McKenzie
Alicia Roache, Staff Reporter
IT IS a long and hard road to the top, even for a model. Pulse model Jaunel McKenzie is still on that road, but her star shines brighter every day.
Jaunel has been modelling for 18 months since she won the inaugural Caribbean Model Search in 2002 and signed to Women in Paris. Now, at 18 years old, she is rated number 39 on Models.com's Top 50 working models, the only Caribbean model that high.
But Jaunel's win and her achievements since have come in the wake of Pulse-mate Nadine Willis' phenomenal success with Gucci/Vogue. Consequently, Jaunel's success has been understandably, yet unfairly, understated in favour of the rags to riches, exotic dancer to model success story that is Nadine's.
Yet Jaunel's success rivals even Nadine's. In just over a year, Jaunel has racked up editorials for publications such as Vingt Ans, Spoon, Vanidad, Tank, Touch, Trace, Suede and Vibe, she has done multiple shoots for i-DM, Harper's and Queen and GQ and is the star of the latest campaigns for Tommy Hilfiger, Gap, Saks Fifth Avenue, Nordstrom, Dolce & Gabbana, Abercrombie & Fitch, H&M and Bennetton.
Jaunel is the first Caribbean model to shoot American Vogue, with a total seven issues under her belt. She also has her own pages on the Style Network, the online home of Vogue.
NOT WORRIED
Speaking via telephone from her apartment in New York, where she is on option for another Nordstrom campaign, Jaunel says she is "not worried" that Nadine's success has overshadowed hers in the media, a fact she says resulted from Nadine coming out before her. Jaunel instead celebrates her achievements. "There are many girls dying to be where I am... and I'm here, so I'm very grateful and I thank God each and every day, because without Him I wouldn't be here. I'm just taking it one step at a time and just being very thankful," she said.
And she has reason to be.
If she is in an industry where one is rated in terms of the number of magazine covers and editorials one does and by which top-ranked photographers capture your image, then Jaunel is rated among the best. She has shot the cover of W magazine, along with a 25-page editorial for the March/April issue and has been photographed by some of the world's top lensmen, among them Steven Klien, Carter Smith, Mario Testino, Gilles Bensimon, Patrick Demarchelier and Bruce Webber. These photographers have captured the 'charm and sophistication' that local and international fashionistas rave about and which become evident during conversations with her.
MANY FIRSTS
"Jaunel epitomises the best of the Caribbean in the fashion arena. At 18 she has achieved many firsts for the region at a level where no other has gone before, and represents the kind of confident, articulate, down to earth success with which every Caribbean 'girl next door' can identify," Pulse CEO, Kingsley Cooper, said in a release last week.
Jaunel displays a maturity and honesty beyond her 18 years in spite of and perhaps as a result of her time in modelling. She speaks candidly about the rewards and vices of being a model, about the longing for her family and about being a role model not only for her sister but for the many young models who look up to her.
"I see life from a very adult perspective right now. I have to take care of myself. I have to go to my jobs on time. I have to look after myself," she says. "We models have to face a lot of peer pressure. A lot of peer pressure for drinking and smoking... If they're not strong enough and if they weren't taught the right way at home then there's no way that they can withstand this peer pressure."
The pitfalls of life in the limelight are all too common. The parties, the drinking, the staying out until 5:00 a.m. that Jaunel lists, are just a few. But these are not the only challenges a young model faces on the road, says Jaunel.
"Like coming to a new city and you get here you have casting the next day and you have no idea how to get around. The agency gives you the map and you have to find your way. The whole transformation is difficult... even if you don't speak the language, because there are a lot of girls who don't speak English. And when you go to like Paris you have no idea what French is and you have to still find your way around," she said.
SUCCESS AND INSPIRATION
Jaunel has braved the elements and the challenges to become a success and an inspiration to many aspiring models, some older than her. The title of 'role model' is one that Jaunel graciously accepts. "I like being a role model because I am, in my sister's eyes. I have to be a role model for my sister, because she is like 13 and growing up and I'm the only person around that she can really focus on besides her mom," she says.
There is a longing for home and family that resonates throughout Jaunel's dictum. But time away from family is part of the life of becoming a successful international model. "The thing that is hard is being away from your family. You have girls like 16 (years old) leaving home. I left home when I was 16 and it's like I'm not grown in the world yet, even though my mom has taught me a lot and my father has as well. And, you know, I went to school and everything, there's still some parts that are missing because I'm not fully grown into a woman yet and we have to do that outside of our parents' home," Jaunel said.
Her concern is understandable. August is the time of the year when models get a chance to relax, a holiday of sorts from the jetsetting and photoshoots all year, but Jaunel may be working for a large part of her vacation. "Even though the work is great, it gets so stressful that sometimes you just want to go home," she says.
But going home is not an option for Jaunel who remains in New York to shoot German Vogue and on option for a repeat Nordstrom campaign. "Now I see it as my time and everything is happening my way, so I have to grasp at everything that comes to me," she said.
Once in Jamaica, Jaunel will again get to work, hosting the first fashion reality show in the Caribbean, 'The Search For The Caribbean's Next Supermodel', produced by Pulse. The show will air on TVJ in Jamaica, CBC in Barbados, TV6 in Trinidad and ZNS in the Bahamas and will mirror the Caribbean Model Search, of which Jaunel has been named the central figure.
NO THREATS
The search has so far netted 4,000 entrants in Jamaica, but Jaunel does not feel threatened by the volume of young women who want to be the 'next supermodel' and to perhaps outshine her. "I've been in it for like a year now and you know, there's jobs for everyone. There's jobs for every type of person, every different personality, so I don't think it (my career) will be short-lived," she says.
Jaunel's star will no doubt shine brighter in coming months. She has continued to rise since she made the Top 50 list and has remained in the rankings since she was first recognised. But can Jaunel be the first Caribbean/Jamaican model to be rated number one in the world?
"I do think its possible, because the top model on Models.com is Liya Kebede and she's a black model (from Ethiopia)... And seeing that she's on top just gives me hope to say OK, a black model is on top, what I can do is the same thing that she has done and I'm almost doing the same thing that she has done. Yes I think I can achieve it and I think that I can be number one," Jaunel said.
