenta (Chicks
and Giggles). Hosted by Rachel Kramer Bussel (Best Sex Writing 2008,
He's on Top, She's on Top). Free candy and cupcakes will be served.

In the Flesh is a monthly reading series hosted at the appropriately
named Happy Ending Lounge, and features the city's best erotic writers
sharing stories to get you hot and bothered, hosted and curated by
acclaimed erotic writer and editor Rachel Kramer Bussel. From erotic
poetry to down and dirty smut, these authors get naked on the page and
will make you lust after them and their words.

Reading Series

http://inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

Petite Modeling- Sexual Moments

During my experiences as a petite model, I have met some real jerks, but in all honestly really it comes down to making the wrong choices. As a petite model, as a freelance model, you have to be careful, focusing on who to work with, how to market yourself, how to be true to yourself, but tonight I let it all out. At Rachel Kramer Bussel's Sex Confessions. At "Happy Ending" Lounge. It was so much fun to speak about some shoot I had encountered over the years at the Erotic reading.

inthefleshreadingseries.blogspot.com

modeling is now a business to me, and I am doing it to make a statement, for the ad campaign, or the editorial, and using my body and voice in a way that really does share a side of the modeling industry that isn't spoken about enough. Modeling isn't just Vogue and Playboy, there is so much more.

And also today I spilled, on my podcast I spoke about the good, and the bad of Craigslist.

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/isobellajade/blog/2007/11/15/Craigslist-The-Good-and-The-Bad-of-Modeling-on-Craigslist-1

Craigslist Brings Tearsheets

About a year ago, when my hair was short, I worked on a fitness book. A Job from Craigslist.

Craigslist as My Agent

Even though I have worked with brands like Marshalls, I still jump on Craigslist.com every now and then- ok, I check it every day. In the past it was my salvation, it was apart of my routine, I relied on it, staring at the posts, and usually lasting up to 4 hours during various moments in my day. I used the website as part of my survival, as a place to find work and hopefully get paid and get a tearsheet or get a gig for my resume. It was a flowing, active place of jobs and the chance.

The jobs weren't always classy but the ones that were really boosted my resume. I think without them I wouldn't have the resume I have today.

This week on my podcast called Model Talk, I will be discussing the ins and outs, the good, the bad and ugly of Craigslist. And how it has upset me, and helped me to continue to do what I want to do. Model.

Petite Models are Makeup artists too!

Sometimes when your co-model, has a razor burn, you suddenly become a makeup artist. Or if the girl you are working with, doesn't have shoes, you are suddently her stylist.

You wear many hats as a model...model is a small word, for makeup artist, hair, production assistant, stylist, prop specialist, and actor.


Do it all!

Fake Photographer, Fake Makeup Artists, or just hustlers?

Alot of times people get the job because of everything but their work. There are the GWC's or the Guys With Cameras, and my new one the GWM's "Girls With Makeup."
Those who take the zap out of the word professional.
Sometimes the struggle that the photographer and makeup artist have is similar to the ones petite models have. It is the same sort of rush...from Making connections, updating the book, finding work, and marketing themselves. Usually this means the run in with those who aren't so passionate about their work but then again, sometimes get the work!

It is frustrating when someone beat you to the job, wins the job, and you know your work is better, stronger, more interesting, or as a model you are just plain better!

You can feel it that you should have gotten that job but you didn't.

Hand Modeling is a tear sheet opportunity

The December issue of Bon Appetit Magazine features my hands. Tear sheets like this add to my book and open doors for the petite models. Don't forget the importance of simply using what you got. Focus on that. Maybe you aren't a million inches tall but use your strong features and get ahead.

Modeling Mistakes: Where are the rest of My Tiger Shots?

Well, I shot with a wild beast between my little petite lean legs, and this is the only shot I ever got!

Kinda wish I had more, it might make for a submission to Sports Illustrated.
And I always give photographer credit too when I do submit. Seriously, be careful who you work with, sometimes it can result in a great shoot, but then a situation where you NEVER get the images or only get one. Also I had no idea how the animal was treated, who knows if the tiger is being abused. I didn't get images but also I didn't ask about the treatment of the animal and I should have as well.

This is a great shot, but the only one I got for shooting with a live animal, with a trainer, and photographer at an animal zoo near Miami.

Very upsetting.

Does Facebook Need a Model?

Although I have my Bachelor in Advertising and Marketing, I have been selling a lot of myself lately and I am curious if the Facebook.com ads need a model?

