Sunrise Life - beyond skin deep conversations with freelance nude models

Marie Brooks - Fully nomadic life, dating as a traveling model, contracts & more

Marie Brooks is particularly interesting because she has NO address! As a fully nomadic freelance traveling model, Marie has storage lockers in different places around the world for her belongings. She hops between hotels, airbnbs and hostels with no true "home base". Of all the traveling models I have interviewed, Marie is the only one I know that is completely nomadic like this! 
She opened up about what it's like for her to date as she lives this nomadic lifestyle, you might find this part particularly intriqiung!
Enjoy this episode of Marie, and find her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/themariebrooks 
You can find info on her group shoot events via her IG! 
 

Poppy Seed Dancer– Traveling with photographers, limit pushers, trauma informed teachers, & more

Dive into the captivating story of Poppy, a ballet dancer and freelance model! Poppy takes us on a journey through her life, revealing the highs and lows of her career – from her beginnings in Crimea to finding a sense of belonging in San Francisco. She discusses the challenges she faced in her career, her love for ballet, and how she used social media as a tool to carve her niche in the modeling industry.
Listen as Poppy unveils her experiences as a global traveler and model, sharing tales from the streets of Italy, Atlanta, and San Francisco to the art classes where she posed nude. She discusses the struggles she had to overcome, and how her openness and audacity played a significant role in shaping her career and life choices.
The podcast additionally goes into detail about her encounters with unprofessional practices within the industry, and how these experiences led to her exploration of trauma-informed teaching methods, contributing to the ongoing discourse around mental health. Poppy's story ultimately serves as a reminder of the importance of safety, understanding, and mental health in all professions.
As a closing note, our compelling conversation with Poppy centers around the significance of ballet technique in photography and her quest to capture the essence of her art form. Listen in on her story – an inspiring mix of determination, resilience, industry insights and a testament to the enduring spirit of artists everywhere.
Cover image by ShaunTia

Viribus Femina - Agency model gone rogue, raw emotiveness at shoots, depression, and more

Femina is an amazing emotive model who loves the outdoors and enjoys working with like minded creatives who have artistic visions. Her journey to get to this position was a bit rough, though! 
 
She started modeling for agencies, doing fashion for companies. She did not enjoy this very much because they were very critical of her body, constantly measuring her waist and telling her to lose weight. This exacerbated an eating disorder that Femina struggled with for a long time. Eventually, her depression became too great and she decided to cut ties with the agency and become a freelance model. 
 
Femina craves self expression in her modeling, she does not like to be instructed to smile on command, she wants to share her true self and authentic feelings, which have had a dark past. Femina shared some of her struggles in childhood, including a suicide attempt at only ten years old. 
 
I had a fantastic time listening to her stories, check out the episode and let me know what you think! As always, please subscribe!! 
 
Website: https://viribusfemina.co/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/viribusfemina/Twitter: https://twitter.com/viribusfeminaPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/feminaFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/viribus.femina.79Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/viribusfeminaContact: viribus.femina@gmail.com
 
Info about the gallery show she mentioned on Feb 10 at the House of Water in Dallas:
 
https://www.instagram.com/p/C2gLIcBt8Mm/
 
Cover image by @EyesofJune 

Daisy Von - (Trigger warning) Modeling after death of a loved one, photographers who have passed, and more

Daisy Von reached out to me to offer condolences after my mom passed away and asked if I would be interested in talking about it on this podcast episode, for she had a similar situation a few years ago with her beloved father. Daisy's dad was her biggest fan, he had prints of her art and he read her blog and they talked on the phone about it all the time. After he passed away, Daisy dealt with immense grief for a long time. 
After talking about our parents for a while, we related to the grief of modeling for such a long time, many photographers we have know (who may have been elderly or in poor health) have also passed away. It's always a bit sad if they were a creative collaborator we connected with. We touched on the "therapist" aspect of being a nude model at shoots, and sometimes we end up being the one needing to vent at shoots when something traumatic is happening in our lives!
Thanks so much for listening! 
You can check Daisy out on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/daisyvonmodel/
Cover image by Bill Cole Photographics 

