Meet Leah Marville

Today we’d like to introduce you to Leah Marville.

Leah, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My name is Leah Marville and I am a model currently living in Los Angeles. Prior to moving to LA, I’ve worn various professional hats. I am an Attorney-at-Law, Miss Barbados World 2009, Television Presenter and Philanthropist. I was born and raised on the small and beautiful Caribbean Island of Barbados. My childhood was a beautiful one where the beach was my playground and from the age of 4 my main activity was dance, which was my first introduction to the stage. I was trained in African dance with a group called “Dancin Africa” and it became an integral part of my life from childhood until my teenage years. 

However, it wasn’t until the age of 18, while studying for my Bachelors Degree at Law School that I accompanied my cousin to an audition for Barbados Fashion Week where I was discovered by a scout from Saint International in Jamaica. This would be the moment that would propel my journey into modeling as a career. Shortly after being discovered, I moved to Jamaica and placed 3rd in a fashion competition there that got me picked up by Elite Model Management. I didn’t want to give up on pursuing my education so I completed my law degree at a distance and started traveling the world working as a model while being based in South Africa. After a few years, while modeling and living there, I was approached to enter the Miss World Pageant. To be honest, I had absolutely no interest in pageantry. It wasn’t something I saw as a fitting match for my laissez-faire and unrefined personality at the time. I reluctantly entered and went on to win and represent my country as Miss Barbados in the 2009 Miss World competition which impacted the course of the rest of my life.

I won many awards, including the People’s Choice Award and Miss World Caribbean but more importantly my charity work received major recognition after placing in the top 3 on the world stage. “The Love Campaign” which was focused on educating the youth around HIV and supplying the HIV Food Bank in Barbados with food on a monthly basis to support those living with the disease, made significant national impact. From there, I won two national awards from the Government of Barbados, along with others from various organizations. Becoming Miss Barbados opened up even more opportunities for me in the entertainment world. I started presenting for television and hosted many shows, a few of which which appeared on BET J, Centric and Wealth TV and I also became the youngest owner of the Miss Barbados World franchise shortly thereafter. I eventually went on to complete my law degree and had practiced for a number of years across many disciplines of law, throughout the Caribbean, including overseeing the human rights of death row inmates in Jamaica. During my practice I continued to juggle my other careers in television, modeling, and being a franchise owner.

Throughout the whirlwind of my twenties, as much as I was accumulating accolades and being a representative for my country internationally, there was a lot within my personal life that I had been avoiding. Facing my fears, I went on a deep dive into personal development, quitting all of my roles. Due to the alignment of the stars, I was pulled to move to Los Angeles in 2018, with love in my heart and a dream. I am now signed with Select Model Management and Stewart Talent here in LA and have returned to modelling full time.

Recently my personal development journey moved me to open up the conversation of healing via an interview series called Life and Lemonade TV. It is a motivational series available on YouTube, where I am afforded the opportunity to share the profound stories of incredible people in the community who have achieved success through transformation, healing and beating the odds.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Life comes with its challenges and mine has been no exception but I am extremely blessed and grateful for my journey. If I were to identify a blanket struggle it would be the feeling of being considered merely as a face or model and not as an independently thinking intellectual woman; feeling like I had to go above and beyond to prove myself in positions as Miss Barbados, especially when seeking to implement or effect change in a particular area. Many of the rooms I sat in and the boards I sat on were male-dominated and I would really have to be firm in order to garner support for my position. I would also have to be more thorough in my presentations in comparison to my male counterparts because I was seen as only as a “model” and therefore not as an authority.

Beyond that, most of what I had to face came from personal circumstances, having started my career as a young woman from a small Caribbean island where modeling was not seen as a viable career at the time; sacrificing moments with family and self-parenting in a vast world. It was very challenging. In addition, I grew up in a single parent home after the passing of my father and so for a long time, I was living my life on the backdrop of unprocessed grief.  It was financially challenging to do what was necessary to pursue my career, to travel home and to provide for myself. I also dealt with compounded emotions of the inherent rejection that is part of the fabric of the model industry. If I really were to identify struggles it would be those personal ones because they shaped my lens on how I viewed the world, my approach to life and the level of belief I had in myself. The one thing I learnt from all of the traveling and my many achievements is that you take yourself with you wherever you go and the things or titles you accumulate won’t fulfill you, until you deal with you first. For me, the relationship with self is most important and will inevitably be a reflection of your external reality.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I continue to model full time and I now share my focus with Life and Lemonade TV which I recently launched in November 2019. The more I underwent transformation and healing the more honest and open I became about it. As a result, it gave people that I encountered along the way, the permission to be honest and open with me and I realized that there are many of us with stories, perspectives and circumstances that could benefit others who are going through their own challenges. I thought especially of my Caribbean youth who sometimes believe that their odds are life sentences and as such I created this motivational interview series to promote the narrative that your current circumstances aren’t a determination of your destiny.

Our first season featured guests such as Bianca Golden – former America’s Next Top Model, now a school teacher in Brooklyn New York, Karl Kani – the originator of Hip Hop fashion, Ugo Mozie – celebrity stylist, Marlon Peterson – formerly incarcerated for ten years and now an advocate for prison justice reform along with many others still to come. We are available on Youtube, Instagram and via all Podcast platforms – @lifeandlemonadetv! 

Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
I’m a believer in blessings more than luck. I do think that I have been very fortunate and divinely guided which has afforded me grace along with positions and opportunities that people from my island and region, on average, do not experience. 

Conversely and as life ebbs and flows, I’ve been thrown some very tough and uncomfortable lessons that I’ve had to grow through. Ultimately, my good fortune and my lessons have brought me to Los Angeles with experiences and wisdom that I would not change for the world. It is how I can now authentically navigate my career and pour into my show discussing tough, meaningful life topics, having heartfelt and honest conversations with incredible people and ultimately leaving some positive impact on this world and more specifically my island people!

Contact Info:

• Website: lifeandlemonadetv.com
• Instagram: @leahmarville / @lifeandlemonadetv
• Other: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2C0HSOzJQKuQCTxFXx1Lgw

Image Credit:
Kyle Babb – palm tree; Nick Suarez – Black and White; Stanton Stephens – Pink Bikini water shot; Keisha Cee – Karl Kani interview photo; Collin Stark – black and white photo with hat; Me – Bianca Golden and Ugo Mozie interview

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