We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Fay Medusa a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Fay, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?
The first time I knew I wanted to pursue modeling professionally was back in 2020. I don’t know why but it felt like a calling. I have tried to get into modeling for as long as I know. When I was 8 I use to search up on google ” how to become a model” and Barbizon would pop up as well as One Source Talent, etc. I use to apply to the companies and will always get a call back but the issue always was money. My mother could not afford it and I felt bad even asking her to invest that much into me at the time. I guess I pushed the dream to the side and focused on my education and finding a job. I was just trying to do the norms of society but touching back on the year 2020 – when the whole worlds stopped I guess I had time to think about my life and what I wanted to do. No one was outside, I was tired of being bored in the house so I said hey, let me start doing my own photoshoots. I began working with what I had and decided to start somewhere. Social media made the dream more obtainable to me as well because that was the beginning of the “influencer” era. Most influencers presented themselves as models by having professional pictures and was getting brand deals due to their page aesthetic and follower count so I was like yeah – the time is now. I want my life to be like that. I want to make money just by posting pictures. It might seem crazy but it can be done and I want to be another person that does it.
Fay, 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?
My name is Fatimah but you can call me Fay. It took me a long time to get that nickname to stick so please wear it out. I was born and raised in the Bronx and I am currently 23. I was raised by a single mother and I am the last child of 4. With that being said I always had main character energy. On a serious note though, what made me go into the modeling industry is seeing how obtainable it was and being honored for creativity through pictures just seemed different to me. I was drawn to it. Down the line I began looking at the business side to the industry and started hosting events where models and photographers meet up to network and have photoshoots. I would rent out the studio for 4-6 hours, hire MUA’s and just have everyone creating and mingling in a safe space. I think that’s what I’m most proud of. I love brining people together, I’m actually really good at it and seeing people continue their modeling journey after one of my events makes my heart glow even more. All you need is that one positive experience with modeling for you to be hooked. You get to see growth in your images and improve your confidence levels and once you realize confidence is what makes the image, you start becoming that and embodying that all the time. Its therapeutic and its also a drug. I say drug because you become addicted to watching yourself improve with each photoshoot. I also help grow Instagram accounts organically. Unfortunately the more followers / engagement you have the better you look to brand so I began to study Instagram’s algorithm and apply what I learned to my account. Once I seen it working I created an E-book that helped others grow their Instagram as well. Anyone who has bought my engagement guide and was consistent hit over 10k in followers in just 4-6 months. Its beautiful knowing that the things you create are actually working to help people. I believe me playing multiple roles sets me apart from the rest. I don’t do just one thing. I am a published model, creative director, event planner/host as well as social media analyst. I am far from one dimensional.
Can you share your view on NFTs? (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice)
I am not too familiar with NFTs but I do know its the future. Our economy is hanging on by a thread and there are people realizing this and trying to do something about it. There are new ways to make money – that’s the main objective I get from NFs. If you are looking for a new way to get money and get into crypto, I believe NFTs are something worth learning about.
What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?
The goal of the journey is to show other people that its okay to work towards a dream. Give it a chance, take the risk, feed your soul and create the life YOU wish to see for yourself. There is so many examples of this but it seems as if people just believe it can only happen to public figures. If you stay consistent, work hard and keep your eye on the goal you can manifest anything you want into his life time but it will be hard, you will have doubts, you will be scared, you will be tired, you will want to quit ITS NORMAL. That’s why success once obtained is so sweet because through all of those stages you didn’t quit. You did it scared, you did it doubtful, you did it even when you didn’t want to do it. I feel like my success and future success will inspire a lot of people. The higher I go the more tangible it seems to someone else and that’s the real motive.
