I climbed the stairs from the subway to get to the street level, and as I look up, I see the State building. I feel this rush inside my body that reminds me why I am still chasing my dreams.
My name is Delanie DeMarco and I have been a signed model since I was 14 years old. I have done fashion shows for Macy’s and PromGirl, and I’ve even walked in Miami’s Bikini Fashion Week for two years in a row. The life of being a model contains dieting, long, hard workouts, monthly meetings and random pop up castings.
Last friday, I got an email at 7 A.M. to head up to the agency office in New York City around noon. There was no other information, just that one sentence. I had to cancel my appointments for the day and skip my classes, just to find out what this one sentence email meant.
Once I got to the office building in NYC, I went up to the 24th floor where the walls are all windows and there’s models everywhere. It gets kind of hectic and intimidating. Tashina, my manager at the agency, greeted me very quickly and pulled me into her office. She then told me that I had 45 minutes to get down to the garment district to meet with American Eagle. In that moment, my body was filled with excitement and happiness but I was so shocked at what might happen that I couldn’t even move.
I rushed out of her office and into a taxi as I headed down to the next location, on 40 West 34th St. I took a deep breath before I entered the building and told myself “I cannot wait to tell my mom.” The directors of fittings at American Eagle greeted me and brought me into a room. The room was filled with great energy and I just knew that I was about to given even better news. After I sat down, I was handed a paper to read thoroughly and then decide to sign. As I began to read the paper, I could barely get through the full document without my eyes watering.
That quick, abrupt email brought me to that office and sign a paper to become a signed fit model for American Eagle. This has been a goal of mine since my first fitting at their office when I was 16 years old.
It was a dream come true. All of my hard work at the gym and self discipline to stay a certain size, all the classes I skipped and college events I missed out on, and all of the tears after rejection, this moment made everything feel worth it.