- Winston Sill/Freelance Photographer
Ghinelle Germaine reacts after winning the 2004 'Jamaica and Caribbean Fashion Model' title.
Alicia Roache, Staff Reporter
THE PROSPECT of the graduation runway has called three Pulse models away from the catwalk.
The trio, Serchen Morris, Ghinelle Germaine and Peta-Gaye Daley, winners and runners-up respectively of major Jamaican model competitions, have decided to defer their modelling careers to complete their studies. Serchen Morris, now 21 years old, won the 'Male Face of Jamaica' and the Caribbean in 2002. After doing promising work early in his career, Serchen returned to Jamaica from London, England to complete his degree in computer and information technology at the University of Technology (UTech). "At the time when I entered the competition I was going into my third year. Third year is generally a critical year; it's a harder year," he explained. "I looked at it and said, I'm still young. Everything was going good for me in terms of school and so on, so I decided to stay," he said.
Ghinelle Germaine, at 16, is the 2004 winner of the Jamaica and 'Caribbean Fashion Model' competitions, the same competition that Jaunel McKenzie won in 2002.
Ghinelle has deferred following in the footsteps of Pulse's trailblazing model; she has made the decision to also finish school at least, high school. Ghinelle is a now a student at Quality Academics in Kingston.
"I think it's important, because if the modelling doesn't work out for you, you will have something to fall back on," she said.
Ghinelle, who is expected to start working in 2005, says that even though modelling was a childhood dream, she aims to return to school for higher education. "I plan to go into modelling. I plan to do the modelling for a while and then go back to school," she says.
Ghinelle, along with second-place winner Peta-Gaye Daley, has reportedly been offered contracts by Women, IMG, DNA and Elite.
Peta-Gaye is expected to start working in 2006. The 16-year-old is also completing her secondary education at Kingston Technical High School. "I'm going back to school and finishing my education, because I think it's important," said Peta-Gaye. At 5'10" and 95 lbs, Peta-Gaye is confident that she will be able to maintain her weight and her look until the time she takes up her offer.
"I'm O.K. with my decision. I know that once I finish school I will be taking the world by storm," she said.
SERCHEN'S EXPECTATIONS
Serchen is less animated regarding his expectations of modelling, saying it is just one of the many goals he has in life. He is currently working on a Jamaican cultural entertainment magazine called Back a Yard, which he says he hopes to get on the market by next year. Along with the entertainment magazine, Serchen wants to pursue photography, a skill he hopes will complement his knowledge in computer graphics.
But computer studies and modelling seem to be vastly different professions. "They aren't as different as you might believe," he said. "Modelling is just another aspect of the fashion industry." Serchen began to trace the start of the process of modelling from the time the model steps in front of the camera, to the end result on a computer, with a graphic artist or a photo editor. In addition, Serchen says his knowledge of both the hardware and software aspects of the computer, puts him in a position to make an impact on the fashion industry, one way or the other.
"If you have a fashion show and you need to communicate with each other I can do that. If you want the computer to be fixed I can do that," he said. Of course, he could also be a model on the fashion show or, if his dream of learning photography comes true, be the photographer. Yet, despite all these goals, Serchen says he will give modelling his full attention once he as completed his degree. "Once you are doing something you can't shortchange it or it will shortchange you," he said. "I would do it full-time, because if you don't give it your full attention it's going to bite you in the butt". This kind of focus was what he says informed his decision to finish college before going full-time into modeling. "I saw it in my best interest to do the school thing first", he said.
Yet Serchen's decision has been bittersweet. In addition to the queries he normally gets from persons wondering why he chose to defer a potentially lucrative career, he has had to deal with his doubts about his decision. "When you think of the amount of success that I started with, Mario Testino, V Magazine, the overwhelming response that I got, I wondered if its the right thing I wanted to do," he said.
Ghinelle has no regrets about her choice. "I have other goals and I have my dreams other than modeling that I want to achieve," she said.
But has the decision of these winners to not immediately pursue modeling harmed the chances of another person, perhaps someone who may have been ready to start right away? Serchen says no. "I think it's whether people who have not won have gone on to do bigger and more things than somebody who has won. It is unfair to say that because I have won and because I am not pursuing it right now that I am denying that person. Somebody else automatically gets looked at because I am not available," he says.
Ghinelle concurs. "If I am in school and a job comes I don't think I will stop school to do that job, so I don't think I will deny someone else the opportunity," she says.
Nonetheless, being the winner of the competition means that the agency will have to utilise resources to develop and train the model even while the jobs are being deferred. This, according to Kingsley Cooper, CEO of Pulse, is one of the many factors that top international agencies tend to consider before making the decision to represent a model. "The top agencies will not represent a model for long if she is not working, as they are using the resources of the agency (cost overheads, bookers, etc.) in a non productive way," he said.
However, according to Cooper, "Pulse is completely committed to the principle of education first." In the 25 years of existence, Cooper says that the agency has never started a model working overseas unless she has already completed high school. "We place a high premium on education, because it is obviously much better if a model brings the skills that education provides to her modeling career. Logic, language, interpersonal skills comprehension, mathematics for accounting purposes, are a few of the key skills," he noted.
While models may be putting success on the line by choosing school first, it is a risk worth taking. As Cooper pointed, "not every model who is signed to an overseas agency will succeed."
"This is relevant", he says, "as young people should be allowed to pursue educational opportunities, if that is the avenue to their ultimate success, rather than being misrepresented to frustration, when modeling is not their calling."
Modeling may have been one of the many 'callings' of former Pulse models Kimberly Mais and Romae Gordon. However, both completed higher education, even while pursuing a modeling career. Gordon did a Masters Degree in Management, while Mais did Broadcasting/Television in New York. Gordon is now in fashion management/production, while Mais is a journalist and TV presenter.