Recently on Advertising Age, Chamath Palihapitiya, Facebook's Marketing Man and the VP-of product marketing and operations said that he is putting the advertising back in the hands of the people. This sounds like something that should Be Apart of the presidential campaign. On a serious note, I think what he is saying is to cut out the bullshit and clutter and honestly make advertising a fun and enjoyable thing not a bothersome bee bizzing and biting your email, or Facebook'ing in the ass. I love the advertising friendly and user friendly mindset. I like the opportunity and test he is offering. I think more advertising should be like this. I also love advertising that is funny, inventive and that makes a person “think" and feel a connection. Even if I don't buy the product (which I know is the point), I still remember the Ad and I actually love advertising... I love watching commercials, I would rather watch it that the reality show crap on TV. I think Mr.Facebook is really making a statement about marketing and that since anyone can launch their own fame over the Internet, so can a product, but it has to come from a place that is wanted, and not a distraction. This means if an AD is used it is quite a compliment.

I'm Lovin' it!

Modeling Mistakes, and frustrations

Tonight on my modeling podcast called MODEL TALK, www.blogtalkradio.com/isobellajade
I speak about my mistakes and frustrations of being a petite model and I will share stories of moments that upset me, and how I got over it.

Hand Modeling Casting Today

Sitting on the train on way to a casting I put lotion on my hands, rubbing each finger nail slowly and paying special attention to the small scratch on my pinky. It hurt alittle. I even put some foundation on it to cover the redness. I held both hands out admiring the shape of each finger and the shine of my clear nail polish.
A scratch could even cost me this casting, it is kind of funny in a way but a scratch, even a small one could mean I get the job or not. Or it could be my skin tone, or the shape of my nails, the length, the bone structure.

There are some real hand fanantics out there too, some die hard Hand Models, where all they do is hand modeling like it is their only job and purpose and trust me they DO bank money doing it.

They are just hands, and to everyone else on the train I must have looked obsessed with myself, stuck up even, maybe a bit preppy, while admiring my finger nails, but as a petite modeling -to me it means using my body as a selling point, and even for a hand casting their is prep time and I needed a model moment even while on the train to warm up my hands.

Guia Rivera: Petite and Comfortable with her Size and Sings from her Soul

I heard today from a petite Spanish singer named Guia Rivera, who is making a mark as a singer but also as a women who is "standing up for what she believes and sings from her soul," and I really loved her answers to my questions about being a petite inspiration.

hola hola isobella! it's guia here. I read the messages you sent. It's mad refreshin to me to know that you're beautiful and at the same time humble. For one thing us girls gotta stick together and appreciate our individualities and I'm really thankful for the positivity you're showin everyone eric and myself.

- I'm 5'1" but i like to be a leader and in charge so no one really thinks about my height, except when they hear me singin loudly. then they're shocked cos they dont think short people could project their voice like that
- I love my height 'cos i am happy with what I was born with. What I love most is that's what God gave me and that I'm his creation like everyone else, unique... we all come in different shapes and sizes... otherwise the world would be boring ya know?
- I do wear a small size shoe and it gets on my nerves when they run out of my shoe size 5 1/2 or 6 real fast at the shoe store. I like ballerina flats of different makers and my absolute fave are antique rustic brown leather kneehigh boots that make you feel like you're in another time, steve madden is right on with comfort n style.

Petite Modeling and the Marketing of You

petite modeling is more than just posing, bending, and working it girl!-, it is about knowing your market and industry. It would be a good idea to focus on how you can get your little mini self into an agency this year. Think about what you have that you can sell in a way that will get you in the door. Every day I come up with new ideas and ways but I narrow them down to what will make a great compcard, which will sell me in a great way to get some tear sheets.

I might be the smallest chick on the street, but I have a great butt, legs, skin tone, hands and feet, and unique look, and lately I am shooting body part shots, full body, black white, color, sexy, and then also more editorially intriguing shots. I am thinking of submitting to all magazines, not just women's but Men's lifestyle too like GQ. It would be hot to be in a Men's Fitness magazine too in their editorials. Because girls are needed in all magazines, I saw a really nice shot of a girl laughing in lingerie on a bed in a Men's Fitness magazine, the shot had really nothing to do with fitness but it was more about lifestyle for the article, and I think models, girls, aspiring petite models, get blinded by thinking that skin is only meant to be dripping sexy wet and it just isn't true for commercial modeling and editorials. I have been naked plently of times to know that the body can be used in more editorial, lifestyle, commercial ways, beyond just sticking out your ass.

