So many girls start modeling because they want to be famous. I really couldn’t give a ***. I’m here because it is a job, one that I take very seriously. It absolutely kills me when I meet models who are caught up in their own hype. If it weren’t for their good managers, they’d be modeling on Instagram.

I was scouted a few times before I finally signed with an agency. To be honest, I had no interest in spending my life taking pictures and sitting in makeup. I was studying marketing at a local college, with a clear plan of working for a top marketing firm.

Everything changed when my mother got divorced. I wish I could say I was surprised. This was my mom’s second husband, and I saw more of his assistant than I saw of him. Mom, however, for some reason was taken by surprise when he started not coming home for weeks at a time. She was in denial about his new secretary. I wasn’t.

Although my father had covered all of my college expenses, he had not left my mom enough to keep up with her lavish lifestyle, and the second husband was definitely not kicking in either. He filled for divorce not to long after and ran into the sunset with the assistant we used to see so much of.

So, with puppy dog eyes mom pressured me into getting a job. When that didn’t work, she guilt tripped me.

I headed straight to the last agency to contact me. Seemed like a quick solution at the time. I’d make some good money, and I could still take my classes.

Three years later, I’m still modeling, Mom is remarried (without a prenup this time) and college is a mere memory. I was making so much money that it didn’t make sense to go back.

Sometimes I regret my decision, but when I think about it, I know that I made the right move. My mom was able to get back on her feet, and I have a career. Dad wasn’t too happy about it at first, but after I had bought my own house at 22 years, I think old he got over it, and we all lived happily ever after?