MERGE Magazine - Issue 1 - Shine

shine MERGE Magazine | Issue 1

MERGE

FOR US

CONTENTS

EDITOR’S LETTER Ethan Reynolds

THE ABSENCE OF THINGS Marishka Douzable

PUSH THE NARRATIVE Chrissy Rutherford

NO LIMITS Ben Perreira

ON THE VERGE

Hannah, Carmen, and Danielle

BREAKING TRENDS Ashlee Marie Valle

TURNING POINT Shideh Kafei

AUTHETNIC

Coree Moreno 4 MERGE

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MERGE The Shine Issue no. 1

When I first began working on the concept for this magazine, I was shocked to discover that something like it didn’t already exist. Why was there no platform for the people of color in fashion, when there are so many of us, scattered throughout the industry? Why was there no place for our faces, our voices, and our stories? At the beginning, I spent a lot of my time searching for an answer. It took me a while to realize though that an answer couldn’t exist for a question that’s never been asked before.

For decades , the fashion industry has neglected people of color, creating a sense of ‘otherness’ for non-white workers and consumers. The industry is, in many ways, a largely white and westernized business, where people of color have never truly been allowed to hold the same real estate and value as their white counterparts.

Over the past year, the fashion industry has made fundamental changes to the way it operates in an attempt to address this imbalance. Several people are calling these changes a beautiful and inspiring moment in fashion history, however, I would argue that this is more than just a moment; it is a movement that is by no means over - there is still work to be done for all of us.

And that is why I decided to go ahead and make this magazine. In all honesty, I had no idea how I was going to make it or even if I could. All I knew was that I had one goal in mind: to create a space that would showcase and celebrate the beautiful and creative individuals of color shaping the global fashion industry today. From Marishka Douzable, to Chrissy Rutherford, Hannah Woldetsadik, and Shideh Kafei, these are just a few of the creatives making their mark in an industry that has for so long pushed them aside, paving a path for future generations of POC.

The mantra for MERGE magazine is “For Us, By Us” which was inspired by the African-American clothing brand, FUBU, founded in 1992. This phrase is full of meanings that I hope will resonate with diverse readers and inspire them to see the potential in the fashion industry as a place that can represent a viable future. Through a combination of time, energy, and love, it is my desire to create and develop meaningful content that will leave a lasting impression on others and push the fashion industry culture forward.

- ETHAN REYNOLDS

EDITOR’S LETTER

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Editor and Creative Director Ethan Reynolds Assistant Editor Alexandra DiDomenico Photographer Marishka Douzable Writers Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing & Vamika Sinha Special Thanks New York University Global Liberal Studies Program, Mitchell Jackson, Tamuira Reid, Lise Friedman, Pam & Ed Reynolds

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THE ABSENCE

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OF THINGS

From Queens to Haiti and beyond 9 MERGE

Marishka

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Douzable Story by Vamika Sinha

“IT IS OUR JOB AS CREATIVES TO MAKE reality less threatening and more breathable, but not a fantasy.” This is the crux of Marishka Douzable’s creativity. The 22-year-old NYU Tisch graduate works for Oscar de la Renta, creating visual content, such as videos and graphics, for the company.

Fresh from the Class of 2018, Marishka majored in Film and counted one of her specializations as animation. “Right now, a little side project I am working on involves visual illustrations, which is something I’m trying to get back into,” she shares. She is also interested in music and the idea of directing her own short film.

Her idol is Spike Jonze, and fittingly so – Jonze is known for his varied work, having directed award-winning films such as Her, several documentaries, short films, ads, music videos for artists like Kanye West, Bjork, and Lady Gaga, and fashion films for brands such as, Kenzo. He is also heavily followed by the skateboarding community, being a former skateboarder himself, a pastime Marishka counts as one of her side passions. “I don’t skate well, but I love observing and documenting it all.”

Born in Queens, New York to a Dominican mother and a Haitian father, Marishka spent much of her childhood between Haiti and Montreal. At seven years old, she moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, when her parents got divorced; her father stayed behind in Canada. “I obviously identify as black, but I guess Afro-Latina would be the best summarization because my mom is Spanish and my dad is black, but both of them have the commonality of being French. So, French, black, Spanish,” she explains. Marishka speaks French, Creole and very elementary Spanish.

“I’d like for it to be in bold that NYU is racist.” During film school, Marishka faced “tons of microaggressions.” White people made inappropriate comments, behaved in problematic ‘white savior’ ways, diminished her views, and often made no effort or refused to understand and execute her ideas and visions.

“There is nothing worse than being a creative female of color because it is just a double

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whammy of annoyance. Like a lot of it would me saying something and no one listening, but then a white counterpart [would say] the exact same thing but worse or more mediocre, and [then get] praised for it.” Thankfully, Marishka hasn’t faced any problems regarding race at her current workplace. “The industry is slowly changing and progress is really being made,” she says.

Having never had any aspirations to enter the industry, Marishka “fell into fashion.”

Before her current job, she had no experience in the field. But the journey to her role really began when she was young, while watching live action movies with her father – “Greek epic movies, action movies like Troy and Saving Private Ryan, movies by Michael Bay” before the more refined films. Marishka also spent a long time wanting to become an architect. She was always visually inspired and motivated, roaming around taking pictures of various buildings in Florida. In 2017, she went to Florence, Italy and took a fashion photography class, which simultaneously piqued her interests in both fashion and still photography. Prior to this, she had mostly been interested in publications, magazines, and the more editorial side of fashion, citing VICE, i-D and The Fader as favorites, as well as GQ. “I wish more women’s magazines were like GQ. Their pieces are more personable and less superficial.” Marishka concludes that she largely “came into photography through architectural photography and interior design type things, and then crossed over to photographing people in 2017.”

Creatively, Marishka is driven by simplicity, the absence of things. “I feel like I have a very short attention span—which is why Vine was my favorite thing because it was so quick—and I get distracted if there are a lot of things going on.”

She likes to emphasize the bare essentials, what she finds raw, natural and truthful, which Marishka feels is missing from fashion. To her, runway clothes seem distant and unattainable to the point of non-existent, while ads are overly staged and airbrushed. Marishka’s visuals are a reaction to fashion’s fake gloss by being purely driven by simplicity and the craving for it all to be more genuine. She believes this kind of visual styling helps to normalize flaws. “As young people in the creative industry, we have this mentality that we have to constantly be putting out things that are great and perfect. I feel like the less glamorized things become, the more we will be able to accept reality for what it is. Who knows, we might be less stressed out too.”

