Thursday, Jun 29

Isobella Jade: The FishbowlNY Interview

Yesterday, we reported the story of Isobella Jade, the 5'2" homeless model who has been pitching — in third person — Almost 5'4", her tragic-cum-triumphant memoir of her struggle as a height-challenged model, written entirely in heels at the SoHo Apple Store, around town.

We had but a pair of follow-up questions for her:

1. How were you saving your files?

2. Not to belittle your struggle in any way — seriously — but how are you "perhaps the most successful model in nyc under the height of 5'4"" and still living out of a suitcase?

Isobella's e-mailed response, written, presumably, from the Apple Store in SoHo:

FBNY: How were you saving your files?

Isobella Jade: On October 20th 2005 I first laid out my journals randomly into Microsoft Word at the Apple Store. The journals were my thoughts when I was just touching the surface of modeling, remembering my first photoshoot ever in my hometown of Syracuse, NY and during my sophmore year of college. It was about 60 pages of words. Then I saved it to my yahoo account. On November 4th 2005 I started to organize the order of how I wanted to tell my story if I ever got a chance to tell it one day. And as I wrote it I was living what I was writing. I stood at the Apple Store infront of a 17inch computer the one that I call " mine." I had been going to the store at the time for about 9 months. As I stood in heels for up to 2 hours at a time, my contacts and my mouth would go dry and without a blink of the eye I would pace back and forth from writing about my experiences to DOING the experience and the daily tasks of responding to emails, researching modeling jobs and places to send my comp cards. I was always in a rush running into and out of the Apple Store up to 3 times a day ... to go on meetings, photo shoots, and receive a potential paycheck and then right back to the store, I freelance so every minute in my day counts. From this past December 05 to January 2006 to February and till the middle of March, I have laughed out loud over it, typed frantically and received comments from employees to slow down and breath while I was staring at the screen viciously, vigorously. Sometimes asking a business man how to spell a word or two, right before I got to page 100, I grabbed a Wendy's Napkin out of my bag and saved a soda spill disaster all over the keyboard ,from a clumsy pre teen. I was at home at the Apple Store and I have even taken my heels off a couple times and stood barefoot as I wrote, and I wrote mostly in the evening and I was the last visitor to leave the store most nights. And while child howled and screamed for her mother, and 4 teenagers with dreadlocks crowded Itunes, laughing loudly with a "You gotta hear this," and swearing without shame, I let out my own smile and took a look to my right and saw 2 girls squeaking over their Myspace accounts, and then I took a sip of coffee, ... ... closed my eyes for 4 seconds, said a prayer and I finished my book. It was about 3 months ago, on the second computer ... on the right side store ... of the multi media table of the spectacular arrangement of Imacs. It was on a 17inch.

FBNY: Not to belittle your struggle in any way — seriously — but how are you "perhaps the most successful model in nyc under the height of 5'4"" and still living out of a suitcase?

Isobella Jade: Although Dylan please understand that my book is not a -show show- of my resume, it is my experiences working as an amatuer nude model for 2 years and then turning to a business women and learning how to sell myself without an agent to legit companies and jobs. It is about the struggles of being a model in a business of giraffes and how I manage to survive working with or without assistance. I was a track scholarship runner and advertising student less than 4 years ago and now I am my own agent. I work with a few agents freelancing, but mostly 90 percent of my resume is me me me. My book is called Almost 5'4 but I am big lier... I am really only barely 5'2. My compcard reads 5'4" because I am lean and I can pull it off. That is why I think I am the most successful model in NYC perhaps because who else is modeling full time who is barely 5'2 hahaha lying on her card saying she is 5'4 just to get into the modeling door? I used to model for internet amatuer sites when I was in college for my ego,for fun, I loved to be naked, and show off, but now I am living for the paycheck, for the ad campaign, for the brand, and out of my suitcase, sleeping on friends couches, eating dollar menu and basically a ragga muffin.