Today we’d like to introduce you to Savannah Stacy.
Hi Savannah, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I was born in Los Angeles and have moved around the area a lot. My life was pretty normal till I reached the age of 11. I was coming back home from elementary school. Once I walked into my house, I saw my mom sitting on the couch upset. She told me she needed to have a talk with my siblings and I. She told us that we will be losing our house and we had nowhere to live. Being young, I didn’t understand how bad the situation was. My siblings and I had different dads. Some stayed with their dad, my second older brother stayed with his close friend because he didn’t want to leave his high school, and I stayed with my mom. You may think why didn’t my mom had me stay at my dad’s house? Well, she was protecting me. My dad was abusive to my mom and my other siblings which I didn’t know of till I was 18 years old. We had two dogs, jack and penny, which my mother would never give them up to a shelter. So we had close friends that helped out taking care of them. My whole world was falling apart.
We were couch hopping from house to house. Struggling to have full meals most days. Lot of places we stayed were a toxic environments. So we constantly moved around. Till one lucky day that saved me and my mom. My horse instructor named Brenda took my mom and I into her home. We lived on this beautiful big ranch that had ten horses, around seven dogs, and some goats. It was a dream come true of mine to wake up and see my favorite animals roam around the pasture. But unfortunately we couldn’t stay for long.
My mom got a job offer from a close friend of hers over in Lake Tahoe, NV. Which meant we had to move. My mom told me the news right before my horseback riding class. I was super devastated. I would be leaving all my friends and family behind. On November 18th, 2012 was our big move to Nevada.
When we arrived to Lake Tahoe, we still were staying at another house which wasn’t our own. In California, I was still considered in elementary but my grade was in middle school in Nevada. My environment changed drastically. Older boys at the middle school wanted to hook up and I was surrounded by people doing drugs. My living situation wasn’t the greatest either. An older girl I was living with influenced me to start doing drugs at 12 years old. I was too young to understand anything about this new world I walked into. I started getting bullied for almost about everything and started to date boys I shouldn’t have been which lead to a lot of heartbreak. Also that same year, my dad no longer wanted to have anything to do with me. He stopped keeping contact and moved somewhere far away that till this day, I have no idea where he is at. He took my little sister with him, which she had a different mom. She always looked up to me. And till this day, I have no way of being able to contact her or find her. The bullying and heartbreak was getting overwhelming which lead me to self-harm and to continue to drink and use drugs. I was getting to a point where I didn’t have the will to live anymore. I’ve had multiple failed suicide attempts. Eventually, few years passed and my mom was able to get a house of our own and we were able to move out of the toxic house we were living in. A place for just her and me to call home for once.
By the age of 17, I found a new passion for modeling. Not because of all the beauty and glamour but how models took care of themselves and build this confidence to love themselves. I wanted that for myself. So I started to do trade work in the closest local city of Reno, NV. My trade work started to blow up in the community and I started to get so many connections from people. My modeling started to grow to bigger cities such as Sacramento and San Francisco. In 2019 I’ve done fashion shows and magazine print work. I’ve gained so much confidence and self-love for myself and my mental health was finally getting better. I stopped self-harming and stopped damaging my body’s health.
But that wouldn’t last due to Covid 19 in 2020. The day when the whole world was shut down and during the time we all thought the world was ending. My modeling career was at a pause. I was freshly out of high school and I was considered an essential worker working in a grocery store and as a pharmacy tech in training. During the pandemic, I’ve got into a serious relationship. He was 31 and I was 19 years old. Things were going perfect for us. We were starting to be well known as the “it couple” in our small town. Most people knew who we were and we always had special treatment. But after a couple of months things started to change. He has a terminal illness which he open to me about during our relationship. Around late June, his health started declining. At first, we thought it was covid but we found out worse news. He was in and out of hospital visits, losing weight dramatically, and being sick all the time. Doctors couldn’t find a solution to make him feel better. I believed I was gonna lose him. My mental and physical health started declining with him. I was losing lots of weight and my depression was coming back stronger than before. Then not so long after, I found out I was being cheated on. He started to become abusive towards me and constantly putting my life in danger. I started to become so lifeless. Many days I didn’t know how I was still alive.