Architecture remains Marishka’s primary source of inspiration. One look at her Instagram page reveals a “meticulously composed” creative format that is perfectly ordered. “Through my visual work, I have the chance to be clean, simplistic, and straightforward because nothing in life is straightforward. My digital world is the closest I get to any type of order.”

In terms of film, what Marishka originally studied at college, she is trying to push for more diversity but in a way that does not necessarily rely on centering black narratives merely for the sake of being black. It can be tiring to come across another film, which may be wonderful, but one where the whole plot hinges on being black and navigating the story because they are black. Marishka lauds Jordan Peele’s new movie Us for being a regular scary thriller but just with black people; it is normalizing. “I’m doing my little part to push scripts with colorful narratives forward,” she says. “I’m brainstorming a project right now that will be a short film. I’d love to make a full film but I can’t afford that. I can barely afford to make a short film. In terms of fashion, I do my best to speak up and give people my honest opinion with my company’s creative team and our advertising work.”

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“I think this project is great. I feel really good about it. It’s shown me that there is a real community out there and that I’m not alone in this.”

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PUSH THE

NARRATIVE

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Chrissy Rutherford Story by Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing

FOR CHRISSY, NEW YORK CITY WAS NEVER TOO far from home. “[I’d have] school field trips to museums here or to go to the Statue of Liberty,” she recounts. “[I’d be] coming into the city with my parents to go to Broadway shows, go to dinner, go shopping.” Born to Jamaican immigrants and having grown up in Bedford Hills, a town in Westchester County, New York, the idea of moving to the city never overwhelmed her. Despite being raised in a more suburban and predominantly, white community, the hour-long trips to the Big Apple prepared her for what was yet to come.

As a child, Chrissy Rutherford was always drawn to anything involving creativity. From playing with clay to doing pottery and drawing, Chrissy honed in on her visual instincts. It wasn’t until middle school, however, that she realised that fashion would be the path she’d pursue. She began by wanting to become a model, “so that was my first desire to be part of the fashion industry.” But then she fell in love with magazines and although she didn’t have a clear idea of what it takes to make one, her future was set - she was going to work at a magazine.

Chrissy attended Fairfield University in Connecticut and studied Communications with a focus on Media Studies. She inherently knew that to be able to work in the fashion industry she didn’t necessarily need to study fashion. At the end of the day, like she says, “It all comes down to what you know and what you don’t and everything you can learn along the way.” After graduating in 2008 and deciding that she wanted to be an editor, she worked as a sales assistant for a multi-label showroom and then interned at Diane von Fürstenberg working in eCommerce and Public Relations. While in school, she spent two summers interning at Harper’s Bazaar working for the Fashion Editor at the time.

One day, she bumped into that old editor on the street who now worked for InStyle and she ended up assisting him on a side project he was working on for the company. At In Style, she also met Joanna Hillman (current Style Director at Harper’s Bazaar) who was the Fashion News Editor there. After leaving InStyle, Rutherford freelanced for several other companies before freelancing at Harper’s and seven and a half years later, she is now their Senior Digital Fashion Editor.

When she first started, no one was really investing in digital and it wasn’t until around 2014 that

Troy Young, the current President of Hearst Digital Media, came in and revolutionized the digital business. In her position, Chrissy definitely wears many hats, from being in charge of the magazine’s Instagram to writing fashion news stories to helping out with the eCommerce site Shop Bazaar. What she likes the most about her job is that she has the liberty to do what she wants, she doesn’t have to ask for permission. “I am the Bazaar reader and the Bazaar reader is me,” she says, which helps her choose the type of content she knows will resonate the most with her readers. Working in digital, however, does pose its challenges. “one thing I have learned from the many things I’ve learned from Instagram is that accounts like ours tend to have lower engagement because there are so many other accounts,” she says, “Elle is posting the same thing as us, Marie Claire is posting the same thing as us, Cosmo, Vogue, so it’s very hard to win in those situations unless you’re the first one to get it up.” It’s all about understanding the content you’re working with and seeing how your company can stand out from all the others.

While in middle school, Chrissy never thought about whether or not her race would have any effect on her desire to work in the fashion industry. Growing up, her parents always said to her, “You’re black. There’s always going to be people who might not like you because of that but those people don’t matter and you do.” The idea that race would play a factor in her career never crossed her mind. That being said, she still faces microaggressions but her confidence taught her to defend herself when need be. When she was first beginning to do interviews, people were surprised to find out she was black due to her name. At Harper’s, she is the only black person at her position level. Even so, Chrissy likes the fact that the rest of the women in her office - who are all mostly white - are cognizant of race and are actively thinking about the ways in which they can increase diversity throughout the content they publish. Because she is the one who is mostly working with Instagram, Chrissy is very much up to date with what’s cool, what’s happening, and what people are talking about, so she’s always bringing in ideas about the type of people that Harper’s should be collaborating with. Coincidentally, most of these people are black because as she says, “black people are doing the coolest shit.” From a Gabrielle Union feature to Ciara’s pregnancy cover to publishing essays

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Senior Digital Fashion Editor at Harper’s Bazaar 17 MERGE

“Obviously we’re there to help push the narrative and whatnot but at the end of the day we’re not going to get anywhere if we don’t have white allies who are helping.”

by model Ebony Davis, Chrissy has pushed for more minority voices since she started her job. Chrissy also emphasizes the need for black people to reach nonblack spaces in order to spread the message. “A really big thing is like we’re not going to get anywhere if only black people are talking about this,” she emphasizes. “We need white people who are also advocating for how important this is. Obviously we’re there to help push the narrative and whatnot but at the end of the day we’re not going to get anywhere if we don’t have white allies who are helping.”

Other than needing white allies to help push the diversity agenda forward, Chrissy also says it’s important to give opportunities to young people of color because breaking into the industry can be difficult. “It’s hard because you wish you could help everyone but you can’t and it’s just getting increasingly harder because

most of the publishers no longer have internship programs because of all the lawsuits in the past. It doesn’t get any easier, even at the level that I am at.” Nevertheless, Chrissy says that working in the fashion industry can be great; you just have to really love it and understand that you have to take the good with the bad.

Despite loving her current job at Harper’s Bazaar, Chrissy knows that there is something else waiting for her out there. “I don’t see myself working in publishing forever,” she explains. “I’m a little disenchanted with it because of the celebrity obsession and that angle and that’s hard for me because I don’t care about celebrities, I care about fashion.”

