• What type of modeling do you do?
My favorite thing to do is lingerie. Nothing overly sexual or nude, but I love boudoir modeling. However, I like to keep things PG-13. I don’t want to cross that line. If I was taller, my goal would be to become a Victoria Secret model. I’m about five inches short.
• Are you a signed model or are you independent?
I’m freelance. I got into [modeling] kind of late compared to most women. I got into it on accident. I was nineteen almost twenty years old and I thought I was hot stuff and I wanted somebody to document it. I found a photographer and he said to bring whatever I wanted and we could do a shoot. So, I said “okay.” I went and did my shoot and I got my pictures back and I was so excited. And he asked when did I want to shoot again. And I said, “I get to do this again?” I shot with him a bunch of times and he talked me into making a Model Mayhem page. Other photographers started to contact me and when I moved to Murfreesboro, TN, things really started to take off.
• What is the hardest part about being freelance?
The hardest part is getting paid. The there’s two sides to this. The photographer is doing the shoot and they want to get paid. The model wants to be paid because they’re modeling for the photographer. It’s really hard unless you want to pose nude, because a lot of models don’t want to do it—then you can get paid. And I just don’t do nude modeling. I’m just very uncomfortable doing it—it shows in my face. I mean, my body can be perfect, but my face looks uncomfortable. And that ruins the whole shot.
• What’s the easiest part? What brings you joy every time you model?
The feedback that you get from people. When you post a picture and everyone’s like “oh my god…oh my god!” When I posted my ‘Batman’ picture on the Delicious Dolls Facebook Page, I got over two thousand likes and I was flipping out. I said, “People love me.” It’s kind of that way with a lot of things. You can think you’re good at things, but when you get that feedback and people reassuring you that you are that good then it’s just a total different feeling.
• If you could be doing anything else other than modeling, what would be your dream job?
I would love to be a Go-Go dancer. I love dancing so much as long as it’s not naked. There used to be a bar in Jackson and the dance floor was square. In each corner [of the dance floor] you had a cage. They actually hired Go-Go dancers that would come down from Chicago and I would get mistaken for one of them all the time.
• What would be your advice to give to a young aspiring model?
Always do your research on your photographers. If someone contacts you and they want to shoot you—if they’re not super well-known and you’ve never seen someone that you know that has shot with them—always check for references. Because it is very, very scary. All models have had that one time where they’ve had that one shoot where it wasn’t what they thought it was going to be or [the photographer] has been very inappropriate. No one wants to go through a situation like that. And it can be a lot worse than someone being inappropriate.
• What is one of your odd habits?
I have an odd habit of picking up change off the ground. I don’t care if it’s a penny or a quarter. I will stop traffic to pick up a penny. The other day, I was at a stop light and I looked over and saw a penny in the lane next to me. I wondered how long the red light was going to last. I didn’t do it, but I thought about it. I really didn’t want to get run over, but I thought about it.
• Choose one of the three: top five foods, cities, bands.
• Marinara sauce. I will eat pizza. I will eat breadsticks. I will dip my cinnamon rolls. It is ridiculous. I will eat all of it. It is unreal.
• It’s really close to my number one—ketchup. I go through a bottle of ketchup a week. I even have ‘ketchup’ t-shirts that show my love for ketchup.
• Tacos. I don’t care if it’s Taco Bell…Taco Johns…homemade tacos…I’m all into tacos. But no lettuce. When you put meat and cheese in a tortilla—it’s a taco.
• Milkshakes. My favorite one is cookies ‘n’ crème at Sonics. They grind up the Oreos enough that you can get them through the straw. It’s just great.
• Sandwiches. My favorite sandwich is the Wicked from WichWich. They put five meats and three cheeses. It’s got ham, turkey, pepperoni, bacon, and roast beef with provolone, swiss, and cheddar. I’m not into raw vegetables. Do have the option to ‘skinny’ your sandwich. You go to these ‘sub’ shops and these sandwiches have a lot bread. I mean it’s some thick bread. Well they will cut out the thickness and that will make the bread thinner. It really works well for that sandwich because you get more meat and cheese flavor and less…bread. It’s a science. I eat a lot of sandwiches.
• Is Melissa Jo—the model—is it all a dream, a career, or a side gig?
It’s all three. It is a dream, it is a side gig, and it’s a hope-to-be career at some point. I feel like everybody deserves a career that makes them happy. Nobody needs to wake up hating their job. Nobody needs to live life like that. It is a dream to make this my career and stop making this my side gig.
Thank you, Melissa Jo….be sure to follow her on the below pages:
Personal Facebook: www.Facebook.com/melissa.jo.7
Model Facebook page: www.Facebook.com/melissajomodel
Model Mayhem page: www.modelmayhem.com/meljo
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