Fashion Friday: Remember, Vogue.Com Monday Morning

As many of you all know, last year at Afro Punk I was featured in Vogue. That was a life changing event for more than one reason. Being in Vogue gave me that umfth that I needed to take myself serious as a model, fashion blogger, stylist, actually anything within that fashion world that I would want to try.

So this week in Fashion Friday's I wanted to tell you about my experience and how I was able to find myself on Vogue.com, CNN, and VoicesOfNY in honor of AfroPunk later on this month.

This story honestly starts off as an act of god. There really isn't any other way I can explain it. I believe that everything happens for a reason, you may not understand it right now but it happened because it was apart of a greater plan.

A little over a year ago, Gabriel Reignbow Maya, my best friend, and I decided that we wanted to do something a little different that summer. I'm a massive fans of Grace Jones so when we heard that she was going to be in New York for Afro Punk I knew I had to be there! We didn't exactly know what Afro Punk was but we still wanted to be involved. After some resource I found out that Afro Punk festival is this super cool music festival that actually started in someones basement made for alternative black people. Which I instantly fell in love with. Mainly because society and the world puts people in a box and when you don't live in that box you're called crazy or made fun of.

From this point I bought my tickets and I was off to the races. Sadly, like always, I didn't think of a way to get there. Before this trip to New York I've only been to New York two other times. No one including myself was ready for me to drive to New York and try to battle the city drivers. I looked all over for cheap and safe ways to get to New York but it seemed like those two things just didn't happen when you are new to the area.

After long talks, disagreements and pure annoyances we came up with a perfect solution on how to get there. We got my oldest brother to drive us. He is a professional driver and he drove to New York a couple of times.

Now it was time to get ready. We got dressed and piled into a rental car. Us Jersey kids were ready to take the big Apple...well Brooklyn. Once we got to the festival pure excitement grow all over my body. We had to wait in line until we actually got in. Once we got in it was like a breath of fresh air. "We finally Made it!" As we walked in it like the photographer went crazy. Everyone was taking my picture, before I knew it, I felt like a celebrity.

Exspecially when a photographer from Women's Wear Daily took our picture. 

See Below:

There was great music playing and we just partied all day. Here is a video of my day there.

Now for the part that you all are waiting for. Lauryn Hill was performing and Maya and I were standing way too far back to see her and it was really crowned. So we decided to leave. As we were walking out a photographer stopped us and asked if he could take a picture of me. Of course I said yes. As he was taking my picture this lady walked up beside of him and just stood there. Now by this time  I've been seeing people do that all day. Some people would just stand there to see how the pictures looked and some were photographer just waiting so they could take you picture.

After that guy took the pictures he wanted. The lady that was standing in the back came up to me and introduced herself, (Now mind you it was very loud out there so I could only hear somethings and read lips a little) she said "Hi I'm *insert name* and I work with Vogue." Once I heard that I could not hear anything else. I was like omg! Then she asked if she could take my picture. Which I said yes so fast. She then said that she had a back drop that her team is using for the photo shoots. I asked if I was able to bring my friend with me and she said "of course, we've had groups of six come back here". So as we walked to the location that they were shooting, there was this massive security gurd standing in fort of the entrance. She flashed a card and told the man that we were with her. As we walked in, there were a bunch of people outside trying to get in. I held Maya's hand so tight as we entered. Once inside there were a lot of people moving around. She walked us over to the photographer and introduced us. It was amazing. They had Maya hold my things and they told me to stand in the middle. From there they tried to coach me and tell me how to pose but this is something that I wanted my whole life so I was right on it. They told me that my clothes fit very well and I had a great frame. As I was posing I started to get a little stiff because it was sinking in that I was really shooting with Vogue.  They brought someone else over to talk to me and to keep me moving. We talked about a lot of little stuff like where I got my outfit, how old I was, and just anything so I didn't freeze.

At the end of the shoot. They thanked me and I did the same. The lady pulled out a notebook and started asking me questions.
1. What's my name? First, last and how to spell it?
2. Where am I from?
3. How old am I?

My answer to the last question really shocked them. I told them that I was 19 (at the time I was) and she said "really?" Showing some form of disbelief on her face. After that she thanked me once again, which I replied by saying thank you. Importantly, she told me the best sentence of my life which I will never forget, "Remember, Vogue.Com Monday morning." From that point I completing lost it! It was as if my life had just become a movie or a dream I was so happy. Maya and I left. As we walk away I gushed to her about how amazing this was and how happy I was.

...

Fast forward to Monday morning. There wasn't a vogue post and I didn't make it in to WWD, but cool enough two girls I went to high school with made it in to WWD!

The next day I check Vogue and this is what I saw!

 I hope you all enjoyed my story and if you have any question about anything don't be afraid to ask. Also if you all have any really cool stories, let me know and I might feature them on here!