GG: Give us a little background. Where did you grow up, and how did you get to where you're living now? 

DM: My family is Guyanese. I was born in Brooklyn but traveled back while my mom gathered resources and was studying for her CPA. She sent for me, my grandma, my aunt, and my little cousin. I come from an all-female household—my dad and my mom stopped having a relationship when I was about two years old. I grew up in this very immigrant environment and identified with Guyanese culture, but had this interesting cross-cultural experience because my dad's side is partly Indigenous, and Black American. A journey that I've been on in my early adulthood is rediscovering that and learning about that.

I grew up in Westchester after moving around between the Bronx, Guyana, and Brooklyn. I went from early elementary school through high school in Pleasantville. During my time there, I was really into sports. I played a lot of soccer and also did track and had some school records. I knew I wanted to run track at whatever school I went to, and I just really fell in love with NYU and the marketed version of the city. Ironically, Gossip Girl is the reason why I came to NYU. I don't know how proud I am to say that, but it is the truth. 

At NYU, I was close with my running team. I also had always had a love for fashion, and I had been wanting to be a model since I was twelve. But given my rather traditional Caribbean household, that wasn't really a viable option. I was raised with this undertone of, “You have to get your education,” which I'm not knocking. I did a few acting classes and a couple of auditions, but for the most part, it was just about getting to college. People on my running team ended up being into photography, or just the nature of entertainment and arts, and so I started just shooting with my friends. 

The first year I was really shy about wanting to be a model. My best friend, who I met through track, was like, “I remember in 2015 when you whispered to me in a Sweetgreen that you wanted to be a model.” It was something that I felt super insecure about owning in the beginning, but when my sophomore year hit, one of my friends introduced me to a casting director at Milk Makeup and I booked a shoot. Then, I think it was around the day before that shoot, I had a show for fashion week, which was my first official fashion week show. That same year, I did BlacKkKlansman. Sophomore year of college was when I realized this was tangible, and decided that I was just going to go for it. I graduated with a Public Health and Sociology degree, and I think that frames the other hats I wear. While I was in school, I was the founder of Voices for Planned Parenthood and I got to speak at the Teen Vogue summit because of my work with them. It was my first organizational view of community work. 

GG: You have your hands in a lot of different buckets and you are creative in more ways than one. Is there one craft that you are most passionate about or something that's your favorite to do? 

DM: I would say that they're honestly all one craft. Me doing community work and community initiatives goes hand-in-hand with modeling and with the small business that I'm working on. At NYU and even my independent research, my lens was frequently around race relations and racial awareness, or health research in general. Now, I'm finding my way of reinterpreting that on my terms and trying my best to work for myself. I’m figuring out how to make this brand an empire and build my name up. They're different facets of the same thing. 

GG: That makes perfect sense—all of those different mediums can weave together and you can have important conversations in all of those spaces. It's interesting that you were a college athlete and now you're modeling and putting your face to activism as well. You're also an entrepreneur. Does being an athlete show up in other ways now that you're past that stage of your life? 

DM: Definitely. The biggest thing about track and sports, in general, was the discipline and the mental component of training. Ultimately, a lot of it was the harder you train, the better you'll be, and sometimes the more pain you're in, the better the payout will be. There was a lot of knowing how to struggle, almost. I feel like that sounds so weird, but kind of just dealing with that and also being consistent. That's something I had struggled with during my time on soccer, and during my time on track. I stopped my sophomore year at NYU because I felt like I had been missing other opportunities due to travel. I would sometimes be in a different state all weekend and I would miss a whole fashion show or a whole opportunity for my twenty-six-second race. Eventually, I didn’t feel like it aligned with what I wanted out of my future. But I will say, it's been super difficult to keep consistently training to that level. I’m dealing with all of this stuff and then trying to be like, let me exercise every day religiously. 

Even though I'm not hitting that mark, I still have this framework that feels like life is ultimately a competition. I feel like I have to keep proving myself, and it's this never-ending cycle, especially trying to do something so public. And with starting a business, how am I going to outperform my past accomplishments? With track, it was a never-ending cycle of, “How do I get better?” That is what I get wrapped up in and what will even prevent me from releasing products. 

