I first met Jade in 2012 when I interviewed her for Models By Models. She was gracious, spoke thoughtfully, and her positive attitude was refreshingly earnest. Her personality paired with her undeniable beauty made me an immediate fan. But I wondered, how is this woman’s face not everywhere? Within the year, the Ojibwe-Jamaican beauty had a new mother agent and was signed to Wilhelmina New York. She’s racked up some beautiful editorial work, several campaigns, and a couple of New York Fashion Week shows.
Now in Mumbai, she’s truly on the path to a bright career. Big name clients like Grazia India and Vogue India are helping to build her portfolio, which will serve her well when she returns to New York. We chatted with Jade, as well as the Director of Anima Creative Management, Gunita Stobe about modelling in India.
The Business Model: Why has Jade been received as well by clients as she has? Did you anticipate this?
Gunita Stobe: Jade has very special look for our market. We haven’t had anyone over here with her profile and it is very new thing for us. We instantly liked her look when her agency abroad proposed her to us. We usually like to take challenges of introducing new types of beauties to our clients and push the boundaries as India is very bollywood-type-orientated. Jade also has a similar skin tone to many Indian models and her features could be also from some parts of India, but that is not the main reason why a foreign model would work or not work in our market. I also think Jade has great personality and right attitude, which ultimately bring the clients back for re-bookings. Modelling is not only something to do with great looks, but also a model has to have the right character and mind set for this job. Only this way some one can become successful.