I love going to Barnes and Noble or Borders and looking in magazines, I get so inspired.

For me being a model, isn't enough. I have to write about it, podcast about it, live it and breathe it. Plan my shoots, write articles, and really dive into the pursuit. I find that writing about the bad times, the tough times, the frustrating times are the most fufilling moments. I will be speaking about this on my podcast this week.

Petite Modeling Means making Reality not Reality TV.

I am not sure what is going on with the reality TV World but it is very sick, sick, sick in the head. I was flipping and on the TV I saw something very scary, it was the show called The Shot. It is every true hustling photographers nightmare I am sure. I was shocked when they photographer's TO BE were told NOT to take wedding shots. It is amazing what reality shows DON'T say about the entertainment business and the industry. This show is really a sad scene by the nature of shooting and realy learning nothing and just getting yelled at for it, Oh God here we go again, I am very disturbed by it actually. Mostly by Russell James, he may have captured photographs for Elle,Vogue, GQ, etc, but this is just a resume,and his vision is blind to the realities of photographers day in and day out hustle and those thriving and striving. He brings nothing to the real experience. The photographs the photographers on the show take are actually really beautiful...and I hope they all stay very ambitious after the show because Russell James's words are not to be defining, Russell James could have done so much more with the show, because the show relates to no one- no true photographer out there who is trying to get in magazines, no one in America can relate to it, and it doesn't question the real ethics and business of being your own.

Petite Modeling Stones

You do a shoot and who knows if and what and where it will ever be seen. It is an unexpected, surprising industry. You have a meeting, a chance,an opportunity and tomorrow the phone could ring and it could be canceled. That is a reality and also the truths of being in a stable business of "nothing being in stone."

I have learned to pick myself up from letdowns and hopeful moments during my pursuits and this week I will be talking about the lows of my experiences as a petite model. They involve sexy shoes, money, exposure, and mistakes, and all still sting sometimes to remember. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/isobellajade

Petite Modeling the Butt Shot

I like to think one thing that keeps me ahead as a petite model is my parts and is my curves. My butt for example. It isn't easy to shoot the bootie in a way that is classy and editorial and commercial and sellable beyond sex. Here are some older shots taken when I started modeling. Last week I did a shoot and I did capture a great butt shot which will be on my next compcard and it is a challenge to create a photo that is more like an ad campaign for a lingerie product, the sexuality pull is to stick out the butt and flaunt it, but these days I am flaunting my bootie but to sell a product. Hopefully soon I will land a lingerie ad campaign and show off my assets :)

Cheers!

Petite Models on Petitemodel.net

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Petite Modeling walking into a Photo Studio

I think a model should know why they want to model, and what it means when they say " I want to make it!"

Make what? I think a model should know what she wants out of modeling. What is the it...you want to make?

So the next time you walk into a photo studio don't just strut in and say " Ok, I'm here, what do you want me to do?" Come in and say " I want to shoot this dress." Or " I really want to be in jewlery ad campaigns." Or " I want represent a handbag
company or shoe company." Or say " I want to submit some images to a magazine."

Be rare, original, and be more than just a model. When you are out at a club, don't just say," I'm a model." when someone asks you what you do and hands you a martini.
Say instead something that shows you are more than another model. Say something like " I model handbags" or " I am a hair model," Or a shoe model, or a swimwear model, or For something. The dumb nature of a model is when you are trying to just expose yourself without a point.

Strive to make a point and sometimes that means even admitting you want one or do have one besides being another one.

Petite Modeling and Nude Mistakes

As a petite model I have run into many upsetting experiences during my hustle as a petite model. During my next podcast segment on Model Talk, I will be discussing the Frustrations & Letdowns I have encountered and share the stories and how I got through it.

This is an example of one situation where I not only grew as a model but also grew perceptive towards who I want to work with and the type of ways I promote myself as a model.

"I leaned against his living room wall of his small Miami studio apartment near Lincoln Road. He said, " let me see your breasts." I lift my shirt slowly like I had many times before during the past few years for photographers. He said, "You know one of your breasts is smaller than the other one." He said it like I already didn't know this. I have seen my breasts plenty of times so I ignored his statement and let him just take a photo of them. It wasn't until I got out side that I wondered why I was letting this jerk look at my breasts in the first place, I walked out feeling so dumb, so confused, ready to yell!"