Meet Meagan Mitchell

Today we’d like to introduce you to Meagan Mitchell.

Meagan, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I grew up in a very small town in Northern California, where fashion isn’t really relevant or even a statement. It’s pretty much just farmland and vast nature. Growing up with two brothers and given where I am from, I would say I was more of a tomboy then a girlie girl. As I became a teenager, strangers would come up and ask my parents on family vacations if I was a model, or that I should become one. At the time, I didn’t even really know what a model was or how I would even get into that type of industry. To me, it seemed like a far fetched reality from where I grew up.

Over time people would just assume that I was a model, so I eventually took it as a signal. My mom and aunt were intrigued by this idea of getting me into the Industry and so they arranged my very first photoshoot in san fran at 16 years old. Not having a clue of what I was doing or getting myself into these positions or knowing angles, the results of the photos were printed and they took them to meet with Agencies In Los Angeles.

I was so innocent and clueless to everything that when I got multiple contract offers, I was shocked. So I signed with LA Models at the time and they kicked off my career. I went back home, packed my life up and decided to home school my last years while I worked as a model in Los Angeles. I was very fortunate that I had some family who lived in Los Angeles that I could stay with during the time. Even though a part of me was scared and sad to leave my family and friends, I was exhilarated, curious and hungry to experience a different type of life that I wasn’t used to. About a year and half into my career I got into a very bad car accident from falling asleep at the wheel from exhaustion. Luckily I was alive and only needed a few months of recovery. I took that as a sign to slow down a bit. After recovering, I was motivated and ready to work again. One day I was walking on Melrose Avenue and I got scouted by J.J Cortez who ended up being my Manager at the time. I didn’t really understand who J.J was but I later found out he created the careers of Liv Tylers, Molly Simms, Milla Jovovich and Eva Herzegova. He taught me so much about the industry and really helped me become the woman I am today.

A few months into having him manage me he wanted to send me to New York, he thought my look would do great there and so I hopped on a plane and when I arrived, I got signed with an Agency. I was flying back and forth between NYC and LA during the fashion seasons and realized that New York had a lot more to offer me. So I decided to move to New York and leave behind Los Angeles.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It wasn’t always the easiest road. There is a lot of competition, the amount of rejection that I have to face everyday can be tough, traveling can be lonely and being away from family can be a bit hard at times. Some people may think the modeling industry is an easy glamorous job that is just given to you and to be honest there can be a lot of challenges. Especially starting at a young age, you are so innocent, delicate and a bit naive, that you can get taken on many different paths.

To be honest, I let the Industry get to me. I was working too much and wasn’t taking the best care of myself at the time. I started to be in pain everyday, partially because of stress and also the doctors told me my spine from my car accident was starting to affect me then, due to wearing heels and working all day. I was young, stubborn and ignored listening to my body and just kept working. One day at a photo shoot in NYC, I collapsed and couldn’t stand up because of my spine. I had gone to the hospital. They ran all the tests, X-rays, scans and sat me down telling me I had complete loss of feeling due to nerve damage from the waist below and that I had to immediately get surgery, that would also put me out of work for a year to rehabilitate and recover. The thought of stopping my career for even a year was heartbreaking to me. Something in my heart wanted to find another way to heal myself.

Long story short, I went on a journey to try and heal myself and choose to go live with a Native Tribe deep in the jungle out in the Amazon for three months to heal my injuries and to detox. I disappeared and had the tribe use a Holistic approach to heal me with natural medicine and plants. After three months of being there, I was healed and walking again. When I arrived back to NYC, I had thought I was going to be excited to work there again, but I decided that I wanted to let go of living there and move back to Los Angeles to be closer to my family for a bit. I am incredibly grateful for all those experiences because it had made me such a stronger woman and I learned so much about myself during those difficult times. It had also made me learn a lot about Alternative medicine and living a more spiritually Holistic lifestyle which are my other passions now.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I am a full-time fashion Model and a Social Media Influencer. For modeling with Agencies, I specialize in runway, print and commercial. As a digital content creator for Social Media, I specialize in working with brands and companies around Beauty, Fashion, Health and Wellness.

When the social media digital era had taken off, I was a bit worried at first on how that would affect my Modeling career but I realized I can merge the two industries and manage both. Being a social media influencer has been great because it has allowed me to have creative control in what I want to create for brands, which is really fun for me. Also, my partner is a photographer which really helps me tremendously with creating content that I cant do alone or for when we have bigger projects that we can both collaborate on. It is also great being a model where I book a job that I am not in creative control because I get to play in someone else’s vision and work with a team of talented, creative people which is always inspiring to me.

What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
It might be strange to say, but I really don’t have one proudest moment of my career. I have had so many great moments and experiences where I am grateful and proud. There are so many incredibly talented and creative people that my job allows me to meet and work with, that I can say that makes me feel proud. It’s not about getting to the end destination in life. For me, it’s really about the journey along the way that makes me feel successful or proud.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://meaganjmitchell.portfoliobox.net
• Phone: 7074854308
• Email: meaganjmitchell@gmail.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/meaganjmitchell/

Image Credit:
Dylan Townsend, Trevor Mitchell, Ellis Au

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