ibrown@themeridianstar.com



Aspiring model, 17-year-old Kayla Allen was discovered while shopping for makeup in Destin, Fla.

"I was 15 at the time and on vacation when someone approached me and said, You should really come to the model search,'" said the Lamar School senior.

Unbeknownst to her, modeling agents frequented the area. And though concerned at first that she might be falling prey to a scam, when Kayla later returned to Destin, she and her mother, Linda, attended a model search. She made the Top 6 and was approached by an agency.

"It was just so surreal; I couldn't believe it," she said.

Kayla returned to school, but remained in contact with the agency. During spring break, the then 16-year-old traveled to Miami, where she signed with the infamous Elite Model Management and stayed one week. Later that summer, she headed to New York, where she joined with Race Model Management and remained in the city for a month.

"I liked New York, but it was more high fashion and I do more commercial and print jobs," she said. "I did do an ad for Belk's Department Store catalog."

It was the summer after completing her junior year in high school that things began to take off. Kayla went to Los Angeles and did a photo shoot for ENVI prom and fashion wear.

"I thought it was for their catalogue," she said.

It turned out to be a national ad campaign featured in several top magazines.

"I found out this past Christmas when my mom put the prom edition of CosmoGirl magazine in my stocking. I was thinking, 'The prom is not until April, why is my mom giving me a prom magazine for Christmas?'" she said.

When Kayla turned to a page that had been folded, she saw the print ad for ENVI.

"It was like, 'Oh my gosh!'" she said.

Also, while in Los Angeles, Kayla modeled celebrity clothing lines on "Fashion Team" on the TV Guide Network as well as fashions by designers Ed Hardy and Christian Audigier

on a Los Angeles-based television network. She also did regional catalog work.

During her two-month stay in Los Angeles, she roomed with three other girls in a model apartment. The experience was eye-opening, she said.

"I was going on four to five casting calls each day. It's not as easy as, 'You're a model, you take pictures.' It's very competitive. There's lots of girls in the same exact thing that you are, and you have to be the one that they call back," she said.

Kayla said living with three other models made her stay even more enjoyable.

"We were all the same age and became very good friends and still are," she said. "I felt like I grew up a lot ... We cooked our own supper, did our clothes and drove on the busiest interstate in the world going to casting calls."

Kayla has had no training but says experience is the best teacher.

"The more you do, the more natural it becomes," she said. "The main thing is you go out for these jobs and there's millions of beautiful girls waiting in the same hallway you're waiting in; you're kind of like, 'There's no way.'"

Attitude, she said, is what makes or breaks a person in the modeling industry.

"They (designers, photographers) want to work with someone who is enjoyable to be around," she said. "That's the main thing I've learned about the whole industry. It's not really about how small you are, how tall you are, what you look like. It's more about what vibe you send off and how well you get along with other people."

Although she doesn't diet, Kayla said she does have to pay more attention to exercise and what she eats.

"I love to eat, but I can't just pig out on potato chips and other snacks," she said. "I try to eat five small meals a day, making my heavier meals earlier in the day. And I workout three to four times a day, doing Pilates, strength training and working with a trainer. Even though I'm small, I'm also curvy – that's what I like about Los Angeles, they're more into real bodies; not like New York, where you have to be able to fit into a size 0-2."

Currently signed on with three modeling agencies – Elite in Miami, Race in New York and Vision in Los Angeles – Kayla is undecided which direction she will take next.

"I'm not completely sure about what I'm going to do. I have a lot of opportunities and I just want to make sure I leave every door of opportunity open," she said. "I'm considering moving to Los Angeles in the fall."

If she does pursue modeling, Kayla said she plans to also attend school, at least part time.

"I'm not sure if I want to make it my full-time career. I definitely want to do it for awhile; I feel like if I didn't, I would probably regret it," she said. "But I do want to also pursue school because modeling definitely doesn't last forever – the average age is 28 to 30."

She is considering a career in occupational therapy.

"And that might change ... The main thing is that I want to be around people," she said.

During her stay in Los Angeles, Kayla took acting lessons from John Homa, who was the acting coach for the VH-1 Network reality show "The Scream." If she returns to L.A., she said she hopes to tap into her acting and singing skills.

Until then, Kayla is focusing on her life in Meridian – going to classes, attending sporting events, dances and the prom, graduation and spending time with her friends.

'That's what I love the most, being with my friends," she said, as well as spending time with her family, which includes her father, Tommy, and sister, Kristie, 18.