She doesn’t know exactly what she wants to do next, but working with brands is definitely something she wants to explore in the near future.

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NO

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Ben Perreira

Stylist based

and in

business New York 22 MERGE

owner City

Story by Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing

ALL BEN PERREIRA KNEW, BEFORE CHOOSING A LIFE IN FASHION, WAS THAT HE was driven and motivated. “I definitely wanted to do something bigger than whatever I had or what I thought I had at the time,” he says. “I knew I wasn’t going to stay in Hawaii.” For Ben Perreira, fashion found him and fortunately, his fascination with women’s shoes opened an avenue where his determination and drive would be put to good use.

Ben was born in Kailua-Kona, a small town in Hawaii best known for its Kona coffee.

As an island person, Ben is mixed with a myriad of different ethnicities. His mother is from Thailand and his father was born and raised in a small town called Hilo on the opposite side of the island and is a mix of Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, and Filipino. Nevertheless, Ben says that he identifies as “Asian but mainly Thai.” Because he is so mixed he prefers to see himself as an islander who is mainly Thai.

When he first moved to Los Angeles for university, Ben was studying Psychology but midway through realized that it wasn’t something he was necessarily interested in. He did know, however, that his obsession with women’s shoes was something that could possibly lead to something more. He set up interviews at the University of Southern California and the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising. Both interviews happened to happen on the same day with FIDM being in the morning. “When I went to FIDM, I just kind of knew that it was right,” he recounts. “The feeling, I liked the vibe.” And just like that, Ben decided that this was the school for him and cancelled his USC tour that evening. At this point, Ben still didn’t have a specific vision as to what he wanted to do, so he chose to study Visual Communications, a major broad enough that would allow him to dip his toes in the different classes that the school offered. His first experience as a stylist occurred a month after being in school, on a photoshoot for ELLE Magazine. “It was amazing - it was crazy.

The shoot specifically was a lot of fun and so I was just super interested in it.”

Three days after graduating in 2010, Ben picked up his things and moved to New York City with no plan. “I didn’t have a job set up,” he explained. “I had a sublet for 5 days and then I’d just figure it out.” While working in Los Angeles, he met a lot of people who were based in New York, who he could collaborate with and take advantage of the opportunities that were sent his way. He didn’t have anything specific lined up but all he knew for sure was that he didn’t want to stay in Los Angeles.

When one graduates college, the first thing that is expected is to look for and apply for full-time jobs. For Ben, that was never the case. “I never had a full time job, ever, until I started working at CR.” CR Fashion Book is a fashion publication created by the French fashion editor Carine Roitfeld. Before starting at CR in 2012, Ben spent most of his time freelancing. While at CR, he was working specifically with Carine whom he had met while they were both working for Harper’s Bazaar; him as a freelancer and she as the publication’s Global Fashion Editor.

He spent a little over five years working for Carine. Ben’s title coming into the company was Fashion Assistant and because there were no more than 5 employees working at the time, he took on a lot more responsibilities that an assistant would usually take on. “As Fashion Assistant I would be in charge of calling every single look in, being on every single photoshoot, and overseeing sample traffic or the team of interns I oversaw doing research,” he says. “Basically anything and everything.” He does recount how open the conversations were at the publication because of how small the company was, but when he was just an assistant, he just had less to say or believed that he didn’t have the right to say certain things.

Despite this, Ben knew that he had a lot to offer. “What was great about freelancing is that I never did that (moving on from one person to the next) until I met Carine. There was no one I really wanted to work with full time and I just really liked freelancing. I got to learn a lot of different ways of working. Having bounced around a lot then coming to CR, I was able to bring all that knowledge and because it was so small I was deifnitely in charge of

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“I need to stop

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dressing like I’m an assistant; I need to start dressing like I’m the fucking boss.” myself to get the work that needed to be done.” He was able to structure the system in a way that worked best for him while also learning as much as he could. By the time he left in February of 2018, he was Fashion Editor and felt that he had much more creative control over the content he was producing.

When it comes to race in the fashion industry, Ben believes that it works differently depending on which side of the industry you’re working in. “The thing about that is that I think it’s really different when you’re on the internal-facing side of the industry.

For example, I’m not a model, I’m not the one being represented in the images. So there could be a lot of discrimination of racism and things like that within what is being represented within images.” The actual industry, he explained, is much more diverse because all the different creative people there are. He says he’s never had a problem regarding race because regardless of race and sex, people have been able to express and show their creativity. For him, it’s about being more conscious as to who is being casted, who is working on projects, and who is being hired. “I think it’s our responsibility as creators to be conscious of what we are creating because it influences people and it has to start from us. We have the authority and we have the power to make decisions, to affect images, and what’s culturally relevant, like what’s happening in the zeitgeist. Because in the past not being aware is how we got into this problem. So it really has to come from us.”

The one issue he has with the fashion industry, however, has to do with ageism.

Because he is so young and young-looking, he says that people treat him differently.

“When I was moving from an assistant to a more senior role I knew that I needed to have a look that made me seem of authority. If you look the part and present yourself and feel a certain way about yourself, then you’re able to have those conversations and you’re able to say what’s on your mind. It also allowed Carine to trust me to go into a meeting and represent her and be her brand when she wasn’t there.” Ageism is something Ben deeply cares about. He explains how being aware of his age and telling himself not to succumb to what people thought of him really helped him overcome his insecurities; it is what allows him, to this day, to be confident in his own ideas and beliefs when speaking with CEOs or the highest people of companies.

Since launching his company, Ben has expressed how grateful and lucky he feels to have so many opportunities come his way. Building a company from the ground up is difficult but at the end of the day, it’s something he loves doing. “There are a lot of things you need to consider and anything good is not necessarily going to come easy,” he says, “I’m still learning so many new things just working for myself.” As to what is supposed to come next, Ben recently styled a Vivienne Westwood story about modern love. “The concept of the shoot is to show visually what modern love is in the world. Modern love being self-love, friendship, familial love, relationships,” he explains. “The cast would be a group of different people. We’re going to have people of color, people of different sizing, people of different backgrounds and lifestyles. Redefining what we think of the subject, basically.” Furthermore, Ben consults for the LVMH Prize, where he helps find young designers and helps them apply to the prize. The LVMH Prize is a great way for young, diverse designers to get their work out there. Other than his fashion consulting work, Ben is always keeping busy by working on different cool and exciting projects.

