Growing up in rural Mississippi, travel looked a little different for me. We don't have public transportation (yes, not even Uber in almost 2023) and flying was $1,000 plus an additional trip by car just to get to and from the nearest airport. All of the trips I had ever been on were by car. While the bonding from road-trips is next-level, I realized that this norm created a fear of flying. Most of my family members 40 years and older have still never been on a plane or just experienced flying for the first time to come visit me in LA. I knew then that I had some generational curses to break.
Throughout my college years, my mentor was persistent on me getting a passport. There was a period where I was afraid to tell her that I was even afraid to fly. However, I eventually did. She flew me from a local airport to college in Atlanta (it was only a 45 minute flight y'all LOL). Give me a break... it was my first time flying and I had only heard how frightening it was or how painful my ears would be. Well, my ears never popped and it was such an eye opening experience. It had nothing to do with traveling or a passport at this moment. It was MANIFESTATION. My mentor used to be a Delta flight attendant, so her and her colleague were kind enough to give me buddy passes. I didn't think about how all of this would affect my life years later or how ironic that my mentor was somehow perfectly equipped to help me navigate this phase of my life.
I soon became a pro flyer (whatever that is) and received a gift one Easter. I was a senior in college at this time, and my mentor randomly sent me the money to get my passport. So I went to my local post office and applied. Weeks later, I received my passport and thought "Wow....now what?" I had no intentions of traveling internationally and although I had my passport, it still seemed like such a foreign thing (pun intended) . Fast forward to November 2021, I received one of the biggest and highest paying jobs of my modeling career. It was a Tuesday and I had to be in London by Saturday. This was still during the brink of COVID calming down so getting a passport that soon would have been nearly impossible. Lucky for me, I already had it....which brings me to the secret.
The secret is simple. I never received international inquiries or opportunities until I was in a position to go. My passport to me is so much more than just travel documentation. It reminds me how far I've come and how endless opportunities are. It reminds me that I have to be aligned with the things I'm asking for in order to receive them. International model who's scared to fly?? Psssh. International model with no passport???? Sometimes all you have to do is make the first move.
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