Over the weekend I uploaded my second project on my YouTube channel; "The Nutcracker". I had the privilege of shadowing the dancers at my old dance studio (Piedmont School of Music & Dance). As I am creating my portfolio, I am constantly looking for subjects that inspire me. I couldn't have thought of a better project than my friends at the dance studio. They are hardworking, smart, beautiful young women. During this project I photographed and filmed the dancers from studio rehearsals, to primping themselves backstage, to taking their final bow on stage. Below are a few of my favorite photographs, that I captured. Going into this project I had no experience to photographing or filming people. So this was a challenge and a learning experience for me. Being done with this project now, I am thrilled with the outcome. Big thanks to Rebecca Whiley and my amazing friends that inspire me everyday. I hope you enjoy my new film "The Nutcracker".
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Wow, what a year 2015 was. My only New Year’s resolution for 2015 was to try to make it better than 2014. I didn’t think it would be possible to top 2014, but it was. From starting an internship with Oscar de la Renta to shooting my first cover for a magazine, you could say I’ve had an amazing year. I have decided to recap my favorite moments with photos. Because of my readers, Cashmere & Roses hit record stats this year. So thank YOU. Happy New Year xo, N JanuaryMy family surprised me for my 16th birthday present by taking us to Disney World. Then a couple of weeks later, I went to Miami for a week! February The highlight of February was going to Washington, DC. For my sister’s volleyball tournament. The whole family drove down there for the weekend. In between tournaments, we went to Chinatown to a famous dumpling restaurant and then visited the Smithsonian! April For the month of April, I lived in South Beach, Miami. This was my first time living on my own. I stayed in a model apartment with three other girls. This month is one of my favorites of 2015 because I met one of my best friends, Katie♥! April was a milestone for me. I became independent and learned that I’m not as afraid of doing things on my own. May As my tan faded away from Miami, I returned back home to spend some quality family time (also school time). During my time in North Carolina, I was lucky enough to meet the archivist at Oscar de la Renta (Marianna Sheridan). When I met with her she offered me an internship with her! Oscar de la Renta was and remains a dream client of mine to possibly work for one day. I was ecstatic to start this internship with Marianna. In the middle of May, my dad and I went to our ranch in Meeker, Colorado. Every year my family selects families from the Special Forces to come out to our ranch to join us at a "reconnect week". We fly fish, hike, swim, four-wheel etc. This is one of my favorite family things to do each year. I am able to sit down and talk with incredible families and hear their stories of how they have fought for our country. June In June, my family and I went to Figure 8 Island. We were lucky enough to stay with our friends at their house. During our week, we kayaked, caught blue crabs, fished and swam. At the end of the month my best friend Melissa and I went to the Taylor Swift concert. Let's just say that Taylor did not disappoint. July In July I started my summer in New York City. My mom and I stayed in the cutest apartment in the Upper West Side. We spent most of our days running around the city to castings and then spending late nights doing schoolwork. My mom's the best. One of the first things I did when I got to the city was visit Katie (my roommate from Miami). She was living in the city during the summer as well! This was also the month I was able to catch up with two girls I met at a local fashion show in 2012! They have both signed with New York agencies like me. It's crazy that we started from a local fashion show to us all living in New York City that summer! During the end of July, my sister came to the city for a week. It was so nice to show her why I love this city so much. We did all of the tourist things you could think of like visiting the Empire State Building and going on a tour boat. August August is the month I did a lot of things for the first time. For instance I started running. I know me, running? Yeah, it happened, and I do it now. There are so many parks in New York City so I thought I would take advantage of these beautiful grassy places. Every morning I spent running in the parks. Also I went to my first movie screening in the park! It became a tradition to do this every weekend this month. One of the highlights was going to my first Yankee's game. I thought if I own a Yankee's hat, I should probably see what this team is all about. August ended with us going to Coney Island for a photo shoot! September At the beginning of September I went home to North Carolina. It was so nice to see my puppy and catch up with my friends and family! Little did I know that right after I came home my agency wanted me to come back to New York City for fashion week. This was my first time living in New York City by myself, plus doing fashion week. So crazy! I can't believe I navigated on the subway and made it to every casting. Every day I would usually have around 5-10 castings. I lived in a model apartment in Brooklyn and met my roommate Morgan there! She was the sweetest and was like a friend/mom to me. After fashion week was over, I traveled back to North Carolina. October Being back in the Carolinas was really nice. I caught up with schoolwork, and made up some sleep that I had lost during fashion week. I started working again with Marianna (the archivist at Oscar de la Renta). Marianna and I took a 24-hour trip to New York City to visit the offices to pull some items for the archive. For the day we were there the sample sale was going on. I bought my first Oscar de la Renta gown that day. On my flight home I carried it on the plane with me, because I didn't want anything to happen to it! I treated it like it was my baby (which it kind of is). The night I got back from New York, I repacked to go to Monticello, Utah. My trip to Utah was the start of my landscaping photography and filming. I created my first YouTube video! In Utah, we hiked with our friends. After our week of breathtaking views, my dad and I back to North Carolina. November November was a pretty exciting month. I got to shoot my first cover for a magazine. I got to play dress up for a day in Cincinnati, Ohio. This was one of the best shoots I've ever done. Venue Magazine loaned The Transept; a stunning church for the day. When I arrived on location I thought I was dreaming. And if the church wasn't enough, the wedding gowns were breathtaking. Once I showed my dad the behind the scenes photos of me in a wedding dress, he said he wasn’t ready for that. Haha I can understand, a sixteen year old in a wedding gown is a little weird. But if there's dresses involved, you should know I'm always down for that. December In the month of December I photographed and filmed The Nutcracker at my old dance studio. I was able to catch up with my friends their that I hadn't seen in forever! Also I got to spend Christmas with my family. Oh, and I turned seventeen on the twenty-sixth!
