Today we’d like to introduce you to Romy Léa.
Hi Romy, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I got started in Montreal, Canada where I followed my sister for university and stayed. One day, I was at a massage therapy appointment when my therapist told me her client was a marketing manager and looking for models for a coat campaign. I said yes and that was my first modelling job ever. The ads were in several magazines including In-Style. After that, I didn’t model for almost 3 years when a North American model search came up for a Montreal client. I entered the competition and got pretty far but didn’t win. However, the company was part of a fashion group. One of their companies reached out to me from the contestant database and asked me to cast for them. I got hired and started taking a day off from my office job every week to go model for them. (I eventually got caught and in trouble for this). With this client in action, I was able to get signed with the modelling agency Folio Montreal. Around this time I also started intensive acting training with the talented and demanding acting coach Jock MacDonald. With a modelling agency, a side hustle waitressing and my acting classes, I quit my office job and started a whole new life.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Absolutely nothing smooth about my path. I gave up a stable 9-5 with a salary for side hustles in rough environments and an unstable income. However it gave me the flexibility to be available for modelling bookings which I had a lot of very regularly. However my sights were always set on the U.S. where compared to Montreal, the opportunities are endless; especially to transition into acting after modelling would inevitably fizzle out. However that’s where things got significantly more challenging. During the pandemic, with all opportunities and my livelihood shut down, I took a risk and finally pushed through my dream of moving to the U.S. The plan before 2020 was L.A. but a brief visit at the end of 2020, where I fell in love with Miami, and it was open while everything else was shut down, I moved there . I love Miami, but it turned out to be a less busy market than L.A. And New York. This presents a new set of challenges.
Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I’m mostly known for modelling, although I have done acting in a few plays and a bit of film and tv. My modelling work was mostly commercial, but I was published in magazine editorials a handful of times as well.
What set me apart from others were my features and my build. My looks are different than the typical curve model as a curvy body with a thinner more angular face.
For the most part that worked well for me and there have been many instances where it worked against me. You win some and you lose some. In the U.S. it has worked against me more than for me as this is a much more competitive market and I don’t fit in with the all American aesthetic that is typical to curve models.
Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
I can’t tell you works for other models and actors because my path was very unique. It was about timing, tuning into a feeling and luck. I am not a typical model type whatsoever. My build, my specs and my look were not like the other women but that’s exactly what got me hired.
Montreal was saturated with brunettes and I was a dark copper blonde with a thin face but curvy body. My first major client, Penningtons, told me that I added a bit of spice to the website. It was very much being at the right place at the right time.
Even getting signed with Folio was very serendipitous. They are a reputable agency that works with many top straight size models worldwide. They were just starting their curve division when I walked in with a client already on the go. It was amazing timing and even though I didn’t fit normal modelling specs they gave me a chance. They initially told me I probably wouldn’t work that much, but I worked so much they told me I’m working more than many straight size models.
Another example of serendipity, I was at Winners (like Marshall’s) and I ran into a photographer who had worked with my sister when she was modelling and they were still friends (she was a model before me).
We chatted a bit and he was working for Laura Canada at the time, the next week Laura called my agent to book me and I worked for them non stop for 6 months straight sometimes twice a week.
Something similar happened recently with their current photography manager, I got in touch with her no knowing she worked there, and I ended up working with them again so many years later when I was already based in the States.
The takeaway is that sometimes doors open without you having to push. If it’s meant to be it’ll happen in ways that you couldn’t dream up. So keep networking, but also tune into the fact that if it’s yours it’ll happen. If it’s not, it doesn’t matter who you talk to the doors won’t open.
Also, the same marketing manager who gave me my first job in 2011, connected me with someone who knew and got me signed at my current agency Dorothy Combs Models, almost 10 years after I met him. You just never know how the dots are going to connect.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/romylea11?igsh=MW5vY3Y1a2wybm9sbw%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@romy_lea11?_t=ZT-8y54qwgGepp&_r=1