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Hannah Woldetsadik

Curve Model signed to Wilhelmina and full-time student at New York University Story by Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing

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BEING A WORKING MODEL WHILE ALSO attending university full-time is no easy feat. From needing to miss class on certain days to not being able to attend castings on others, Hannah Woldetsadik has spent the last few years picking and choosing what works best for her. “I’m definitely willing to miss class to work and I’ve had professors who are fine with it and I’ve had professors who weren’t.” Nonetheless, Hannah’s determination to stay focused - on both school and modeling - is the driving force behind her success.

Hannah was born to Ethiopian parents and raised in the Carolinas. As a child, Hannah really wanted to be president. “I always wanted to change stuff.”

When she was just six years old, she made a petition asking for everything to be free and was even able to garner a number of signatures. Before she could even send it to President George Bush, though, she lost it.

Despite losing her petition, her sense of drive and passion was not lost on her. “I’ve definitely always been pretty stubborn and focused so if I want something, I will literally do anything to get it,” she says. “I like to go get the stuff I want out of life.”

In 2015, Hannah made the move to New York City to attend New York University, where is she currently a senior majoring in Linguistic Anthropology with a minor in Arabic and French. It wasn’t until Sophomore year that her journey into fashion began.

“I didn’t know [that modeling would be my career path]. I just had a friend who liked taking pictures and I liked being in front of the camera so we organically just ended up doing that.” Hannah would then post her photos on Instagram - which she says she loves using - and that’s where she first got scouted by her agent. Within two days of getting scouted, she received a phone call from Wilhelmina telling her that they really liked her personality and were excited to see where their relationship could go. She’s been there for exactly two years now.

The beginning of Hannah’s career was quite slow, as she says, but mostly because “naturally you have to make a name for yourself and I also didn’t have the time because I was in the middle of my college career and it was very difficult to focus on all of them.” Because of school, she isn’t able to go to as many castings as she’d like, but this doesn’t stop her from learning as much as she can about the industry. She’s even willing to miss classes sometimes to work and she wishes more professors would understand that not all students have the privilege of not working. “[NYU] is the most expensive school in the most expensive city,” she explains.

“Sometimes I’ll be on set doing homework or writing a paper in between shots.” For Hannah, being a full-time

student while also modeling made more sense to her financially and even though she does admit it can sometime take a mental toll on her, she perserverse by being focused on what’s ahead. “School really takes away your time to really be creative and express yourself,” she says, “I love modeling and I am excited to dedicate most of my time to it after school.”

Modeling is not your typical 9 to 5 job. There are no set hours and you may not even know what your schedule is supposed to be like until the day before a job - if you’re lucky. “Being able to answer phone calls [and check your email] quickly is important because you could get a casting and you need to be there in an hour and drop everything. If it’s a casting you might find out the day of and being flexible with your time is very important.” For some, this lack of structure may not make sense, but for Hannah, it works perfectly with her personality. That being said, when she does get notified about a job that will be happening on a certain day, she partakes in a mini routine. “If it’s a day where I have a job, I wake up at 8am and probably get there at 9 depending on the call time. Then I am on set and get my makeup done, get my hair done, get styled and I’ll also do some homework.” On days where she has class before a casting, she’ll do her own makeup during class, using her Macbook camera as her mirror.

The one thing she always does before a casting is wash her hair and brush it the way she likes it. “I don’t like to arrive on set with my hair not perfectly brushed,” she explains. “Because sometimes the hairstylists don’t know what to do with my hair.” As a black woman in a still predominantly white industry, finding a hairstylist who knows how to work with black hair can be difficult. Hannah says that a lot of hairstylist have actually come to her asking for advice, and that’s something she appreciates. “If you haven’t been educated formally on black hair I would rather you ask me questions than wing it.” Throughout the different jobs that she’s been on, Hannah has learned that being cast as a black model - let alone a black, curve model - has a lot to do with who is giving you the opportunity in the first place and then what happens when you’re at the opportunity. “I’ve noticed that even for fashion stuff or runway,” she explains. “If they’re going to go with a curve girl, they’d rather go with a white curve girl because you can’t be both curve and black.”

Even so, Hannah acknowledges that the industry is changing everyday, especially in terms of the kind of people wearing the clothes. This year’s Fashion Week has featured more curve models and models of color that Hannah has ever seen and she’s hoping that next season’s event has double the numbers.

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“ I’m hoping in the future we can get rid of it [the labels] and it just be models. I feel like there would be less pressure for people to look one way or the other.”

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Hannah is very passionate about the need for diversity within the modeling industry, but as of right now, she doesn’t feel like she has enough power or fame to her name to be able to drive the discussion forward.

“I’m hoping maybe in the future I’ll be in more of a position of power to speak out and be able to do something about it.” Even so, colorism within the industry is definitely something she sees on the daily and wants to change. Hannah says that sometimes she’ll be the darkest person in the room, which frustrates her because “there are a lot girls who are much darker than me who should also be here and there’s nothing I can do about that.” She says she doesn’t work with many girls who are darker than she is, which points to a larger issue within

the industry that needs to be discussed a lot more. As one way to solve this, jokingly Hannah suggests “making our own stuff that truly represents our community because everything gets replicated anyway.”

It’s hard for Hannah to picture what’s coming up next. She definitely wants to pursue some other creative hobbies, but because she spends most of her time between classes and modeling, the one thing she looks forward to at the end of a busy day is being able to sit on the couch and hang out with her friends. “I don’t know,” she says. “I’m hoping to do more this semester but if not, I’m not going to be hard on myself because I know that after this semester, we will have the rest of our lives so I’m not going to beat myself up.”

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Danielle

Mareka

Brooklyn-based

model 34 MERGE

and

activist

Story by Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing

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DANIELLE MAREKA’S CHILDHOOD WAS MARKED BY A SERIES OF MOVES. “I was born in Bushwick, New York but I was raised in Guyana for five to six years,” she says. “Then I came back after having moved around and ended up in Westchester, New York.” Because of how she grew up and the type of household she was raised in, her career aspirations and goals created a sort of disconnect between her and her family, who were used to working in what she calls “pragmatic” careers.

