Ok I have taken the photo. My face is now also five shades pinker. I didn’t turn my phone on silent & the sound of the flash certainly turned a few heads. #WHOOPS The girl in front of me turned around.

“Let me guess…snapping a pic for Instagram?!!”. I smiled and nodded.

She asked me what agency I am with. When I tell her my NY agency, she sighed. She said she was jealous! I was not expecting that response given that I could see her comp card & her agency is no joke! And side note: she is ABSOLUTELY drop dead gorgeous.

When I look at her more closely, she looks as if Caroline Trentini and Liu Wen had a child. Her! She was the most amazing Eurasian girl with a face full of freckles. She went on to tell me that my NY agency had rejected her on a number of occasions because she looked too similar to models already on their board. I was shocked! I threw her a compliment by telling her the two models I thought looked like. She laughed and asked me if I was yet to check out the other models signed with my agency. No? … Was I meant to? She pulled out her iPad. F***. Caroline Trentini and Liu Wen were both signed with my agency.

She was laughing so I joined in. Little did she know that my laughter was really just “time out” while I thought about what to say next! I noticed the S symbol on her iPad. Great! I now have an in!

“I see you’re using Snaptch!” She nodded & opened up her app for me to see. Eek instant terror hit me as I saw her figures. Not her bust, waist & hip measurements… but her followers on Instagram. She had almost 200k and another 18k on Twitter. She’d removed Facebook though? Weird. I asked her why.

When she told me that she didn’t want to hook up her personal page I realised something that she may not know. Relief! I now have something of actual value to contribute to this conversation instead of continuing to gawk at her portfolios amazing front image…The cover of Vogue Spain. She was scrolling down her folio as she spoke and all I could see was image after image of amazing editorial work. It seems she has put way more thought into her portfolio app that I had. In my defence, I didn’t get my latest shots until the day before I left for NYC. I had to quickly import everything at once from Drop Box on the way to the airport. In their defence, I totally forgot. I was too busy Googling the location of Carrie Bradshaws apartment stoop.

If I am to have any chance of booking this show, before I get to the front of this line I need to sign into Snaptch & do a quick little switch-a-roo of the order of my folio shots. I think my ELLE spread should come before my campaign for LG Dishwashers. NYC seems like the place where fashion would always come before the latest range of stainless steel kitchen appliances.

Anyway I told her to update to the most recent version of Snaptch. She was delighted! She was now able to link her Facebook Page i.e. her fan page to her Snaptch portfolio instead of her personal account.

Oh dear god. It appears that I have shot myself in the foot. As she connected her Facebook account & refreshed her app, I saw her number. 14K followers. Good one dickhead. Mental Note: Stop speaking. Or at the very least, stop giving the competition tips on how to book this job over me.

In all seriousness though, I shouldn’t be so hard on myself…Thanks to my cupcake inspired blog, I’m almost up to 35k on all three platforms. Not bad!

A few more seconds of awkward laughter & meaningless chatter went on as I was thinking what I could say next to this glamorous NY model with a billion followers & not one blemish insight.

She spoke first. Thank god. “Thank god for Snaptch! My book hasn’t really been getting a lot of attention lately as I’ve been tied up studying. The only thing that’s getting my attention is my Instagram page! It’s been growing so quickly! Thank god as it’s currently my only income stream! Do you get into social media much?”

I replied and told her all about The Cupcake Diaries. She seemed enthused by the idea and asked more questions! I think my first mission to “Find a New York Friend” had been achieved! Snaptch is proving to be a good little conversation starter too. I am never leaving home without my iPad in New York! I wonder if I could take it out on dates? I am learning towards No.. My second mission to “Find a New York Boyfriend” is beginning to fade away into the distance.

I look up & we’ve moved! I can finally see the casting agents ahead. I quickly sign into Snaptch and reorder my folio shots. It’s looking much better now. Starting off with the ELLE spread was a good move. Go me.

 

Keep watching this space for the Final Edition of My New York Journal.

And If you happened to miss Part 1 – I suggest you go on and read it.