We were lucky to catch up with Marisa Cooley recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Marisa, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you’ve thought about whether to sign with an agent or manager?

I haven’t really had the “signed model moment” I’ve applied to every agency you can think of at least once and I haven’t really seemed to have anyone interested or have it go anywhere. There’s always something about my appearance that they aren’t happy with which is a little disheartening. I have several small agencies that I work with that send out general castings and I love them but I’m still looking for my own agent that has me in mind when jobs come in. For primarily all of my career I have been freelance and booking things on my own.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

I have always been interested in modeling. When I moved out on my own about 10 years ago is when I really started pursuing it. Initially I emailed local boutiques and asked if they needed a model. One of them happened to be having a fashion show coming up and booked me for that. At the show I connected with the photographer and we started doing TF shoots. That kind of opened my eyes to the network of creatives all around and I’ve been shamelessly shooting freelance ever since. Currently I’m more focused on building a more high fashion portfolio. I still love to do creative shoots every once in a while but I have been constantly pushing myself outside of my comfort zone to evolve and pursue modeling as a full time job. Because of this I’ve also stepped more into acting and booked more commercials and talent work.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

My goal from day one has always remained the same. I want to be in the smallest picture on the last page of a Victorias Secret catalog. Just to be able to say I’m in their print magazine would symbolize to me that I have finally made it.

Any insights you can share with us about how you built up your social media presence?

As far as my social media goes I’ve worked very hard to build it to where it is today. I started my Instagram when it first came out so of course my base followers were friends and family. When I moved to Florida I started working at Disney and that got me a mass amount of people who want to know what princesses do on their days off. Then I transitioned into doing group shoots and there you’re exposed to so many people it becomes a big community. Once I switched gears and stopped posting every shoot and focusing on only the high caliber work I started to gain a following because people just liked the work I was producing. It’s difficult to figure out the algorithm because it’s always changing. Post a lot so you show you’re worthy of following. But don’t spam, and don’t have a messy feed. I find the best way for me to maintain it now is keeping the page as sort of a highlight reel and posting stories so I’m still very much active.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @queencoolsville

Image Credits
MaryBel Ben Wombough Jesse Walker Wayne Denny Haley Finegan Gregory Mohn