I was 14 years old when my journey started as a fashion model, traveling the world—Paris, Spain, Italy, New York, Tokyo… I knew then that my life was about to change forever. I was on the cover of multiple magazines, walking the runways for the biggest designers, and was the face for international campaigns like La Perla and Wolford.
I loved my job, the lifestyle, the money, and I even met my future husband! Then, at the age of 23, I received more amazing news—I was pregnant! On December 15, 2000, my beautiful son Maxwell was born into this crazy world of fashion.
Eventually, my husband’s desire to nurture his budding acting career uprooted our family of three to Los Angeles, and it was at this time that I realized my choice, to be a supportive wife, had its consequences.
Eventually, my international modeling career came to an end.
But I decided to take full advantage of all the connections that I’d made during my career to help launch another passion of mine—makeup. I started building a portfolio and the rest is history! Well, I’d like to say it was that easy, but it was a combination of taking small modeling gigs to pay the bills, testing models in my spare time, and pounding the pavement looking for representation from makeup agents that finally paid off. Oh yeah…and I forgot to mention the endless REJECTION throughout this entire process. “Where are the celebrities?” everyone asked as they flipped through my portfolio. But, nobody could answer my question: How can I work with celebrities without an agent?
All of these life changes started to take a toll on my marriage, and our once-young love eventually dissolved. I quickly became a single mom, still looking for a job, and still looking for stability. Every bad thing seemed be piling up, but I never stopped BELIEVING in myself. I never stopped having faith, and I knew deep down inside that there had to be a reason for all of this.
Then, one day my dear friend Brian Bowen Smith, a renowned photographer, called me and told me that I needed to come over right away. Colin Farrell was in his studio, and he didn’t have a groomer for his magazine cover shoot—there it was, my break!!!
Today, I work with countless celebrities: Milo Ventimiglia, Tom Hardy, Ridley Scott, Ryan Reynolds, Ben Kingsley, and James Franco, but this is only one aspect of my life. I search for balance and self-awareness daily, and I never let rejection stop me!
“If you believe in yourself, the sky’s the limit!” Enjoy the journey, not the destination!
Barbara