We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Mariah. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Mariah below.

Alright, Mariah thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Have you signed with an agent or manager? Why or why not?

I primarily work as a freelance model, but I also have a talent agent who submits me for commercial opportunities. Through them, I was able to book a commercial, which was a really great experience and gave me the chance to work on a professional set.

Most of my work still comes from freelance opportunities and building relationships with brands and creatives, but having an agent has helped open the door to larger commercial castings. I’m excited to continue growing in that space and see what opportunities we’re able to create together in the future.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

If we haven’t met yet, I’m Mariah Janaé, and I’m someone who truly believes you don’t have to choose just one lane in life. I started modeling in 2018 and creating content in 2021 as a way to express my creativity and build the kind of confidence I always wanted to have. Today, my work is a mix of acting, modeling, and my travel brand which I actually started in 2021 and am currently rebranding to relaunch very soon. I love showing up as my authentic self every day because I want to inspire other people to stop waiting for permission and just start living. I’m especially passionate about helping people who might feel a little shy or stuck realize that the world is beautiful and you don’t have to wait for anyone else to go experience it. I’m most proud of building a career that finally reflects who I really am, and I hope my story shows you that it’s okay to have multiple passions and that everything eventually works out if you just stay true to yourself.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

For me, the biggest pivot was realizing that I didn’t have to shrink myself to fit into a specific niche. I spent a lot of time trying to pick just one lane because that’s what everyone tells you to do, but because I have so many different passions, I eventually realized that my personal brand is the actual foundation. I had to pivot my focus from trying to be one specific thing to just being Mariah Janaé and letting my modeling, acting, and travel brand all live under that one umbrella. It was a huge shift to stop worrying about a sub-niche and start focusing on personal branding, but it’s been so much more fulfilling to show up as my whole self. This pivot taught me that when you make “you” the brand, you never have to leave any part of your passion behind.

How did you build your audience on social media?

Building my community has really been about choosing connection over just chasing numbers. Since I don’t follow a traditional niche and prefer to share all my different passions, I knew from the start that growing might take a little longer, but I was okay with that. I’m not doing this just for the followers; I would much rather connect with 2,000 people who truly get my vibe and build a real community from there. My advice for anyone just starting out is to focus on being your most authentic self rather than trying to fit into a box. It’s so much more rewarding to show up day by day and find the people who actually resonate with your story because those are the connections that actually turn into a long-term career.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: iamMariahJanae

Image Credits

@estera.matras.portraits
@steviedphotos
@lanoraronee
@kesleysphotography
@bossy.queens.beautyllc