Danielle grew up in a very immigrant household. Her father passed away when she was very young and she spent her childhood mainly with her mom’s side of the family. Growing up, her household consisted of her, her mother, Susan Jillian Beldora Shaniah, her grandma, aunt, and little cousin. Danielle describes her family as being “very Guyanese,” and considers herself the black sheep of the family. “I am super American,” she explains. “I feel like there is a very large disconnect.” This disconnect stems from the fact that she is interested in a very non-traditional career field, fashion, while her family is used to going into fields such as medicine and law, fields where financial stability is much more promising. When she first told her family that she wanted to become a model, the response she received from them was something she expected, but still doesn’t fully understand. “They are very narrow minded, especially, coming from a country like Guyana and then immigrating to a place like the US where everything is just so vast with choices that I feel like my family is still in this mindset of bare essentials.” Danielle has always been determined to explore everything that the world has to offer, especially in terms of modeling and traveling and meeting people, despite feeling like her family will never really understand what that means.

In terms of her identity, Danielle is still trying to solidify what that means for her.

Although she doesn’t have the same relationship with her late dad’s side of the family that she has with her mom’s, she still grasps on to her Native American roots. At the end of the day, however, she would say that “I am a Guyanese, black Native American.”

Modeling was always something Danielle was interested in doing. “I always had an interest in magazines,” she says. “I’d have subscriptions to my house and cut outs in my room where there is a wall with a corner just filled with magazine pages that I had just ripped out.”

When she was 12 years old, she started compiling a list of agencies to which she could apply to when she was 13-14, because that’s when you are allowed to start applying. Her mom was always there to support her and would even take her to different open calls. Nevertheless, her support for Danielle didn’t take over the fact that she still wanted her daughter to go to school.

Besides modeling, Danielle also took great interest in the sciences. “I always tried to balance the pragmatic careers that my family really wanted, which I don’t want to put in that way, because I also wanted that.” Despite her interest in the sciences, the structure behind studying Biology or other sciences “sucks the life out of any type of fun.” Danielle went to New York University wanting to study Biology but then she realized that she didn’t want to pursue such “corporate” careers because it took away the creative freedom that she wanted to stay close to. In the end, she ended up majoring in Public Health and graduated in December 2018. “I’m definitely still figuring out what I’m interested in because I have so many interests. Things like health, social issues, and policy,” she says further. “All of those things influence me and I want to influence them as well, but at the same time I have a problem dealing with the corruption in those systems.” Although she still faces those corruption issues in the fashion industry, the difference is that “you have this freedom to create things that help you escape that.”

After having graduated this past December, Danielle is taking the time to figure out how she can make modeling and art financially sustainable for her. The greatest thing she’s realized so far in her journey is that she enjoys being her own boss even if it means not being able to have steady money coming in every month. Since being in the fashion industry at the age of 13, Danielle has continuously been learning about the industry through her experiences. “I still don’t fully understand the fashion industry and it has been years of trying to figure out how to navigate through all of these smoke and mirrors.” She admits to glamorizing the industry at times through her Instagram, which

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leads to people believing that she is making a lot of money. However, that is not the case, and throughout her experience, she’s realized how the industry can sometimes be very disorganized and chaotic. “There is no real sense of community in fashion as a whole,” she explains.

“When you look at people of color, for example, the black community, when you go to castings there is definitely some type of community, but on the whole it is definitely just a dog eat dog world.” In her opinion, people in the industry spend a lot of time trying to fight to get to the top, without really understanding what that means. For Danielle, fashion is an art form and a medium of expression that is more than just about the money and the business.

More visibility as a model equals more responsibility. When you model for something, you inherently become the face of it. “It is really interesting,” Danielle explains, “because sometimes when they take your photo you don’t know the project. You are told the baseline of it, but that is kind of it.” As she gains more notoriety, Danielle emphasizes how important it is to really be aware of the projects one may take on because something can easily go wrong, i.e.

Kendall Jenner and the Pepsi commercial. “It is weird because you realize that you don’t have as much of a voice as your face does. It is a really difficult thing to balance. Not always knowing is part of the job.” Personally, Danielle tries to be more socially aware and responsible when it comes to choosing the jobs she takes on and the positions she puts herself in. However, she is currently taking a back seat when it comes to really being vocal about certain issues because she is still trying to understand and align herself. When she was first starting out, she was “so quick to put ideas out there but [she] had to realize that [she was] still developing,” and that as a rising model, it is important to understand that there is still so much to learn.

“Overall, I just want to take it to the next step... you know, elevate myself. ”

Besides modeling, Danielle has been able to participate in other cool, artistic projects.

Being an extra in the Oscar-nominated film BlacKkKlansman has definitely been a highlight of her career so far. “It was an all black/poc cast so I felt like I was a part of black excellence.”

In terms of more traditional modeling jobs, Fashion Week is always memorable for her. It may be chaotic and crazy but the thrill of being on the runway is what motivates her and inspires her. “For the recent New York Fashion week, I walked in Kim Shui, Vaquera, Bevza, and then Christopher John Rogers.” She also did some brand work with Glossier.

As of right now, focusing on personal projects, such as organizing clothing drives for the homeless, is what’s important to her. When she sees something and feels moved by it, she does whatever she can to do something about it. “That is how I’m trying to be active because right now where we are in history,” she says, “it is not the time to be passive.” However, she does say it can be overwhelming when issues are being sensationalized and shot out at you like rapid fire and she’s trying to find a balance between self-care and staying aware of the issues surrounding her.

At this point in her modeling career, getting an agent would be the best move for Danielle. However, having had to represent herself for so long and doing a lot of work on her own that she’s proud of has her conflicted. “You are told that in order to become a real model you need an agency but in reality you don’t.” Overall, her next goal is to just elevate herself in any way she can and to just go bigger with her art. “Some short term goals I have include featuring my own work in a gallery space,” she explains. “And doing more self directed work.” As an activist, Danielle just wants to become a responsible citizen by reading more and educating herself through that form and making sure that her foundation is secure.

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Carmen

Curve Model signed to Wilhelmina Story by Vamika Sinha

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Fozzard

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AN AGENT ONCE TOLD CARMEN FOZZARD TO STOP drinking so much; her face was getting bloated. “She was right, though!” the 23-year-old curve model laughs.

Being a model is about constantly monitoring yourself.

Carmen has to maintain her weight, keep her skin clear, and check her phone incessantly. Calls for shoots can pop up any second, sometimes just two hours prior to a shoot. At the start of her career, Carmen missed hundreds of castings this way. Modeling entails a barrage of expectations, for which there’s no handbook. “You kind of have to figure it out all by yourself.”