On September 11, 2020 it started off as a normal day. I was coming home in the morning from an early day from work and not too long after he comes by my house banging on my door violently. I had to rush outside so my mom didn’t see what was happening. He was extremely upset and I had no idea why. He started hitting my car and throwing drinks at me. I tried to calm him down till he took off in his car swerving in the middle of the street. I contacted his family because I was so freighted. Once his family came by, we started to look for him. He wasn’t answering our texts and calls. He would only send text me random messages that made no sense. We were looking for him for hours. Till one moment his mother started screaming on the top of her lungs his name. His car was crashed into a tree over a ditch on the highway. We rushed over to him. I went towards the driver’s side of his car but he was not there. Then I heard a lady scream “he is not breathing.” I looked over my shoulder to find him unconscious on the ground. There was blood everywhere. I believed he was dead. Till he regained consciousness. The paramedics and police arrived on scene and took him to a hospital that was an hour away. His family drove me over to the hospital. I didn’t know how critical his condition was. I didn’t know if I was gonna lose the love of my life. Due to covid, I had to wait outside the hospital doors on the floor for hours. I wasn’t able to see him. I was then told the news he was drunk. Later on, I also got the news that he will be fine but the police will be taking him to jail. It came to my realization that this entire time he was getting drunk and hiding it from me. In his past, he was an alcoholic and has been sober for a few years till now. He confessed that he tried to kill himself by driving his car into a tree.
As much as it hurt but I knew I had to leave this town and move back to California. I ended things with my boyfriend and focused on recovering from my trauma. In the beginning of January 2021, I decided to leave everything behind and move back to Los Angeles.
I started off staying with my older sister. But the only downside was that she didn’t have an extra room for me to sleep in. But she took me in because she knew my situation. For four months, I was sleeping on the couch at my sister’s place. Since we were still in the midst of the pandemic finding a new job was hard. I was trying to find ways to make money while looking for a place of my own. Finally in April, I found my brand new home.
Ever since moving in my new place, that’s when my new journey began. My modeling career started up again and I walked in different fashion shows in LA including being part of LAFW. Not only did I grow my modeling career, I also continued my acting career. I was able to be part of Alex Warrens music video of Screaming Underwater which was an amazing experience. I will also be flying to New York to worked with the Queen of Pose, Coco Rocha. I hope to continue more of my acting as well as my modeling. My life has changed for the better ever since I moved back home. I finally believed my life has a purpose and do my big move was a way of life-giving me a second chance of living.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My entire journey was extremely difficult. I was the only person to have my back. I didn’t have any cheat codes to be where I am today. I worked hard for my accomplishments. My biggest struggle was my mental health. For as much as I’ve been put through it really hard to heal. Even when I don’t have any reason to be sad, depression eats you alive at catches you when you least expect it. Especially now with my new life since moving back home, I haven’t fully healed from my trauma. I get so paranoid I will be out back into that unsafe, toxic environment. Because I know if I didn’t get out as soon as I did, I wouldn’t be alive today. I wouldn’t have accomplished the things I’ve done. I wouldn’t have met the amazing people I’ve met since moving to LA. Even though now I am a safe place where I can finally be at peace. Sometimes when I’m on set or going to castings or even walking a fashion show there is always a little voice that would sneak up on me telling me I can’t do it. Some days it’s even hard to get out of bed even though you have places to be. People relying on you especially when I have to attend a photoshoot. Till this day, I am trying hard to heal myself and make peace with everything life has put me through.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
For my work, I am a model and an actress. I’ve been published in three magazines such as Smith and Gale, OVER, and Northside Magazine. I’ve also walked to Sacramento Fashion Week, San Francisco Fashion Week, Los Angeles Fashion Week and also got to be part of the Ankara Festival Fashion Show in Los Angeles. In November, I’ll be flying to New York to work and model with the queen of pose, Coco Rocha. With my acting, I am most proud of is being part of my first music video with Alex Warren in Screaming Underwater. It was a huge goal of mine and it makes me excited to do more projects in film. Also, with my modeling my most proud work was modeling on LIVE television on Good Day Sacramento for Elk Grove Fashion Week. That was a dream come true and a totally different experience I would never forget.
What sets me apart from others is no matter how many times I’ve been brought down, I’ve fought and worked so hard to achieve my dreams and turn them into reality. I was told that I would never be a model or an actress. I was just some girl living in a fantasy. Everything that I was told that I couldn’t do, I did it more than once and will continue to do so.
What’s next?
As a model and actress, my plans in the future are getting signed to an agency. For my entire career, I’ve been a freelance model and actress. Which is shocking to a lot of people since my career has been doing really well with all the work and accomplishments I’ve done over the years. But it is definitely time to push myself more by being with an agency. My hopes and goals by doing so is that I would book more challenging gigs that are out of my comfort zone and to also build my portfolio as an artist. I’ve always liked a challenge in the things I am passionate about.
Contact Info:
- Email: savannahstacyy@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savannahstacy/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/channel/UCpJE528Btlxem9gqReI6BNQ
- Other: https://nsclicks.github.io/savannah.html
Image Credits:
@izzylambertphotography @benarouphoto @brondo_photography @photosbykunal @micky.afterdark @aceofapertures @nspixels @jonesj1443 @briflasch @shopdollface @stacitu_ @sierraelegancephotography @shooterco
