Tell us about yourself. ”I’m 21 years old from South-London, I am a musician and model and I am signed at Leni’s Model Management in London. I have been modelling for about 4 years, whilst also making music.”
What came first for you, the music or the modelling? “Professionally I have been modelling longer, but I have been making music for a long time. It’s only been the last couple of years where I have been putting it out there, building my style up, whilst discovering how I want to go about certain things as well as learning more about the industry at the same time.”
How did you get into modelling? “I was about 15 years old, I was on my way to a concert in London, I was actually stood in the queue outside when some guy approached me and gave me his card and said he thought I would be good for modelling. He was from Elite London. I never really thought anything would come from it, but I followed it up anyway.
“I went to their office, and the guys told me I was still a little bit too young and that I would have to give it a few months. I went back a couple of times after that to be told the same thing. Eventually, I found a hunger for the industry, with everyone saying I had potential but they weren’t registering me, so I thought I would look elsewhere. That’s when I got signed by BMA models which were my first agency, about four years ago now.
“I wasn’t building a portfolio at any stage. I remember being in school and a friend of mine’s brother had fallen into the modelling industry, and he did really well working for the likes of Louis
Vuitton etc… I remember seeing him thinking he was only three or four years older than me and he had stumbled into it, so I started to think that could happen for me. It hasn’t been as fast-paced as his experience was, but I have definitely been snowballing over the past year or so.”
What has been your most memorable shoot? “The one that sticks out for me the most was for MCM, a German company, which was shot in Milan. It was my first taste of high-end fashion modelling, so I was proud to get that done.”
What sort of shoots do you normally do? “My agent tells me that I have a ‘commercial look’, but that I do fit into a bit of high end fashion.
She’s tried to market me for both, I have been doing a lot of commercial work recently. I have been doing a lot of work for Lyle & Scott recently, they have been one of my main clients for the past few months.
“I think going there definitely made me focus on being an artist and push the music I am making.”
Your not always modeling for just fashion brands?
It can be anything, I have done adverts in the past. Its open, which is good because it changes up the work your doing day to day which makes it interesting.
Strangest advert?
Back in the day with my first agency, I was about 17, I was involved in a shoot with Cadbury’s, they had a pop-up down by Southbank in London, and they were filming the event for their social media.. Me and this girl got picked for this shoot and we had to run around this play area which was filmed as one of those 360 videos, if you had a VR headset you could also follow me around this set which was mad! To pop up on Instagram with Cadburys was cool, I had loads of people messaging me asking “is this you?!’!
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Is music starting to play a bigger part in your career?
For shaw, I have always had more of a passion for music, and if I was to look into the future, that is definitely what I want to be known for. Since the start of the year I have been really pushing music as well as investing a lot of time and money into it to get myself into the right position to progress.
I have improved the equipment that I have got, because of studying music at University. It helps me to get me more focused on the kind of sound I want to be doing. I also think it’s very important for artists to collaborate with other people from an early stage. You never know how the music will turn out and you can also learn a lot from being in the studio with another artist.
I find it’s always been a blessing that I am doing modelling as well because the creative industry is so similar so you can always network wherever you are. For example, I could be meeting a photographer on set for a shoot who may know a videographer which can help with my music videos, I find it works hand in hand.
Have you got any projects coming up?
I have got a remix of my song ‘Without You’ which is with two rappers from London which I’m really excited about because the original song already had a good response. It’s also good to work with other artists in London who I hadn’t met before. I’m also shooting a video for a track which isn’t out just yet, but should be at the end of October. I’m also trying to get some new music out before the end of the year.