Born to a Mozambican mother and British father, Carmen grew up wanting to write children’s books. In 2015, she enrolled at Pace University in New York, hoping instead to pursue an anthropology degree and become a teacher. However, nothing worked out. “I took a semester off. I was so depressed.

I thought that I’d never find a job, that I’d be living in the street,” she recalls half-jokingly.

But it was during her time off that she, quite literally, stumbled into getting signed by Wilhelmina International Inc., one of the world’s most prestigious modeling agencies. “I had literally never considered modeling.

I had no experience.” But Wilhelmina signed Carmen virtually on the spot. She currently models full-time, still on an indefinite gap from college.

Now Carmen has been in the industry for almost two years. She started with mostly ecommerce work, which required changing about 50 times within an hour.

“I wasn’t passionate...I was filled intensely with insecurity,” she shares. “But you’ve got to keep forcing yourself to have a positive mindset.” Lately, Carmen has been doing more editorial shoots, which although they “pay nothing”, are the direction she really wants to go in. “You kind of get to play dress up for the day.” She stresses that out of all the various types of shoots, editorial provides the most creative freedom from the very little agency offered to models in the first place. On the whole, models are mostly ignored, existing mostly as “hangers” or as vessels to fulfill a creative fantasy. Sometimes, they are not even shown their own pictures on set.

“In the beginning, for a while, I felt like I was on the outside looking in,” Carmen says. But she was also expecting everyone to be ruder. As a biracial woman in the fashion industry, Carmen’s experience has been largely free of creases. But she recognizes that some of this comes from the privilege of being lightskinned. The fashion industry fetishizes very specific shades of black: the extremely dark black, probably “straight from Africa” or more frequently, the mixed girl, who is “black but still white enough to be palatable.” While she is grateful for all her opportunities,

Carmen wishes the industry saw blackness as a spectrum, that there are so many black girls in so many shades, light and dark, who all deserve great opportunities. “I’ve only worked with dark-skinned girls twice before. And I never see them in castings.”

Although change is coming, albeit slowly, the fashion industry still has much to do in pushing forward conversations on diversity. A big part of creating this change is just being involved in the industry as people of color, Carmen believes. Visibility and exposure are key factors. The industry needs to go beyond displaying and idealizing just white, skinny women.

That being said, Carmen often comes across people of color while on set. Most of them are Asian; hair and makeup artists often tend to be Japanese or South Korean, a fact she finds rather curious. But one aspect remains consistent: the reluctance to touch black hair.

Almost every hairdresser, save for those that are black themselves, say they won’t do anything to Carmen’s hair when she arrives on set. “I think they don’t want to do it because they’re scared. They’re scared they’ll ruin it.”

For Carmen, this is annoying and insufficient. “Take a class!” she exclaims. “You’re a professional!” Not a single black or mixed girl in the industry would not be able to share Carmen’s experience.

Carmen wears wigs for her shoots. She curls them the night before and puts on a face mask before an editorial shoot – the e-commerce shoots will photoshop her anyway – and she laughs at how hairdressers will balk at the double whammy of dealing with both a wig and black hair. Carmen finds that only black hairdressers are ever capable and ready to handle her tresses – but they are also, unfortunately, a rarity. “I’ve only had a black hairdresser on two shoots before.”

It looks like it will be an exciting year ahead for Carmen overall. She is about to be featured in a Glossier campaign and recently shot for Vivienne Westwood, which she is incredibly thrilled about. She is also grateful to have her fellow curve model friends around her and on her Instagram feed, seizing new opportunities every day. “The curve community is what gets me to wake up in the morning.”

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“ I know that I get a lot of priviliges from being mixed and lighter skinned. Therefore, it is my responsibility to root for every dark skinned girl out there because at the end of the day, we are all just trying to make it work in this business. ”

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BREAKING TRENDS

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Ashlee Marie Valle Story by Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing

ASHLEE MARIE VALLE’S DREAMS AND ASPIRATIONS have molded her into the person and fashion designer she is today and the type of person she wants to be years from now. “I have always lived a life where creating art was a necessary activity for me in order to stay sane in my conditions.”

Ever since she could remember, Ashlee has been working towards making her artistic dreams a reality.

Ashlee was born in Newark, New Jersey to Puerto Rican parents, Johnny Valle and Zugey Flores. Her introduction to fashion began as a little girl, when he grandmother first taught her how to sew. “My grandmother taught me to sew at a very young age,” she says. “It was a passion of hers and she felt as though that every woman should know how to mend a tailor clothing as a survival tactic.” From that perspective, Ashlee was taught that fashion design was a necessity in order to build a woman’s character. Fashion, for her, at the time, was more of a utilitarian concept than an artistic one.

As soon as she graduated high school, Ashlee took all the money she saved up, moved to New York City, and found herself an apartment in Brooklyn. “I came to NYC because I wanted to go to a place where I knew my work would be recognized, and where I could formulate my own independence.” Ashlee’s life has been all about artistic growth. From drawing, to sculpting, to sewing, to even writing, Ashlee spends much of her time trying to better and hone in on her craft as a designer. A month after moving to New York, she began taking classes at Parsons, where she is currently pursuing her BFA in Fashion Design.

Ashlee believes that there is great responsibility that comes with being a designer. She uses her gift as a way to understand the systems in the fashion industry and to see their flaws and then tries to figure out the different ways in which she can combat and fix them. “There is no point in designing if it isn’t revolutionizing the industry,” she explains. “Or the way people are perceiving design.”

Being a person of color in the fashion industry can sometimes add unwanted pressure. For Ashlee, the fact that she is of color makes her feel like she has to tell a story with her work. She doesn’t necessarily know if she particularly likes that or not, but either way, she knows she has to do it so that she can show other Hispanic girls that they, too, can pursue their dreams. Ashlee also takes it upon herself to work with and assemble teams that are mostly made of other POC artists. “I never thought about it too much,” she says. “I [just] subconsciously prioritize other poc artists.”

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“As a person of color, I feel the need to tell a story. I don’t neccesarily know if I like it or not.

It’s an unwanted pressure, but also, bitch you better give some insight because it’s a part of you that only some can relate to. Other young Spanish girls from the hood need to know that they can do it too. I need to let them know whether I want to or not.”

When talking about the industry, Ashlee does say that, in her opinion, diversity has become more of a trend that anything else. “I stress the word trend because it just seems as though people are profiting off of the idea of being diverse.” However, like she explains further, diversity shouldn’t be a trend, it should be the norm. In other words, diversity shouldn’t be what differentiates one brand from another. All brands have the responsibility to be diverse. In her role as a designer, Ashlee says that the best way that

she can further the discussion is by “keep doing what I do.” Her use of diverse casts and teams on her projects is something that drives her to keep doing her best. “I want it to be completely normal to be a successful poc artist with a poc team and poc models.”

