Girl, You So Well Spoken!

[photo by henrique belisle]

sometimes it seems like quitting my corporate job, moving out to la la land, and then deciding to be a model has made many of my friends and internet followers look at me as some kind of example of "how to pursue your dreams"... 

i know, it looks like i'm brave. and maybe i am. depending on how you look at it. honestly, i did it because i'm a bit mad. i was scared out of my mind. but when i put them side-by-side, being absolutely off my head and happy looked better than being absolutely off my head and sad. so i picked up my life and i moved it 3,000 miles to the left. with no money saved and no idea what life would look like in any other moment but the present. 

so if you want my advice on where to start or how to "do it", here it is:

you just have to go.
it is really hard to be somewhere else and try to make it happen.
you have to go to where you wanna go and be so blatantly set on succeeding that you cannot be ignored.

and you can certainly quote me on that. 

over the last few months, i've received emails, facebook messages, tweets, and random comments in passing from friends and observers alike, telling me that because of what I decided to do with my life 8 months ago, i inspire them. that my decision to uproot my life and pursue my dream and then blog/tweet/facebook update relentlessly about it has caused them to feel inclined to do something, to live for themselves, to seize the day (and yes, as i type that i'm thinking seize the day like christian bale in newsies). that my journey has made them feel like they weren't alone or hopeless in theirs...

so I felt led to say this: 

i am overwhelmed. your feedback means the world to me. i don't have all of the answers and i don't know what's coming next, but just know that the fact that you are rooting for me and the fact that you are striving for dreams of your own inspires me. you pour a teaspoonful of love and courage into my cup every time you send me a message and every time you offer a sincere congratulation. know that just as you are watching me, someone else is watching you--inspired by your courage and motivated by your progress. 

with love and sincerity, 

missjodie

when i go to sleep at night and when i wake up, this is what i dream about [because dreaming doesn't stop when the sandman evacuates the premises and the sun rises, you know].

i want the editorials, the magazine covers, the runway shows, the fashion weeks, the brand campaigns, the dresses, the accessories, the [sky-high] shoes, the fabulous personal wardrobe, the street-style photographer hoping for a glimpse of me, the renowned photographers shooting me, the everlasting marriage [to a rocker?], love, success, wealth, vogue, elle, paris, milan, japan, karl lagerfeld, christopher bailey, alexander wang, valentino, alexander mcqueen, christophe decarnin, nicolas ghesquiere, kate&laura mulleavy, terry richardson, gilles bensimon, patrick demarchelier, steven meisel, mario testino, peter lindbergh, annie leibovitz, solve sundsbo, ... the list goes on.

when i go to sleep at night and when i wake up, this is what i dream about. because the real dream happens when your eyes are open, and if i get to choose what happens--since i get to choose what happens--this is what i choose: 

About 2 months ago, I met Pharrell Williams. The Pharrell, of N*E*R*D fame. Great guy. Personality for days... And he somehow managed to light a match underneath a dream I'd given up on long before. He gave me the phone number of one of the biggest directors in hip-hop, Hype Williams... and proceeded to call him up and have a five-minute rant about how incredible he thought I was. I stood there shocked. You know when you're afraid to blink or breathe or even celebrate for fear that someone might, at any moment, snatch the moment out from beneath your feet? Yeah, it was like that.

Of course, I didn't tell anyone. With the exception of the people who were in the room to witness Pharrell jumping up and down like a kid in a candy store, no one knew what I was hoping would come next. I kept it close to my heart. I didn't tell anyone that Hype called me a few days later. I didn't tell anyone that he said he'd like to work with me. I didn't tell anyone that he'd asked me to come by and meet him once I got to LA (on a previously planned trip to see Val). I didn't want anyone's negative energy to touch what looked like the beginnings of my dream falling into place...

Long story short... Hype asked me to "come by" the studio... I thought I was simply shaking the man's hand. He hands me a Hervé Léger bathing suit and puts me in hair and makeup...

I'm still holding my breath. There's so much more that I'm hoping to accomplish, beyond a hip-hop video. I know I'll have to hustle, and jump through hoops, and take chances. But hey, I figure it's not too shabby to start my new career this way. What do you think?

If you haven't already, press play & walk on the moon with me, Kanye West, and The Dream! Fast forward to the 2:54 min mark to see yours truly in action.

xx

BIG shoutout to my homie Sean Brown for catching this on 106&Park yesterday! LOL

(video via Xclusives Zone)

Woke up this morning from the creepiest dream everrr!! Some weird egg-shaped man was stalking me!! I was shuddering for at least 10 minutes after waking up!! Is that what happens when you fall asleep listening to Iron & Wine??

Anyway, in honor of waking up and discovering that it was all just a dream and my life is not, in fact, in peril at the hands of the egg-man, I leave you with the following five fun facts:

• Today in 1889, the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated in Paris. 54 years later, Christopher Walken was born in Queens. 52 years after that, that crazy lady killed Selena. Oh March 31st, you sadden and amaze us simultaneously...
  
• The food industry continues to try and kill us all off with salmonella.
  
• Oprah's South African boarding school just got scandalous, again! I totally get that adolescence is the time for sexperimentation, but come on, forcing other girls to do stuff with/to/for you?? Yikes...
  
• This Chris Brown-Rihanna situation is giving me whiplash. Cooperating or not cooperating? Together and working it out, or taking a break and dating other people? I. Just. Don't. Get. It. That girl needs to release a statement so that the young girls that look up to her can figure out what message she's really trying to send, instead of having to decipher one from all of the mixed media.
  
• Isaiah Washington could use a paycheck. He and his wife were reportedly evicted from their home. So sad... Edit: apparently, they moved out before they were thrown out, so they weren't evicted.