We recently connected with Darlene Frazier and have shared our conversation below.
Darbie , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?
Yes, I have been able to earn a full time living from my creative work in the past. From 2019-2024 I was modeling full time, in 2020 I signed with an agency and that helped as I moved to the big city. When I first started charging for my services I was 4 years into modeling, during those 4 years I took my time to learn the craft and do trade shoots with other upcoming creatives. By this time I had a well made portfolio and was able to market myself as a freelance model. Thinking back I did everything right because I had advice from people who were already in the industry. I knew what I had to do and who to market to, the hardest part was working odd jobs to stay afloat while I continued to do trade shoots, and then once I started charging the hardest part was waiting for the next gig. One thing no one ever tells you about freelancing is, you don’t know where or when you’re next check is coming, so you have to keep producing your own work with faith that it will lead to some type of pay off. 2019 was when things started to get better for me in terms of finances, I was getting paid for my modeling work and getting paid from my flexible 9-5 jobs, things were good. In 2020 I moved to New York City after getting engaged and ended up with an influx of modeling opportunities, things were better than I ever could have imagined. I made more money from modeling than I ever thought was possible. I felt like I finally made it. This went on for years, up until 2024, gigs started getting scarce. We had the writers strike, and then Hollywood was quiet and there was barely any work trickling down to smaller creatives like myself. Of course I had a gigs here and there since then, but not enough to live off of. That was when I had to become more realistic with myself and my dream I created into a reality. I realized that I needed a career outside my creative career to help support it, because when the creative career flows it’s so beautiful and flows so abundantly but when it ebbs it diminishes quicker than a morning tide. I needed something stable on the back end to support myself whether I was thriving or struggling creatively. To my surprise removing the pressure off of my creative outlet has been so freeing. I don’t feel so anxious anymore, I’m able to create when I truly feel inspired and I have the funds to fulfill the passion projects I want, like my gallery. Knowing what I know now I would do one thing differently and that is find a stable, good paying career before allowing my creative outlet to be a primary source of income to alleviate the pressure and stress that surrounded my favorite thing on earth, art.
Darlene , before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Yeah, definitely! My name is Darbie Frazier, I’m a married mom of two who models, and curates galleries in New York City. I’m born and raised in Utah and got my start there, I was forced to create a market for myself to work in and in the process became Utah’s first black plus size model. I recently got a chance to see how my work has impacted my hometown, and I was so proud to witness myself on the “wall of fame” at my old high school. Knowing I’m inspiring students who walked the same halls I did daily to reach for the stars brings me so much joy! Currently I’m gaining the financial foundation to launch my gallery in a sustainable way, because of that I’ve had to push back my opening quite a bit. At the moment, I’m taking things as they come, but I’m definitely not done! I fully intend to have my gallery up and running as soon as I’m able, hopefully that is sometime in the near future.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Yes, my main goal is to change the way people think. I want my art to be so impactful that it helps the viewer see their own personal situations or even themselves in a different light. This is why it’s so important to me to be open and honest in any interaction dealing with my art or image. Art is a reflection of real life, and real life is hard to swallow sometimes. Seeing people flow thru life effortlessly sends a false ideal of what actually is, thru art I have a way to mend that gap. This is why my gallery and my art in general is so important to me, it’s a perspective shifter. It’s a light beam needed in a dark world.
Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn is, “there is no plan B”. I had to learn that sometimes plan B is making sure plan A works better, and sometimes to do that I had to pivot into things I never saw coming but that I also love so much, like sterile processing. When I was a teenager I loved science. I wanted to be a forensic anthropologist, just like Bones. I had given up on my artistic dreams after they were crushed in middle school and decided to take the academic path, during this time I found a love for science I never knew existed in me, a endless curiosity of how and why things were the way they were. So when the sterile processing class found me, over a decade later, I took it because I love to learn; never in a million years did I think I would actually become certified and do it for a living, and never did I ever think that my love for science would be the thing that would help me create the foundation I needed to produce the art I feel led to produce. I convinced myself it was art or nothing, and that art would produce enough funds to create more art. That way of thinking caused me so much unnecessary stress and made it impossible for me to create anything due to a lack of funding. I learned that sometimes plan B is to support plan A and that its a blessing to be multifaceted. Having the ability to be good at more than one thing is a talent I think needs to be celebrated more! If you apply yourself you can do any and everything you put your mind to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.bicoastalmgmt.com/nyc-women-curve-main/all/1695904/darbie-f?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio&fbclid=PAdGRleASDU45leHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZA8xMjQwMjQ1NzQyODc0MTQAAaf4oJ6k90bRn45RiRdqGhZ3XEGWumJR1HYnDDG4UO7zsAQezmIXRSb8vsSynw_aem_vg87QbdRE4_h-10sR2cGZg
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/darbieworld?igsh=MWk5eTZwdWxhaGhtYQ==
Image Credits
Davinci Academy for the science and the Arts “wall of fame”, photo 1.
Live modeling for Marina Rinaldi, photo 2 and 3.
Lily Fischer Photo, IG: @lilyfishcerphoto website: lilyfischerphoto.com, main photo, and photo 4 and 5.