Answering a Reader Question #49

Adriana Marcela Wrote:

Dania, you are a pretty and intelligent young woman. Both qualifications are difficult to find together these days!..

Congratulations! and I wish you the best in your career. I came by your blog while looking for ideas to design a composite for each of my kids (5 and 6). Your advice was very helpful. Thanks!

You writing is excellent and shows that a good education have you in the right path for success... Never give up...

What do you think was the best thing you received in the education from your parents that helped you focus on what-you-were-good for and what-you-like in life?

Hi, Adriana! Thank you so much for your compliments...I am very flattered and glad that I could offer you some advice. I am guessing your children are in the industry as well or are about to become involved?

As for your question, that is a very interesting one that I would love to answer! Let's see...I think the best education I got from my parents in terms of helping me focus on what I was good for and what I wanted in life was the fact that I was taught a different lesson from each. My parents are so different and their viewpoints played a large role in my life. My father has always been supportive of anything I've done. He knows me so well that when he recognizes that I am passionate about something then chances are it's serious if I've allowed it to capture and maintain my attention. However, with the modeling and acting field he is more of a realist and even pessimistic at times. In the beginning I felt bad that he didn't seem to take much interest in what I was doing. But he always told me to have a backup plan...to never put all my eggs in one basket and that as long as I got a college education, I could have the best of both worlds. Now that I am older I realized that his lesson--while negative to me at the time--prepared me to pursue the industry with a clear head. I knew that as much as I loved modeling, it wasn't exactly a career that was synonymous with longevity or prosperity. The industry was highly competitive and I couldn't go into it with only stars in my eyes. This motivated me to pursue my college education while modeling, which led me to pursue another passion: journalism and broadcasting. I learned from my father that while it's good for me to go for what interests me, it's important to make sure that I am still able to take care of myself in case that first attempt should fail--and that I'm not a failure because things didn't work out. He taught me to appreciate the opportunities I have but to not be so caught up with modeling that I missed out on other opportunities.

On the flip side my mother has always been my cheerleader. She loves the fact that I model and is the one who I can turn to and talk about all the shoots I've done, share pictures, and other things I feel my father wouldn't be as interested in hearing about. She has shown me unconditional support, which gave me the confidence and strength to pursue the industry. Her unwavering support and motivation perfectly balanced my father's stern point of view about my modeling. While my father was always cautioning me, my mother was always pushing me to make the most of the opportunities that came my way.

I was lucky because I didn't have "stage parents," nor did I have a parent that outright told me I wouldn't make it (even though my father wasn't gung-ho about me modeling he always silently offered me his support). Each of my parents gave me a different viewpoint but above all they taught me one common lesson: do what makes you happy but make sure you go about it the right way. They kept me very grounded and I think that played a huge role in allowing me the freedom to go after what I was interested in. This life lesson is one that I like to pass on to aspiring models. I like to say that it's okay to reach for the stars--just make sure that should you fall, you have a soft cloud to land on.