Modeling Status: Do hits and Clicks Mean You are a Model?

A big debate I have with myself is that idea that hits and clicks define models and make girls models, and yet there is the tearsheet, the product the brand that we all strive or have strived to get our name apart of.

I live to be as diverse as possible, and able to pose nude with jewelry for a jewelry brand, or editorial, like I did for Time Magazine, or pose in a tee shirt for am organic cotton tee shirt company. In my book I talk about how many scum bags there are out there as I take you on a journey of my personal modeling pursuits from using the Internet but what I discovered really meant more than hits and clicks was to me it was working with an agency, getting a call from an agent, going to a go-see, getting booked, --but still the feeling of knowing I could handle myself and get my own modeling work before I had these agencies made me feel so powerful and capable.

I can't say that hits and clicks do NOT define a model or that it means nothing... because on my podcast I count ALL my downloads and on my website I count all my hits. Keeping track of my status and also my google rankings. But still getting a feature in a magazine means more than getting a comment on my Myspace page or website.

Knowing you can market yourself is so important in this technology Internet crazed world, and it easy to fall for the wrong agencies and the get stuck with getting nothing on your resume or portfolio. The Internet can be a great tool to research and I do it everyday, I am researching magazines, editors, and brands I want to model with, and submitting to magazines, but my plate is very diverse. I don't just want to be one kind of model, but I want to be diverse. I don't think the Internet allows diversity because everyone wants hits and clicks, but usually that comes because of something that you are showing that is sexy, shocking, or shameful. Weird how The Internet society is, but it is true.

We get to choose our path, which is something we are lucky for, and when it comes to hits and clicks, vs. Tearsheets. I will take the tearsheet any day. To me modeling has become about selling a product, telling a story in an editorial, and creating art and an expression. Not just posing for the hell of it, or letting a comment on Myspac, Modelmayhem, Onemodelplace.com etc make my day...because I like tangible proof that I am in fact a model.