GG: Yeah, definitely the perfectionist mindset. It’s a hard transition. You said you wanted to be a model since you were twelve, so you're accomplishing your dream and you're making it a reality. What was your first official shoot, and how did you go about booking it?  

DM: My first shoot was through a talent agency. I was scouted in a mall. I was twelve years old, and my mom's an immigrant, so she doesn't really understand the landscape. She's just trying to help me achieve what I want. When we signed onto that, we had a photoshoot. I brought my own clothes. They had makeup artists, and it was in a parking lot in New Jersey—not very glamorous at all. Then, they wanted us to pay them for photos. I say this on my TikTok a lot, but people or agencies who try to get you to pay large sums of money—it can be from like $800 to $2000 that they poach, in my opinion—aren’t reputable. They are aware that you probably don't know any better. I've done shoots using friends and free resources around me. Even if you're trying to get signed, the agency will usually accept digitals, which you can even take on your phone. They just need natural snapshots to see how you photograph. 

I feel like my true first experience was when I was in school. My first shoot was probably in NYU’s Palladium building with my friend. We were throwing fabric around the walls and trying to make this scene out of one of the game rooms. Obviously, I'm more mature in those photos, but they're way better than the talent agency’s, and they were taken by a friend. 

The mental battles that come with it are tough sometimes because you have to understand that this is a business. I’ve been growing up and finding myself as a person, all while I'm selling my image and my likeness. All of that rejection has genuinely molded me into a very tough person. 

Some of the misconceptions aren't completely unfounded, but in terms of who can be a model, now more than ever, so many people can just market themselves a certain way. It's all about framing, and all about how you sell yourself. There are such amazing markets around commercial work where you don't have to have a certain height or anything. A lot of the industry is trying to celebrate difference and diversity. Of course, there’s always such a way to go with any of these systems and institutions. We Speak, my mother agency in New York, was the first one to give me a chance. I'd seen virtually every agency in New York and was told no. I was still building myself up, and that's the driving force as to why I haven't stopped—I get work on my own, it's just about maximizing the work that I get. That's where someone like a manager or agent comes in. Nowadays, you can make your own career, and there are a lot of girls who do that. Before, these gatekeepers were molding a superstar. Now, I think there are so many superstars and so much visibility that you have to know how to work the business side of it, but you can absolutely mold yourself into whatever. 

GG: Looking back, is there one particular thing you wish you knew? 

DM: Negotiation skills, knowing my worth, and knowing how to advocate for myself better. The biggest thing with representation is rates and money talk. That's something I’ve learned as a predominantly freelance model in the city, and it took a lot of time to learn. Everything is divine timing, but I wish that I had seen people's comparable rates or just knew how to speak up for myself more. I had to transition out of saying yes to every opportunity because ultimately not everyone knows how to respect my time. There can be situations where people don't even know, maybe they're either getting started up and they might not have that professional awareness. It’s important to be able to discern what's worth my time. On the flip side of that, I had this mentality to build my network and to work with whoever I could and connect. That's been a huge driving force as well, and why I am where I'm at.

GG: Have any shoots let you keep the clothes? Or have you had any shoots where you wish you could have kept the clothes? 

DM: It depends on the client and how close we are, because I sometimes do work with my friends, or they sometimes connect me with a designer that’s starting up. If there are stray little things I might get them, but sometimes in addition to or as my rate, a client will make me clothes. I have a designer friend whose debut collection I modeled, and being that she's such a small designer and could only pay me so much, she's making this beautiful custom dress for me that she's been working on for months. Moments like that show me that people appreciate my time. At this point, I feel pretty seasoned and I feel like I'm ready to get what I deserve. I'm super understanding and I do want to always make new connections and work with people who I think are innovative, of course, so it’s just about showing that extra respect. 

GG: On your Tiktok, you post a lot of “top models you should know about.” Who are your favorite inspirations? Who do you look up to, and who inspires you? 

DM: Donyale Luna, as a classic Black supermodel. I feel like our faces favor each other. I kind of discovered her while trying to research new people for Tiktok, and I was like, “Wow, I can see myself in this woman.” Her work is stunning and she was genuinely one of the very first American supermodels and had quite a time internationally. She’s historic. 

