Today we’d like to introduce you to Jess Minter.
Hi Jess, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
My story begins in a middle-lower class neighborhood in Fresno, California in the 90’s. I was born to my parents, who from their love of partying, met and decided after falling pregnant to settle down and rent a yellow-green house with a big yard. I grew up with a love for adventure, video games, cats, learning, and laughter. As a child, I was outgoing, social, and stubborn. My parents’ own talkative, wild, unique, albeit sometimes dysfunctional, ways of living certainly had an influence. I’ll always remember the hot summers running through the neighborhood, cold watermelon, and neighborhood block parties where my dad would set up the RC cars and all the neighborhood kids and I would play. A lot of the time the little cars would dramatically fly off the track and we’d all laugh.
When my teen years came on, things weren’t so great at home, and I developed severe social anxiety (later tied into a PTSD diagnosis) very suddenly. It was like night and day. School became miserable, and I lost friends who didn’t understand what had happened to me. During this difficult time, I turned to computers and decided to build websites about my favorite games and make online friends to pass the time and feel less alone. As time went on, I fought to overcome my anxiety on my own and put myself out there to make new friends and find beauty in life. It wasn’t easy. I started ditching high school to drive deep into the mountains to swim under waterfalls and discover hot springs. I realized that I wanted more out of life, and the beauty of the Oakhurst and Yosemite area was a big inspiration for me. I barely got to graduation between all my Target, Mall, and nature adventures during the school weeks but managed and felt on top of the world to get out of there. I was legitimately the kid who ran from the golf cart security to hop the fence multiple times. Hilarious, looking back on it now.
At 19, thanks to a good friend’s family I got my first job at a pizza place. I was going to college full-time, working, and saving. I had realized after some thought that I wanted to try going to Los Angeles to become a fashion model. For years people had commented on how tall I was and that I should give it a shot. It wasn’t a huge dream of mine in my youth, but it sounded like an adventure as an adult. After a year and a half of school, I realized I was tired of my job and ready to move. To top it all off, my car was stolen and pretty badly damaged, which depleted some of the savings I had managed to grow. I’ll never forget grabbing parts out of the junkyard to piece my car back together. I tried to paint the hood and did a terrible job. I got pulled over a lot after that. Oh, and duct tape only lasts so long to hold side view mirrors on your car until the heat arrives (and Fresno gets HOT). All in all, I felt a strong drive to hop in my car with my things and take off to Los Angeles. I wanted a new start.
And that I did, after quitting my job on a whim and planning to stay with some distant family in Glendale, just northeast of Los Angeles. I worked hard to get some trade shoots with decent photographers, started changing my diet (which previously was largely cake, cookies and chips) to be healthier, and was given my first weed edible via my uncles.
Life became a whirlwind at that point, and I signed with my first small agency, who fortunately booked me some great jobs in just my first couple months of arriving. I booked a Starbucks ad that was shown in China, which paid for my first little place (a room in a house with a family), I adopted my beloved cat Chairman Meow, I did a music video for Sublime with Rome called “Dedication” that involved filming intense, dramatic, artistic scenes throughout the California desert and Central Valley, and I got published in Astound Magazine. Eventually, I made some good friends, and we moved in together into a nice two-story place that we all shared, played super smash brothers, and partied in as we grew our separate careers. All four of us had cats (a striking total of 6) and I’ll never forget them all running up and down the stairs whenever we’d come home.
On the modeling end, it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine though, and I was finding the industry to be rather toxic with weight loss. Like a lot of models, I struggled with how much I should be eating. I ended up signing with a top-name agency and suffered with brief bouts of eating disorder tendencies for a couple of years. I stayed with the agency for a while though, working with clients like Juicy Couture, Kay Jewelers, David’s Bridal, Hot Topic, and Vans. It wasn’t all bad, and I learned a lot about myself in the process. Working with top-name clients was a dream, and at this point, social anxiety was a thing of my past – teenage me would be elated.
However, after some time I felt it was time to move in a different direction and try self-management. I was sick of being told I needed to be a perfect size 0-2 to work and wanted to run my own image as a size 4 model. As my own manager, I have worked as a model with clients like EM Cosmetics, Anastasia Beverly Hills, Savage Fenty, and Lime Ricki Swimwear. I have now been a fashion model for 12 years. I learned to live to be “healthy”, and not with the goal of just getting skinny. I ended up moving to Long Beach to try a new location, and, well, it turns out that I love the beach life and have been here ever since! Along the way before the COVID pandemic hit I was also given the opportunity to become an indoor gardener and landscaper and started my own plant service, Aura Plantscapes. I’ve grown to love both jobs and split them evenly time-wise. My plant job fits perfectly in with my love of nature, and I’ve easily got around 100 plants in my own home. Excessive maybe, but I like the idea of living surrounded by nature. I also currently attend school here in the LBC and will be graduating this June with my degree in Psychology.
It’s safe to say that it has taken a lot to get here. With therapy, yoga, meditation, travel, and a whole lot of life experiences I am happy to say that I am proud of my growth and success and that I look forward to what life holds in the future. I suppose with my interview, I hope to inspire others who suffer with anxiety and PTSD – to show that you CAN 100% conquer your condition and be a social, happy person. Sure, the road isn’t straight, but it’s worth it to seek help and personal growth. Whether that be through talk therapy, meditation, medication, or self-discovery, the effort will yield results. All in all, I’d like to thank humor, good friendships, my sister, my cousin, my partner, my healed relationship with my parents, my cats, good books and games, nature, and a lot of perseverance for getting me to where I am now. Life is chill. I plan to continue modeling, tending to plants and studying for a while to come.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
With fashion modeling, I like to credit myself with being dedicated to the clients, speed, and the art of the craft. It is truly so fun to create art with other creatives, to make clients happy by flying through samples, and to show up at different locations almost every time I work. It’s also incredible what a small world it can be. So many of the talent and crew I’ve worked with multiple times and its always fun to catch up on everyone’s projects each time we run into each other again.
Modeling has been an adventure. I’ve shot on nearly all of the beaches in LA, gone on beautiful hikes, stood on rooftops in DTLA, walked Abbot Kinney, Rodeo Drive, and Sunset for photo shoots, music videos and magazines. I’ve gotten to visit New York and run down the streets, rushing to get to agency meetings. I’ve flown to San Francisco numerous times to shoot for regular clients and gotten to venture around the city in my downtime.
My favorite shoots overall are editorial magazine and beauty shoots. I love the creativity of them, and funny enough most editorial shoots aren’t paid. It’s a time where you, the makeup artist, hair stylist, clothes stylist and photographer get to put your heads together and make something you find interesting, unique or beautiful. It’s so fun seeing the result when it’s all published.
I’d say what sets me apart from others is my ability to work with many different personality types. It’s been a gift to get to work with so many people from different backgrounds apart from myself and to learn about them. I love really getting to know my clients, and the feeling after a shoot of connecting on an artistic and emotional level is a great experience.
Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
My cats, good food, camping, traveling, fun photoshoots, video games, music, my friends, plants, and learning make me happy. Why? They all are therapeutic to me in some way. We only get one life so experiencing the things that make you happy is essential!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.jessicaminter.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jessicaminter/
- Other: https://www.instagram.com/auraplantscapes/
Image Credits
SEDS Photography Rielle Oase Bling x Kong Mei Vintage Efran Beltran Sam Hylla Aaron Soffer
