Text by Jasmine Alleva
Photography by Jack Steel

There are always so many clichés when it comes to anything in life. And people tend to believe the most spread opinion anyhow. That is not any different when it comes to the modeling world and the models themselves. In our new series “Diary of a Model” Model Jasmine Alleva at first introduces herself as how she is as a person and reveals a bit about her career. And soon she will tell more personal memories and stories of a model´s life. Her own life.

Diary Chapter 1 “Just Watch Me”

I want to touch as many things as possible. I want to live my life so enormously that I leave no dream behind. I have never understood the concept of “no” and have no plans on figuring out what it means. When I have been met with negativity and doubt, my response has always been “just watch me” and that is the foundation on which I have built my life.

Modeling follows these rules. I can remember how it started. My mother would become annoyed with the growing pigsty of mangled magazines covering the floor. My nimble hands moved rapidly, cutting image after image, pasting the beautiful women and their intricate garments to a white poster board until there was no space available. As a 13 year old in Anchorage, Alaska, this was the closest I could get to the world encompassing modeling, photography, and fashion. It was a dream. Some even called it a pipe dream – something so far out of reach that it is laughable.

 “I want to touch as many things as possible. I want to live my life so enormously that I leave no dream behind. I have never understood the concept of “no” and have no plans on figuring out what it means.“

For years, I put modeling on the backburner, but no matter how much I tried to become interested in something else; I could never stifle the burning passion I had for the world of fashion. I trudged through high school and college, finding myself constantly distracted by the thought that something unconventional was in store for me. I had to answer the call inside myself and decide if it was something I wanted or if it was something I was going to regret not doing for the rest of my life. The opportunity was at my fingertips and I decided to stretch myself out of my comfort zone and grab onto it for dear life.

Now, a year later, I find myself living city to city out of two tin can suitcases. Most of my days are spent running in high heels to some form of public transportation with my eyes pasted to a tiny, glowing phone screen, trying to navigate the streets of a metropolis I am foreign to. I go to castings and go sees non-stop in the hopes of landing an editorial or shoot that will keep a roof over my head. This is exhausting, exhilarating, and sometimes very heartbreaking, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.

Improbable is not the same as impossible and no matter where you are or what people say, nothing should deter you. You get one life to be and do everything you can and if something, be it a person, proximity, or circumstance, says “no”, always stand your ground and say, “just watch me”.

to be continued