teenLook #5 - October 2019 - Nicole Goodwin

Jaida Samuel
IG Jaidasamuel
international teen model
teenLOOK
Meet Jaida; she is 16 years old and was
born in Calgary where she lives with
her parents and younger twin brothers.
Currently she is in Milan, Italy, where
she shares her experience of being discovered
and working as an international
model.
When I was younger, I was always made
fun of for the way I dressed and did
my hair, but because I was always so tall, my
mom's friends always told me to try modelling.
I was more interested in acting, though.
I really loved theatre both on and off stage,
and I did that for seven years before thinking
about modelling.
When I first walked into the Patti Falconer
Agency almost a year ago, I really didn't
expect anything more than a couple of photoshoots
and maybe some local modelling.
Ben, my agent, wanted me to go to an event
in Vancouver called Faces West. My mom
and I didn't really like the idea of international
modelling, so we didn't think too much
about attending this event. The more Ben
PHOTO/ katherine Calnan
MUA/ makeupbyshirleyE
HAIR/ Viva Hair
100 teenlook
told us about Faces, the more intriguing
the idea became. It was
a chance to put yourself in front
of 30 scouts from all across the
world.
You had the opportunity to model,
act, and present yourself in
front of a big audience. By the
time we made the decision to go
there, it was only three weeks until
the event, and I didn't have a
single clue what I was doing.
PHOTO/ Grant Huntington
I attended three of the walking
classes before I left and
HMUA/ Jaida Samuel
I still had to come up with
a monologue and commercial. Let's
just say it was a very hectic three weeks.
Finally, we got to Vancouver and the event
started. We got to do a monologue, commercial,
group runway, formal catwalk, and a
sports wear catwalk. I still didn't know what
I wanted out of modelling so I just tried to
put the most of myself out there as I could
and have fun. The last day was the day where
you got to meet the scouts, and they can decide
if they like you or not. I got 21 of the 30
callbacks which I thought was crazy because
I didn't know how to catwalk and I only had
two photos in my book. I managed to do all
my callbacks and fly
home that evening. I
felt like Cinderella going
from a magical weekend
and coming back home
to school and living my
normal life. About a
week later, Ben called
my mom and said we
need to come into the
agency today. My mom
pulled me out of school,
and we went to the agency.
I had a contract offer
from Fmi Model to go
to Guangzhou for three
months. My mom and I
didn't even think about
PHOTO/ Jon Jozef
it because the opportu- HMUA/ Jaida Samuel