Casey Johnson is just your regular college student. She is a sister of Alpha Omicron Pi and in the marching band. She goes to class, studies, stresses about assignments, and works. Johnson’s job is not in retail or at a restaurant. Johnson is a signed model.
Johnson has dreamed of being a model since she was a young girl. She remembers looking at magazines and imagining herself on the cover. In high school, she learned about a modeling school and begged her parents to enroll her. She says that her parents enrolled her and spent thousands of dollars so that she could follow her dream. At modeling school, they taught her all about modeling, but the course was short. When she finished modeling school, she thought that she could automatically become a model, but learned that it would not be easy and required a great deal of work. During her freshman year of college, she auditioned and got accepted to an organization called Panthers Allure, which is an organization at Georgia State University for aspiring models. Johnson says, “It did not help me and it was a waste of time.” She decided it was time to get to work and apply to modeling agencies. Johnson went to multiple modeling agencies for open calls and was turned down by every single one. She was even told that she needed to lose weight and could come back once she did so, but felt that would unhealthy for her. With each rejection, she learned something new and worked hard to improve herself. Getting rejected started to become discouraging and she decided that it just was not meant for her to model. One day, Johnson came across a modeling agency website where she could submit an application, so she decided that she would attempt to join an agency one final time. A few days later, Johnson was called in for an interview and soon after, she was signed by Elbert Ivory, which is where she has been for about seven months.
Johnson is a full-time college student. She is a junior criminal justice major and she says, “because I’m taking all upper-level classes, it does get overwhelming sometimes, but I really love my major and everything I’m studying. It is interesting and I hope to make a career out of it.” Even though modeling takes up a lot of time, Johnson balances modeling and her college classes well. Modeling has not interfered with her college classes, until now. Johnson was selected to audition for New York Fashion Week and she passed the first few rounds of auditions. Johnson will be traveling to New York City in February, where she will be for a week for her final round of auditions to have the opportunity to walk the runway during New York Fashion Week. If Johnson is selected, she will come back home to Atlanta, Georgia for a few days before going back to model in New York Fashion Week.
Johnson was surprised that she was even selected to audition for New York Fashion Week. She had only been signed for a couple months when her agency told her that she was selected to audition for New York Fashion Week. She was so excited, but because she was so new, she did not think that she would even pass the first round of auditions. The final round of auditions is close, so Johnson is busy doing last-minute preparation and practice so that she will walk into her audition feeling confident and prepared. Preparing for an audition like New York Fashion Week includes runway practice, exercising, and healthy eating. Johnson says that she hates exercising and eating healthy is not always fun, but she knows that she has been given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and will not take it for granted. Remembering why she needs to stay in shape is the biggest motivation for her.
Johnson says that having the opportunity to audition for New York Fashion Week is a dream come true. Even if she does not get to model, Johnson is very thankful that she had the opportunity to audition and hopes that she will be able to audition again. If Johnson is selected to model, she believes that it could be a pivotal point in her modeling career. She does not think that she will need to choose between modeling and finishing her degree because she graduates in 2018, but if she did have to choose, she is not sure what decision she would make. Johnson is taking is one day at a time and enjoying the experience.