As for what’s coming up next for her, Ashlee says that she plans on doing as much artistic work as she can while she’s still a student. She does everything she can to mold her personal unique style and has already started working on her own brand.

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T U R N I N G P O I N T

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Shideh Kafei Story by Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing

AS A CHILD, SHIDEH KAFEI WAS DEFINITELY ALWAYS INTO DRESSING UP. “When my mom would do her makeup, I was so interested in watching her and trying it on myself,” she says. “As soon as she would look the other way I would put lipstick all over my face.” Fashion and makeup gave her a sense of independence, to the point where at the mere age of four, she was already insisting on dressing herself.

Shideh was born in Ecuador but moved to Cape Coral, Florida at the age of seven. Having people ask her where she’s from always poses a little bit of a problem. Shideh considers herself “half Ecuadorian, half Persian, and raised American.” She defines “raised American” as having grown up in an American society while holding on to her Ecuadorian and Persian values and culture. When she was in high school, Shideh was part of the cheerleading team and the most fun part for her wasn’t even cheering - it was being able to do her makeup. “Since I did my makeup well my teammates would be like “Oh can you do my makeup too?!” so I would end up doing like ten girls makeup before games and stuff.” She also says that America’s Next Top Model was a huge influence on her. Shideh found her niche and has stuck with it every since, even though she studied something completely different in college.

Shideh majored in Marketing at the University of Central Florida. “I’m kind of like a multifaceted person because I did marketing knowing that I wanted to be a makeup artist.” Studying marketing was also a way for her to have something to fall back on if being a makeup artist didn’t pan out. However, she still knew that being a makeup artist was her endgame. Because she didn’t have enough money to move to New York straight away after college to pursue her dream, she decided to move back home, become a real estate agent, and save as much as she could. Soon after, she moved to New York and went straight to makeup school at Makeup Designory. “I still do real estate now,” she says. “It turns out that it is really great money and once you start getting one client, they refer you to the next, and then it is really hard for me to say no to money so I kept it going.” Shideh describes this as being part of the hustle of living in New York City. It’s hard to just do one thing and it’s all about being able to secure the bag in any way possible.

Being on the cheer team and working on all her teammates’ makeup really showed Shideh how fun makeup could be and she sees this as her first introduction to what working in fashion would be like. “I definitely feel really lucky that I was able to find a passion at such a young age,” she says. “And kind of make a path and set goals for myself from such an early start.”

Shideh has seen kids come out of high school - and even college - not knowing exactly what they wanted to do and she explains that she feels lucky to have a found a passion that doesn’t feel like work. Of course, like she emphasizes, nothing comes without hardships but it’s all about finding a passion where the good moments always outweigh the bad ones.

As a full-time, freelance makeup artist, Shideh is her own boss. From managing herself, to booking jobs, to invoicing people to get paid, to getting rebooked again, Shideh does all of this herself. “I do all of my social media which is important for me because it is starting to grow and it is a constant portfolio.” She calls it a “never ending business card” because as soon as she works with a client, she puts them on her social as a way of letting this particular client and future clients know that she is here and is ready to get booked.

Shideh also makes sure that her kit, which is the most important part of her job, is always clean and ready to go. Since she lives in NYC and she needs to get to her jobs as quickly as possible, taking all her materials isn’t possible. Depending on the job, she’ll think about what she needs that day and she’ll pack whatever that might be. “I might need all my glitters, which is like pounds of glitter,” she explains. “Other times I may not need glitter at all because it is going to be a very natural look.” Every job requires a different kit.

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Because she works freelance, her schedule can be quite all over the place. Shideh is constantly checking her email because “when people try to book you, they want to book someone right away, so if they email or text you and you don’t respond right away, then they are just going to move on to the next person in a matter of a few minutes.” She’s even lost a couple jobs because she’d looked at her email just a few minutes later than usual. It’s all about being on the clock at all times and for others that may be stress inducing, but this rush is something that Shideh loves. At every job she tries to network and meet as many new people as she can because you never know who is going to give you your next job. Nevertheless, she finds it important not to overbook herself and to spend time taking care of her body and resting. Being healthy and participating in self-care is just as important as booking the next gig.

Despite having people tell her that the fashion industry is not the best industry to work in, Shideh has been able to experience the good side of fashion and is thankful for that.

“Straight away since I moved to New York, the only way I get jobs is through word of mouth or referrals, and I’ve been able to make it this far so people have been really amazing to me.”

However, she does acknowledge that not everyone is as lucky as she is because there is that side of fashion that underpays people and doesn’t appreciate its artists. Nevertheless, her passion for working in fashion and even music prevails. She especially loves working with musicians and artists because she finds that they have so much in common. “I’ve worked with really cool musicians like Kali Uchis. I just did a music video with J Cole. I’ve worked with Beach House and several really amazing people whose music I love and admire.” In fashion, she’s worked with brands such as Dunkin Donuts, V Magazine, Nylon, Paper, and Milk. One of the most exciting things she’s worked on recently is NYC Pride. “It is like my dream project because I have always been very passionate about going outside of the lines of who can decide who can wear makeup,” she says. “I’ve always been very confused about who made all these rules that only women can wear makeup and not men. So basically this campaign was all about working with monumental people who have had an impact in the LGBTQ+ community.” Shideh was able to have full creative freedom over the two months that she worked for NYC Pride and its become one of her most treasured accomplishments.

“If you don’t work super hard and aren’t always giving your best, then you won’t be able to make it. There are so many talented people in New York, so how are you going to differentiate yourself from others? You need to be at 100% at all times. ”

Shideh started working professionally in 2016 and at times, she has noticed that she is the only person of color in the room or on a set. However, as time has gone by, she’s seen a total change and shift. “In my first year, I was the one person of color on a set,” she explains.

“Then in my second year, there were more models of color on sets. And in the last year, I have really seen a different in most sets that I’m on. So many people are of different ethnicities, sexual orientations, and such.” Shideh also attributes this to the fact that she’s become more aware of the people she decides to work with and surround herself with.

