Pulse's Caribbean Model Search 2007 winner Latesha Coleman poses for 'Luire'.

For 30 years, Pulse Investments has discovered and developed some big names in international fashion, especially through its annual Caribbean Model Search (CMS) regional beauties, including Lois Samuels, Althea Laing and Kimberely Mais, as well as current stars Jaunel McKenzie, Nell Robinson and Gaye McDonald were all winners in the dynamic model-scouting competition.

And now a new generation of CMS stars, including Rochelle Notice, Fallon Harris, Latesha Coleman and Sedene Blake, is poised to make an impact on the global fashion scene.

Rochelle Notice rose to prominence in late last year, after copping top honours in the local and international CMS Reality TV Series. The then 15-year-old Innswood High School student said she did not give any great conside-ration to a career in fashion until she arrived at the Pulse fashion centre on Trafalgar Road, New Kingston. "Modelling was never something that I had ever given any serious thought to as a career option, but after participating in the CMS competition, I fell in love with the industry!" she said.

International scene

Since her big win, Rochelle has been preoccupied with CSEC stu-dies, but still managed to make her debut runway appearance at Caribbean Fashion Week (CFW) 2008, where she was fitted for major designers including Africa's Nkwo and India's Sushma Patel. With inte-rest coming from some of New York's biggest agencies, Rochelle is ready to make a splash on the international scene.

Latesha Coleman is receiving interest from agencies in New York and London. She came to Pulse merely days before the CMS live show, beat out hundreds of girls for the year's top spot - Jamaica Fashion Model 2007. Latesha has high hopes for a successful career in fashion. "I've always wanted to be a model and now that the opportunity has presented itself, I'm going to make the very best of it," she said.

Eighteen-year-old Sedene Blake, who placed directly behind Latesha in the 2007 CMS show, is also shooting for the stars, hoping to work for elite brands such as Dolce and Gabbana, Chanel and Gucci. The pair cited Pulse megastar Jaunel McKenzie as their personal role 'model' and both hope to emulate her long list of accomplishments, including Louis Vuitton, Yves St Laurent and Roberto Cavalli campaigns.

Runway assignments

Since Latesha's win, she has kept busy with runway assignments, including CFW and local editorials, as well as appearing in an 18-page spread in Japan's fas-hion bible, Luire magazine. In the editorial, Luire's biggest and most successful of its monthly issues, the ladies embodied the roots, rocks and reggae culture of Jamaica for their fans in the East. Coleman shares credits with 2006 CMS TV stars Latoya Samuels and Nicole Hopkins, as well as 2007's CMS tv runner-up Fallon Harris.

The undeniable diva of CMS Reality TV Season 2, after placing in the top three for the 2007 local leg of the series, Fallon Harris was brought in as a 'wild card' for the international leg. She has since been very visible on the regional scene and has been featured on several Pulse-allied runways, including CFW '08, donning garb for Fetish, Apple Bottoms and Biggy. She has also made her editorial debut in SHE Caribbean, Ocean Style magazine and Japan's Luire. Currently studying at the University of the West Indies, Mona campus, the pouty model manages to rock the runway while still acing her mid-terms.

Rochelle Notice - Contributed Photos

Fallon Harris

Sedene Blake - Peta-Gaye Clachar/Staff Photographer