We were lucky to catch up with Chele Sellman recently and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Chele, thanks for joining us today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

“The biggest risk I ever took wasn’t leaving a job or launching a business. It was finally deciding to believe in myself without needing anyone else’s permission.”

All my life, I lived for someone else’s dream. You could say I didn’t know how to dream for myself. At the age of 38, I had no dreams. After a failed partnership and launch of a children’s animation series, I found myself sitting at my desk in my living room, staring at my monitor and Facebook. I came across an indie “fashion” magazine that appeared to be thriving made by someone I had known through Facebook. Of course, I had to look to see what it was all about because this was the first I had heard of it. My ADHD went into hyper focus, and before I knew it, I had spent most of the day learning about several indie “fashion” magazines. They seemed to be all over the place at the time (this was around early fall of 2017).

Let’s rewind a little bit. Since I was a kid, I was in love with art and fashion in some sense. From taking a fine tip red marker and drawing “lipstick” on models in my aunt’s Spiegel catalog to winning art contests in high school. Art was my passion, and great escape. Having an ADHD superpower of hyper focus, was in fact, perfect for all things artsy. In my junior year of high school, I started sketching my own fashion designs (inspired by my aunt who designed them) and began taking a small binder to school with a few pages of croquis. Croquis are basic sketches of model bodies. The silhouettes if you will. I would walk up to the popular girls and ask them to describe what they liked in fashion and what their dream outfit was. From there, I would sketch a dress or gown. It was a great way to get praise from the popular crowd and I had an early praise kink. I did this for about a year, and early in my senior year, I decided to show my art teacher. At the time, this was my 3rd year as her teacher’s assistant and I worked in her art classes for two classes a day. On top of that, I was taking advanced sketching and art classes. By the end of senior year, she had invited someone from the Atlanta Art Institute to see me and my work. Particularly, my fashion designs. It was the first time someone saw my talent and truly wanted to see me succeed. Unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t see it. My art teacher, Mrs. Strickland, got someone to fly all the way to Ohio and offer me a full-blown scholarship only to have a small town rural girl at seventeen pass because I was afraid my family couldn’t function without me. Enter the “parentified daughter” role and always putting others first, even at the cost of my dreams. Over the next ten years, I got married, had kids, got myself into and out of the most lame relationships and somehow, still found myself drawn back to the arts in some way. When Adobe launched Photoshop and Illustrator for the first time for free in the late 90s, early 2000s, I downloaded them, learned them and joined art contests on AOL chat groups. When the internet was starting to gain a lot of traction in 2000 and websites were becoming a thing, I joined one of the first online community dedicated to women as a writer. Back then, you didn’t just write your articles, you had to learn HTML to add italics and bold font, to embed images and links. Basically, coding 101. I loved it! Again, ADHD for the win because I was obsessed with learning how to make better articles, visually and to write better with the reader in mind. Fast forward, and I moved to Washington state where I learned photography. I worked as a freelance photographer for a few travel magazines, chamber of commerce and sold some of my landscape photography at art shows. At that time, I didn’t even realize I was necessarily doing what I loved and assumed I was just paying bills through something fun, not realizing I was living my passion. People started asking me if I photographed people. Before I knew it, I was doing engagement shoots, senior shoots, and studying Jasmine Star on how to be a wedding photographer. That didn’t pan out because the universe was about ready to shake things up and suck me back into fashion. Long story short? My current partner was upset I had taken an interest in photography. There was a huge argument, and so, I stopped to save their emotions. See, it was always easier to satisfy someone else rather than fight for my dreams. Even when I didn’t know I had dreams. It was then that I put a lot of my energy into supporting their dream: fashion photography. Of course, I dove into learning anything and everything I could. Along the way, I self taught, became a mother agent, a creative director, a stylist, you name it. If it was attached to fashion, I learned it and worked it.