Although she hasn’t had any personal experience dealing with race in the industry, she has been witness to it. “One day I was working with this beautiful model with like super curly big hair, which is my favorite [type of hair to work with]. I do her hair and makeup and then she goes on set—it was more of a corporate shoot—and the owner of this particular brand was like “oh my god, can we do something about this hair? It is just too much.” So the owner made me put it up

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in a tight bun, which was ridiculous because curly hair like that adds so much excitement and spiciness to the look. That day I saw the models mood completely change. She came super excited to be there and then as soon as the woman said that the vibes were completely off for the rest of the day.” In another instance, she describes hearing a model ask another model - who didn’t have a typical American/English name - if she could use a nickname for her because she couldn’t be bothered to learn how to pronounce the model’s name. Shideh herself has had people call her ‘makeup’ because they couldn’t pronounce her name or didn’t even bother trying. “In the beginning I let it go,” she says. “Now I make a point to say it several times until they get it because if I’m taking the time to remember your name then why can’t you do the same?”

In Shideh’s eyes, the best way to continue to push diversity in the fashion industry is by having conversations about it. “So while I’m on set, multiple times I find myself speaking to models about how beautiful sets are now and recognizing how different everyone looks. It is so exciting to be taking part in this big turning point we have to talk about it and acknowledge it.”

Even a small post on social media can have a big impact. “Also,” she says, “whenever I have the chance to refer someone or bring someone on to a project I really try to make it a point for it to be a person of color or somebody in the LGBTQ+ community.” For Shideh, it’s all about paying forward the same love and appreciation that she received when she first started out.

As Shideh’s career progresses and changes, so does her style. When she first moved to New York City she didn’t really know what her style was but over this past year, she’s started “gravitating towards this more fun and colorful aesthetic.” The fun thing about makeup, she says, is that you can have one style now and change it tomorrow. Aside from her aesthetic style, Shideh loves working on sets and with people who are just as passionate about telling stories and to do work that contributes to modern conversations.

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Coree Moreno

Story by Line Sidonie Talla Mafotsing

SOME PEOPLE CHOOSE THEIR CAREERS BUT for others, it chooses them. For Coree, hairstyling chose him. “When I was a kid my parents worked a lot of overnight shifts so I would do my sister’s hair for school every morning,” he says. “My parents would pay me weekly to do her hair and I kind of got into it and it felt like a part of my process.

It was just a part of me.” From working on his sister’s hair every morning to having clients on prom nights back in high school, hairdressing was more than just an extension of his being - hairdressing was the one thing that propelled him to the successful young, black man he is today.

Coree Moreno was born and raised in Washington DC and right after high school, decided to go straight to cosmetology school. “It’s a year-long course and then I was licensed in Virginia and then I got my license in DC and Maryland so I kind of worked that whole Tri-State area.” He worked in DC for about 4 years before deciding that it was time for him to venture out. While in DC, he worked behind the chair in a salon and then he started assisting a celebrity stylist who showed him the ropes and opened up an avenue for him to start working with women of color.

Although his professional career started way before most, his first official introduction to the fashion industry was assisting Vernon Francois on a couple of his clients. They met in 2016 and at the time, Vernon was working on a shoot with a pregnant Serena Williams for W Magazine.

“It was pretty epic,” he remembers. “I was able to help create some of the hairpieces and curate the looks and really have my hands in with a celebrity client for my first experience.” Coree loved it and not only did it solidify the passion he has for his work, it gave him the chance to become even more creative. Within that time frame, Coree moved to New York City and had worked some of the biggest projects he’s ever done. Some of these included working on Virginia Williams and her bridesmaids for her wedding with Pusha T and working on his first cover with former Teen Vogue Editor-in-Chief Elaine Welteroth. Coree does feel extra appreciative of Elaine, though. “She’s [Elaine] opened up a lot of doors for me as well. She’s definitely connected me so heavily within the industry.”

Building a career as a hairstylist, no matter how much you enjoy and love it, takes a lot of work and preparation. Everything, from coming up with content for inspiration to the shopping to the purchasing of all the materials, it takes a lot of practice.

“The extensions and the hair, it just takes days and weeks sometimes. Sometimes I’m working with a wig or a hair piece that I don’t know when I’m going to use it but as it kind of figures itself out, I’m like, “oh, this works for her, I’m going to use it for her”.” Coree loves to make custom pieces for the people he works with and creating specific moments for each client so that in itself takes a great amount of preparation and meticulousness. In addition, especially since he only works with women of color, each case will be different. “Is she a natural girl or is she relaxed? That is a huge factor that will come in. Does she wear extensions at all? You know? Is her hair going to be wet or dry? Because for a woman of color that is huge. She’s going to need hours to dry, so I’m going to need to bring a hooded dryer. It just depends on what that set looks like that day so I have to go on another level of research.”

For Coree, it’s all about making sure that the clients feel comfortable and satisfied.

When it comes to diversity and representation, Coree Moreno can easily be considered as a leader in the movement. Even just the fact that he specifically works with women of color, already goes to show he is taking it into his own hands to further the conversation. He also talks about how there has been a spike in people at the top realizing that having more diverse people working on their teams is actually a positive. Being able to show the world that black people are able to do anything they want with their hair is what he finds incredible and strives to continue doing. “I want them [black people] to know that there are more options than we’ve been given so I love that.” As a hairstylist, Coree also takes it upon himself to advocate for models of color on set, especially when everyone else may not be as well-informed as to how to style, light, and shoot, for example, kinky and coily hair textures. Coree takes an especially closer look at the way contemporary television and film has revolutionized how mass audiences experience black hair. “That’s what I want to see on tv,” he says enthusiastically. “I want in film

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“To be on set sometimes and not be afraid to do a style that’s impactful and so strong. And that isn’t meant for everyone to get, but if you do get it, it’s for you.” and TV to show the versatility and options that textured hair and curly hair and people of color have.”

Not only has advocating for models of color been an important goal for him, but so has making sure he’s working and collaborating with as many people of color as he possibly can. “I often don’t work on projects where it’s not a set of colorful people and diversity,” he explains. “I feel like the new age set is starting to become a little bit more colorful and we’re recognizing each other on set.”

It’s all about acknowledgement and expressing excitement about being able to be in a space where diversity and color are celebrated.

At only 25 years old, Coree Moreno is as busy as anyone successful can be. Just recently, Coree got to work on the CR Fashion Book cover for the spring/ summer issue, showing the new logo and featuring British actress Cynthia Erivo. With the release of this new cover in the next couple of months, Coree’s career can only go uphill from there.

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BY US