MacDirectory magazine is the premiere creative lifestyle magazine for Apple enthusiasts featuring interviews, in-depth tech reviews, Apple news, insights, latest Apple patents, apps, market analysis, entertainment and more.
Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/898
54 MacDirectory INTERVIEW ISOBELLA JADE > AN UNCONVENTIONAL MODEL USES AN UNCONVENTIONAL METHOD TO WRITE HER AUTOBIOGRAPHY It can be hard to follow your dreams, but in Isobella Jade's case it was nearly impossible. Jade refers to herself as the "ultimate underdog" and the title is no exaggeration. A top model wannabe, the 5' 3.5" tall Jade spent much of the early part of her career listening to people in the fashion industry (and outside of it) flatly tell her she was wasting her time. She was far too short to be a model. Yet behind Jade's small frame is an iron will bolstered with rock-hard determination. Armed only with belief in herself and her vision and determined not to give up, she proceeded to quit her office job and embark on a journey toward a successful modeling career that would eventually include everything from major gaffes to homelessness. When asked by MacDirectory about some of the things that kept her going during those dark times, Jade surprised us by saying that one of the main ones was her local Apple store. She explains, "I had a feeling inside that I really wanted to pursue my dream and sometimes when you do that it makes you kind of desperate. I didn't have a computer at the time, there was no way I could afford one, and what I do involves so much of the Internet and the Web. And then I discovered the Apple store." The discovery turned out to be fortuitous in more ways than one. The Apple store was not just able to provide the computer Jade so desperately needed, but also offered her user training and on the spot customer assistance. Jade became so comfortable there in fact, that eventually she considered the Apple store her home away from home. "It was a way for me to connect with the world, find jobs, pursue my dream – it was the one place I could go to feel good while I was going through a bad time and a lot of emotion." And it was a very bad time. Homeless and with no support from her family, Jade felt as if her dream of a modeling career, as well as her sanity, were hanging by a thread, "I was literally eating off the dollar menu, crashing at friends' houses, stressing out about how I was going to take showers and wash my clothes; so it was a really cool feeling to know that no matter what I had a place I could go and look for work, play with my Web site, download and send out my resume – in other words pretty much whatever I needed to do to survive." She added, "It was just a good feeling to WORDS BY JONE DEVLIN > IMAGE BY ROBERT CALDARONE (ROBERTCALDARONE.COM)