In the modern day, Precious Lee. Her work is phenomenal and groundbreaking, and so high fashion and luxury—ultimately, luxury work is my goal. Of course, Adut, Anok, and also people like Coco Mitchell, who was one of the first Black Sports Illustrated models and was one of the first Revlon models for women of color. She's become a mentor as well. I did a show with her around 2019 and I got the courage to talk to her. She got lunch with me and has been a really special person in my corner who pushes me and has reminded me that she genuinely sees a future for me. So those are some of my inspirations, along with Ugly Worldwide (Jazelle), Indira Scotts, the list goes on. Of course, the Naomis and Tyras too.

GG: I love that you are constantly surrounded by badass, wonderful, talented women. Do you have a manager and an agent, and if so, what are their roles in the business side of the modeling career? 

DM: In modeling, you can have a mother agent whose job is to place you at a bigger agency to get work. Following under your mother agency are daughter agencies. Your mother agent will coordinate work, scheduling, and your bookings amongst them. I've seen some girls do the route where they only have a manager, and they just work with this manager who is super involved in their everyday life and molding their name. In my case, it's a little unique because I do so much, and my mother agent understands that I might need more assistance with Tiktok and social media or even helping me manage Beta Teen. I've been trying to be more serious about entering the acting industry as well. Modeling works regionally, so your agent works based on whatever region you're signed to them in. I have a New York agency and now I have a Los Angeles agency, but as I expand my career, I'm working on getting international placements in Paris, London, and Milan. 

GG: Starting a business is amazing and there are so many things involved that they don't teach us. Where did that idea come from, and what inspired you to take our childhood cartoons and turn them into merch and a brand? What have you learned?

DM: It's been way tougher than I expected. I have someone helping me, but that's more for scheduling stuff. I had a lot of merch made last March, and in June, I saw the demand for action work, and I saw a lot of people on social media were super willing and ready to give to these different causes or just generally raise awareness, so I dropped whatever sets of clothes that I had made because I felt like it would be a great way to fundraise and introduce the brand. I raised funds for the Emergency Release Fund, which helps nonbinary and trans folks with bail funds and provides financial assistance . I got a lot of support from my community and my followers. Everyone seemed to have really good reception to it, which was encouraging. 

I built so many business skills along the way, but without an explicit business and marketing background, I almost didn't know where to go next. In terms of addressing things like sustainability, inclusive sizing, and so on, I took a step back because I didn't want to step into a cycle of constant production without being aware and conscious of how much I'm producing, what I'm producing, and who I'm producing for. But it came about because I was working on ways to separate my face from my product. I’m always looking for what's next. I have so many ideas that sometimes it's really hard to hone in on one path. This was my way of exploring community organizing and initiatives because I want Beta Teen to be a place where I eventually have a physical space or a community group. Maybe we can have a book club where we learn and understand radical literature, and also do actual community work, whether it's working at women's shelters or fundraising. I want it to be a safe space. 

In terms of cartoons, I still feel like an adult child, and a lot of my favorite things from childhood are cartoons, even to this day. I love anime. I love that form of media. It just speaks to me for some reason. Eventually, I would love to make my own animations. I have a true childhood love for them and how they made me feel, so I wanted to reinterpret that and have the whole message be about Black empowerment and inclusion and representation.

@cultureicontv ⁣For @wiederhoeft_ | Photo @forgedinthenorth | Hair @uhmmwhat | Makeup @raisaflowers | Nails @adakiss | Florals @corystieg⁣ | Design Assist. @hanaquist | Movement @austingood1 | Chief Lighting @theesaif | Grip @bls_nyc

One thing I wish TikTok would change is its sensitivity to shadow-banning. Especially as a Black creator, you can have your content fully blocked, whether you say something against Tiktok or highlight some kind of discrepancy or something like that. It's not always equal opportunity when it comes to the actual creators and their backgrounds and what they're able to speak on. I have been shadow-banned which means that there are certain hashtags that I haven’t been able to use for months now. I still make content because I'm not going to stop doing that. I just see that, and I see people talk about it, and when it happens to you, you're like, “This is real, and it's not okay.”