So, here I am researching all of these indie publications. And, of course, I’m critiquing. Then it suddenly dawned on me. These weren’t even what someone would call fashion magazines. They were lookbooks at the very least. Pages on pages of editorials with nothing but the title and the team credits. Not one article mind you. Hundreds of creatives wanting to be seen and hoping for a big break by submitting to these zines who pocketed their small fees and charged even larger fees on print on demand sites like MagCloud for the same creatives to purchase the “magazine” they were in for like $50. Then, you would proudly see them showcasing their prize on Facebook and Instagram. Honestly, my heart went out to them and I became upset. Cue my sense of justice and fighting for the underdog.

It was then that I had this wild, electric vision for a fashion and entertainment magazine that didn’t look or feel like anything I saw out there. That I could create something even better and actually help people. And, at the time what did I know most about? Models. It was then, in October, a week after my birthday, depressed from my failed project, that I originally created what was known then as “New Face Model Magazine.” A magazine dedicated to models. Hence, the “new face.” A term used to describe a brand new model to an agency. Topics ranged from “How to Survive Your First Day in NYC” to “How to do Your Taxes.” And, yes. There were editorials. Of course there were because being published, was a new face’s goal. Models need tear sheets (pages they are in) to add to their portfolios, resumes, etc. It shows other agencies and clients that they’re being booked and gaining experience. Getting in a publication is no easy task and the larger the publication, well, let’s just say it’s like winning the lottery kind of odds so my publication was popular. Sadly, it wasn’t financially sustainable because new models rarely have money, and advertisers knew that long before I did. My goal was to help models. Money didn’t come into the picture until years later but I pushed ahead and worked with some creatives who had big clients but weren’t considered mainstream. I stuck to it and, unfortunately, stuck to providing my publication digitally for free to, again, “help people.”

At first, for the first three years, it was just me writing, editing, designing, emailing, and yes, finally, dreaming. I taught myself everything I didn’t know yet. From InDesign to marketing. When the pandemic hit and locked everyone down, I had to switch gears like many but I still was wondering “how do I help?” So, under the advice of a friend, I reached out to colleges and universities and started our first intern program. The workforce didn’t care that young adults were locked down. They still wanted to see you did an internship and had work experience. It not only helped college kids get their credits to graduate, it opened my eyes to working with others and realizing I needed them.

In April of 2020, I was pitched a no name actress getting ready to star in a Netflix series on a new series. My colleagues and interns recommended I pass. Not just on her but the series because too much was going on in the world and there was very little known of the series. I didn’t. To me, there was just something about her. I didn’t care about the series. There was a light or something I sensed about her. Well, the she was Madison Bailey of the now hit series, “Outer Banks.” Oh, I forgot to mention that by this time, I had rebranded to New Face Fashion Magazine. We were her first cover and she’s since been on major fashion covers like Cosmopolitan, and you know what? She’s never forgotten that little indie mag that was her first yes. Us.

Throughout the next few years, I would move back to Washington from Nevada, my animation project would fail miserably from horrid partnerships and I rebranded again to New Face Magazine. What is now known as NFM. People in the Pacific Northwest laughed about a fashion magazine, “Seattle doesn’t do fashion.” After a year and a half attempting to be known, I sunk into a depression. For months, I was on autopilot creating and publishing NFM. The spark gone. I hated it, hated NFM and hated myself for “wasting” so many years on it. You know they say you reinvent yourself several times in your life, and by the time I realized I was not going to let myself off that easy and stay depressed, I did just that. Reinvented myself and strategized a new plan. I was not going to let people tell me that the PNW was not fashionable. I saw it every day and I was going to convince them. It helped that I am competitive and get quite passionate about having people join me on grand ideas. So, what was my plan? I had no idea until it struck me. What did the PNW love? What got Seattle excited? The answer was obvious. The Seahawks. Now that I knew, I needed a strategy but I didn’t have one nor an idea how to make one. Once again, I found myself having to learn something and this time it was how to build a network and PR from scratch in an area that didn’t know me or my publication, and made it clear fashion wasn’t their thing. But, do you know who did love fashion? The Seahawks players. And, why? Because most of them weren’t from around here. They brought their looks in from all over the country and dressed the way they felt inside. This is where I learned people dressed the way they felt. This, yeah, it resonated with me deeply. This I could understand. Fashion was deeper than I ever could have imagined. Fashion and style was not only how people felt inside but how they wanted to feel inside. Somewhere between that realization and my Seattle/Seahawks one, I had an idea for the “Men Behind the Uniform” series. I didn’t know how to reach out to any of the players other than social media so that’s exactly what we did. Believe it or not, DK Metcalf was the first Seahawks we reached out to and the first one to accept. We officially got our spark back at that moment. From there, Jamal Adams replied to our DMs with a yes. He had been off for a year with a knee injury, was a fashion king and eager to talk about his healing process and going to Paris Fashion Week. Now, I had some ammo to email some sports agents, and I did which led to Julian Love being our third cover in the first series. I had the Seahawks, and now I had to figure out how to promote. It seemed obvious but daunting. It had to be a cover release party because who wouldn’t want to see the Seahawks? This became a lesson on promoting, marketing and who to trust. Some habits, let’s just say, die hard with a parentified daughter. Even with all the success I was having at the time, I put others, and their growth, before mine. And, yes. It bit me in the butt for a while. I sold tickets to events I had to build from scratch. I got told “no” more times than I could count. I had people doubt me, underestimate me, and even try to take credit for my work. But I kept going, because the bigger risk was not trying at all I found out.