Photographed by Rachel Zehner In today’s fashion industry, there's so much more to a being a model than just having a pretty face. For instance, look at Cara Delevigne. She’s stunning but there's a lot more to her. Cara has an outgoing and fun personality. That's why the industry is obsessed with her. She owns who she is and that is attractive! Contrary to the model stereotype, you have to be really smart, especially when you are looking for an agency. There is a lot of agencies that will scam you. My advice is to research online local agencies. Or, if you live in a bigger city, look at models.com which will show you the top modeling agencies in the industry. After you have found a couple of agencies that you’re interested in, they will have a submit information on their website including photos. They want to see the natural you! Use minimum amount of makeup. Typically they will ask you to dress in a tight tank top, skinny jeans and heels so that they can see your figure. You can take these photos with your cell phone. Take the pictures in natural lighting with a solid-colored background. The agency's website will instruct you of what kind of photos they want. It will typically consist of a close-up photographs of your face, profile and full body. There is a lot of work that goes into modeling. You have to be business savvy, well-spoken and on time. But most importantly, you have to have a thick skin. Modeling may not be for you, and that's okay! When I was thirteen and started modeling, I had little to no confidence. So it was a struggle for me to meet with clients and be confident. Luckily, I had my mom with me helping me through the process. Remember that no body is perfect! Even if the girls seem to be perfect and intimidating, if you get to know them, many times you will ll find they are just like you and me! I've been really lucky to meet such nice girls and make some great friends on this journey. It is cool for me to say that I have friends all over the world now. I have lived in a big city for an extensive amount of time on my own. Without modeling I don't know where I would be today. This industry has opened up amazing opportunities for me. Good luck! xo, N P.S. Below are a few recent digitals from my agency. Hello loves! I'm starting a new series called "Heart 2 Heart". These posts will be about personal topics that I believe everyone can relate too! Today I'm going to talk about happiness! Happiness is not something that you can buy at the store. It's something that you decide you want to be. No one else can decide if you are happy or not. Remember that! So its all up to you. Now I'm not saying that I'm 100% happy all the time. Because that is by far the case here. Im a working project and I always will be. Every single day I try to challenge myself to be a "better" person. I have found that in order to be 100% happy and content with yourself is to accept yourself. Except your flaws, insecurities, mistakes everything! You are you. No one else can be youer that you! Happiness comes from within. Learn to love yourself and take care of your body. It's the only one you got!
One of my favorite quotes is "you can have a happy life if you are surrounded by negative people". That is so true. Personally I have been through this. When other people want to tear you down just to make them selves feel better. They will try to make you feel littler than you really are. And thats just sad, but it's life! So surround yourself with people that you love and motivate you. Get rid of people that make you feel lesser, cause you don't need them! They will just drag you down. Sometimes to put a smile on my face it can be just as simple as going for a run in the morning, making pancakes with my friends or snuggle times with my puppy. Whatever it is for you do it more often. Find time! Whether that is waking up earlier to read a book, work out etc. Take time for yourself. Trust me it will help and affect your mood for the rest of the day. Something I like to think about is even though I had the worse day in history (which is an exaggeration) I just remember that I had a goooood morning! So go out and conquer the world! Good luck my lovelies xxx P.S. here are some cute short videos that made me happy & might even make you happy;) To be honest, I don't know if I could survive without music in my life. Music is what moves everyone, and without it, life would be pointless. I would say my music taste is Indie/Pop/Rock/Techno? Haha, anyway here are my top 10 songs, at the moment. Hope you like xx P.S. I post all of my favorite songs on my Pinterest too - "This is the Life" - Two Door Cinema Club "Grizzly Bear" - Two Weeks "Ezra Vine" - Celeste "Cazzette" - Sleepless (Radio Edit) "Submarines" - The Lumineers "Work it Out" - Knox Hamilton "Step" - Vampire Weekend "Something I Said" - Thundamentals ft. Thom Crawford "I Would Do Anything For You" - Foster The People "Ava" - Coeur de Pirate
Good morning:) I try everyday to get in some reading time. Reading is my escape from the real world. I get to read about other peoples lives, stories and interests in life. Today I am going to share with you my favorite books at the moment. Hope you enjoy. xxx "The TeenVogue Hand Book" - If you're looking to getting into the fashion business, this is the book for you! Its an insider's guide to careers in fashion. It has how to get started, how to create a portfolio, what art schools to go to and much more! Its such an amazing book, because the biggest people in the fashion world are featured in it. They give you their tips and tricks to becoming successful. "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?" by Mindy Kaling - Haha! So I'm obsessed with this book. Mainly because it's my favorite actress in the world! Mindy Kaling is hilarious. I can relate to her so well its actually kind of scary. She talks about her journey to acting and the things she had to do to get there. Definitely recommend this book to anyone who's looking for an extra laugh! "The Style Mentors" by Elyssa Dimant - This book is all about fashion icons from the past to the present. They discuss how to put things together, color coordination and much more! "Empower Yourself" by Miranda Kerr - This is actually Miranda's second book. Her first one is called "Treasure Yourself". I've read both books and I can't choose between them! Every woman needs these books in their life. They are so uplifting and inspirational. She talks about how to be gracious, kind, loving and generous. She has written affirmations that you can read every morning. The goal with the books is to read an affirmation and then try to incorporate that practice into your life.
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