GG: You've been able to make some cool stuff happen under the scary circumstances of the pandemic. How have you been able to stay motivated to keep working and find ways to make things happen for yourself? 

DM: It's a day-by-day journey. I balance between, “Is the world really going to end?” and, “Okay, keep going ahead on your journey because nothing's forever and this too shall pass.” In terms of TikTok, I spent so much time on the app because of the pandemic and I ended up kind of realizing that there was this open market when it came to models speaking on their experiences. I didn't see a lot of models doing that. I saw them using it for their pleasure and entertainment rather than seeing it as an opportunity in terms of social media and curation. The more you feed the algorithm, the more it returns—it’s the same with running track. I would be posting three to six videos a day, trying to see what worked and what didn't, and just expanding my audience. I started to see real growth and traction. That motivated me, and then on top of that, being a part of that mentorship group and regularly meeting with people who also were in the same boat of being at home but still wanting to pursue their craft. 

I kind of shifted away from modeling because the modeling industry shut down. My agency wasn't really getting any work. But I love the art of self-photography, and modeling is such an important art form to me. Sometimes, when I go too long without it, I have to make something and creatively direct it. I remember doing a portrait series in my bedroom, and even one called "April's Solitude" that was just me doing a lot of portraits, experimenting with my hair, and setting up in my room in Bushwick. When I got that spark of energy, it was out of idleness and not wanting to stay in my head any longer. I wanted to work with my hands, and that's where the whole setup comes in because I'm looking to make this space in my room that looks otherworldly. I take the photos, and then I'm working on learning Photoshop and editing them. It's this whole process that can help me escape. I was bouncing between trying to make things continue to move for me and creating this platform on TikTok. Between those two things, I did find motivation. I felt like I had been running around ragged so much that I really appreciated taking a moment of pause and just being like, “Okay, what really makes me happy?” Being creative makes me happy. 

@mall.nyc | @hedistantonphotography | @tashiejane | @avaati | @krystaldeans

DM: It was just cool to see the intricacies of the acting world and these different roles that you can be a part of. I am doing my best to take it more seriously because I love the community aspect of it. It was just such a large set. With modeling on sets, it's rarely a huge production. If it's a huge production, maybe there are fifteen to twenty people, but a film or television set is hundreds of people.

GG: We are so excited to see this all play out for you. What was it like being on Gossip Girl? 

DM: It was just cool to see the intricacies of the acting world and these different roles that you can be a part of. I am doing my best to take it more seriously because I love the community aspect of it. It was just such a large set. With modeling on sets, it's rarely a huge production. If it's a huge production, maybe there are fifteen to twenty people, but a film or television set is hundreds of people. 

Being treated as a principal feature on this production was super special because I got to represent Christopher John Rogers, who is the premier designer who has believed in me and has been pushing me since early on in his career. I know he's rooting for me and I'm rooting for him and it means so much. Having someone of that caliber believe in you and bring you on to something like this made my childhood dreams come true. He does an in-house like muse honoring, so there were other girls who I had worked with before and we got to share that moment. 

It was crazy because we had to create this environment of a fashion show but do so many takes. The other thing about acting is it's about a minimum of ten to fourteen hours, and not everyone was super enthused about that but I loved it. I love the environment. It feels like I'm stepping out of my reality and going into this whole other world. You get there at seven or whatever and come out at ten or eleven, and you do it for three or four days in a row. When you're on production for longer, I can imagine that you build this whole family. I think it's cool and having more solidified roles is a next step I hope to see for myself.

GG: The whole scene of the fashion show was insane—the curtain drop, and the crowd. I can't even imagine what practicing that was like.

DM: Ee had a choreographer for that, so we had a rehearsal separate from filming. I filmed it in November 2020, so I didn't know much about the main characters or anything, or even who Jordan Alexander was in the show. Come to find out, she’s the main character. I saw everyone like Whitney Peak and Evan Mock come and do their scenes too. Not that it was that friendly or anything, but where we were in holding was right next to the principal cast, so it felt like you were also the star of the show. The crossover between modeling and acting was interesting. I felt like we were new in the space and they almost didn't know what to do with us because there were so many of us. I wish I got to see it from the audience as they were filming. We had so many takes, but it was worth it.