I built something out of nothing. NFM is now the largest publication of its kind in the Pacific Northwest and growing globally. NFM has featured Seahawks players, interviewed icons, and created platforms for creatives who never had a seat at the table so I built us our own damn table. Yes, you can do that. Now, the NFM table is one that many want to sit at. I could tell you more about all my failures and mistakes but let me leave you with this. Welcome the falls, the haters, the lessons. Once upon a time, you dreamt of being a person who lived wild, successful dreams. The person who dreamt of all of those wonderful things, was not the person who could hold them. On the other side of all of the tears, heartbreaks and betrayals, is the person who can. That person stands proud with an iron grip on those dreams. That person has knowledge and now confidence. That person has been beaten up by life so much that when they fall now, they know to land on their back so they’re always looking up because they know that’s the only direction they are heading now.

Even more, I’ve learned this: risking stability for authenticity is never really a risk. It’s a homecoming. And if you’re waiting for someone to hand you the green light, let me be that light. Go. Run. Build. It’s worth it. Especially, through the pain because on the other side is who you are. The person who is living your dreams and the person you have always been.

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.

Hi, I’m Chele Sellman. The founder and Editor-in-Chief, a creative powerhouse, and the unapologetic force behind NFM (New Face Magazine). If you’ve never heard of us, don’t worry. You will.

NFM is the largest fashion and entertainment magazine of its kind in the Pacific Northwest, but I didn’t create it just to be the biggest. I created it to be the boldest. What started in my living room in 2017 has grown into a rebellious, community-driven media platform that amplifies voices, celebrates individuality, and fuses high fashion with real human stories.

We don’t just cover and start trends. We create culture and encourage people to live authentically. Many times, that starts with fashion because style is a “face” for how we feel inside.

We don’t wait for permission. We build our own table. In a world that screams what you should do to belong, we gave a huge middle finger and said, “Watch me.”

I got into this industry sideways. I didn’t go to fashion school or work at a glossy in NYC. I was a self-taught artist, ADHD-fueled dreamer, and lifelong learner who couldn’t shake the feeling that the fashion world was missing something: heart, access, and meaning.

After working as a photographer, creative director, and mother agent for models, I saw how many talented people were being overlooked because they didn’t fit someone else’s definition of “marketable.” That pissed me off. In a good way. I realized I could either stay frustrated or become the solution. So I built a magazine that wasn’t just pretty pages. It was a launchpad. A home base. A movement.

What we offer at NFM:
– Digital and print editorial features that fuse fashion, entertainment, and culture
– Cover story experiences that spotlight legends, underdogs, and rising stars (our ongoing Seahawks series is proof)
– Immersive, high-style events (think: galas, photo activations, red carpet moments, and beyond)
– Real stories with impact on mental health, identity, healing, entrepreneurship, and personal evolution (people are not one thing; they are all of the things)
– A multi-platform for visibility ( entertainers, models, designers, creatives, founders, and brands that are ready to be seen, and in many cases, don’t know how to be seen)

Our tagline is: “Where Audrey meets Zendaya”
Elegant, timeless, and full of edge.