Taylor -Fired because of her spicy pics, Mental Health, Freshly touring model

Taylor is an inspiring model from Seattle who has gotten into full time touring within the last year. She started working with an agency and also books tons of her own work across the US. 
Taylor had a job working with teenage athletes for quite some time. It wasn't until her modeling became more and more of a passion for her that some of her coworkers found out about her photos online and complained to management, resulting in her getting fired. She took this opportunity to become a full time traveling nude model, and I am so glad she did!
We talked about so many things including mental health issues, which Taylor is a boss for dealing with! Apparently her parents were not so understanding, so she had to suffer through high school years unmedicated. It wasn't until she moved away from her parents that she was able to seek the help she needed. It was really fascinating to learn all this from her! 
Check out Taylor on instagram! http://www.instagram.com/xx.tbabe
Cover image by @Skylar.shoots.photo

Velveteen Serpent Queen - Disordered eating, Multi-potentialite, Magic rainbow, Nude outdoor modeling

Michelle Sorensen aka Velveteen Serpent Queen is a super down to earth freelance model who also has a passion for bodily expression through dance. She teaches spine flexibility classes and other movement focused classes online and in person. She invented her modeling alias with the "Velveteen Rabbit" story in mind- for which the moral of the story is if you love something enough, it makes it come to life! 
Michelle's early modeling brought her to learn new things about herself, including overcoming an eating disorder. Through experience, she also learned that outdoor nude in nature modeling was her true passion, and favors that genre over any other modeling genre, though she did mention that it's really about the people she is working with, not just the setting. Good vibes only!
I had such a fantastic time listening to Michelle speak about her life in such a candid way. I hope we can meet in real life sometime, enjoy listening to the episode!
Check out Michelle on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/velveteen.serpent.queen
Also her classes and other links are here: https://msha.ke/sliiink.movement 
PS: Sorry I skipped a week of this podcast, my mom passed away and my world turned upside down. I do enjoy putting this podcast together... please don't hesitate to reach out if you enjoy listening :) I truly appreciate your comments!! 

Poetic Minx - Family’s hometown newspaper expose’d her modeling, Freak wave nearly washed her away at beach shoot

Aurora, aka Poetic Minx, is a world traveling model from Australia, who has also lived in Poland! She is passionate about creative photography and even coordinates destination photography events in stunning locations around the world.
We talked about so many things including how the modeling community can be supportive but also at times, some can be competitive. Her crazy photoshoot story was really scary, she was almost taken out by a wave! 
Her hometown in Poland contacted her to interview her about her modeling, and it was really exciting for her but it also affected her family. 
Check out Poetic Minx on her instagram: http://www.instagram.com/poetic.minx 
Also on her website http://www.poeticminx.com 
Cover image by @StaceyMikePhoto2

Lucy Art Model - crazy nude beaches, USA vs Europe for touring, remote shooting & more!

Lucy is a dedicated art model from New Zealand who travels all over the world! Australia, Europe, and the USA are some places she frequents. Lucy studied music and drama and has an art degree. 
You will feel the cringe of her photoshoot fail story at a nude beach - I felt so bad for her too (awkward!!) Lucy has also gone above and beyond in her remote shooting experiences with photographers, sometimes even taking her gear and hotspot to an outdoor location so a photographer across the world can capture her in ponds and mountaintops in New Zealand. I was in awe! 
Check out Lucy's official website: https://lucyartmodel.com/
As well as her Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artmodel.lucy 
Cover image by Steve Italiano

Beth MG - Gymnastics kid, first art nude shoot from Fetlife, Art student who BECAME the art!

I met Beth MG in person at a group modeling event earlier this year and I just had to interview her for the podcast! Beth is very acrobatic, and I learned during our conversation that she did gymnastics as a kid. Art school was inspirational for Beth, even though she didn't feel confident in her artistic skills, the experience of class brought her into the modeling world.
Photography students asked her to be their subject over and over, and she enjoyed some of the creative projects... posted some images on Fetlife, and found her first modeling gig that way! The rest is history, and you can learn more about the progression of Beth's modeling, her past relationships, her rising phoenix moment and more!
Check out Beth on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bethemgee 
and on her Website: https://www.bethmg.com/
Cover image by Mark Wiles @markwilesphoto

Whitney Masters - Actress & Nude Model, Poison ivy incident, meeting ”normal” people & more!

Whitney Masters is a dedicated creative who loves the process of the photo shoot. She has traveled for modeling for quite some time, and reinvented herself over the years. Whitney comes from a very artistic background, she also has experience in acting. 
It's very apparent that Whitney loves what she does for a living, and will continue to be successful! She has a very positive mind and applies this to her creative career - look out for her poison ivy freak incident though! 
Check out Whitney on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/whitney.masters
Also on her website: https://linktr.ee/whitney.masters
Cover image by Jeffrey Sklan