But at the core of what I do, and who I am, is this belief: Fashion is the mirror of who we are and who we want to become or wish we were all the time, everyday. It’s not about chasing trends. It’s about embodiment, identity, healing, power, and self-expression. That’s what sets NFM apart. We tell the story behind the glam, and we turn every photoshoot into a love letter to the creative spirit.

What I’m most proud of?
That I built this magazine from scratch with no investors, no big media backing, and no blueprint. Just intuition, grit, and an unshakable belief that we could change the game. And we are.

People laughed when I said I was building a fashion empire in Seattle.
Now they call me for a seat at the table.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

One of the hardest but most transformative lessons I’ve learned is this: not everyone who claps for you is on your team, and not everyone deserves access to your energy, time, or platform.

For most of my life, I’ve been the helper. The fixer. The one who sees potential in people long before they see it in themselves. I’ve poured into others with everything I had, sometimes to the point of burnout. I believed that if I helped others succeed, it would all come back around. And while that’s true in some cases, in others… it’s not. Some people are drawn to your light just to siphon it.

Recently, I experienced this lesson on a whole new level. Someone came into my orbit, presenting themselves as a supporter, collaborator, and friend. They said all the right things and knew exactly how to position themselves in my world. But deep down, my gut was screaming. Every interaction left me drained, anxious, and unsure, but I ignored it. I kept trying to make it work. I kept showing up for them even when it was costing me peace and momentum.

Eventually, the mask slipped. It became clear that they weren’t there to build with me. They were there to take my ideas, my network, my energy, and my credibility. And the truth is, I saw the signs early. I just didn’t want to believe them.

That experience became the final wake-up call. I realized that constantly helping others succeed at the cost of my own vision wasn’t noble. It was self-abandonment dressed up as generosity.

Now, I live by a new rule: I can’t help anyone else build unless I’ve laid the bricks on my own empire first.

It’s not selfish. It’s sacred.

You can’t pour into others if you’re constantly being emptied. You can’t lead a movement if you’re stuck carrying people who were never meant to go where you’re headed. Sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is step back, listen to your intuition, and choose yourself.

And when you do? You find that the right people. The ones with aligned values, mutual respect, and true vision. The ones that show up. But they only come once you clear the space.

What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?

I’ve thought a lot about this question, and the truth is pretty simple. People want to be seen and heard. Not just noticed. Not just tagged. They want to feel genuinely valued.

That’s where I thrive.

Whether I’m interviewing someone, leading a shoot, or planning an event, I don’t treat people like content. I give them space. I ask real questions. I listen. And I reflect their light back to them. That’s where connection happens—when someone feels safe enough to show up fully as themselves.

On top of that, I love bringing people together. Especially people who wouldn’t normally cross paths. I’m obsessed with creating meaningful experiences that blend emerging creatives and mom-and-pop businesses with powerhouse brands. To me, that’s where the magic is.

Take our annual NFM Seahawks series, for example. The players have partnerships with major corporations like Boeing, T-Mobile, and Zillow. The giants. When we create the series, from the editorial shoots to the gala, I absolutely reach out to brands like that. But I also make it a priority to invite in small, local businesses (boutiques, salons, designers, wellness brands) people who would never have that kind of reach or visibility otherwise.

That’s not just media. That’s matchmaking. That’s creating a five-star Michelin-level experience where everyone wins. The athlete gets elevated. The small business gets discovered. The brand gets authentic exposure. And the audience gets to see a beautiful story that would have never existed if someone didn’t believe it could.

At the end of the day, that’s what’s built my reputation: deep respect, real relationships, and a relentless desire to make people feel seen.

And that’s not PR. That’s purpose.

That’s not just branding. That’s soul work. That IS my brand and reputation.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.nfmmag.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nfmmag/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/newfacemag/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nfmmag/
• Twitter: https://x.com/newfacemag

Image Credits

Photographer: Kyle J Yunker of Zero Five Photography
Seahawks covers: Laviska Shenalt, Jr., Pharaoh Brown, DK Metcalf, Julian Love, and Jake Bobo