We were lucky to catch up with Jonah Ruffin recently and have shared our conversation below.

Jonah , appreciate you joining us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I have never really learned how to model, it was always something that naturally came to me. I have always had a love for being in front of the camera and expressing myself through photos. That’s how I knew that it was my passion and what I was meant to do. Speeding up the process of coming to the realization that modeling is my calling would have hindered the process. In order for you to fully be immersed and passionate about something it comes with a process, if you speed that process up it could take you places that you are not meant to be. Of course with this journey there has been lots of obstacles, obstacles I once thought I could not overcome. Obstacles such as not knowing my self worth, having to discover who I truly was, becoming confident with my work, etc. All of these things only lead me to become stronger and turned me into who I am today.

Jonah , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

Hello, My name is Jonah Ruffin. I am a teen model that is based in Atlanta, Georgia. I have been modeling for about a year now and my main goal is to inspire and make people feel something through my work. I have been blessed to walk in over 30 fashion shows in the past year and do several shoot with well known photographers. Modeling to me is an outlet that allows me to take my creativity and express it in whatever form I would like.

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

What society can do to best support creatives is give us grace. I feel as if people think that this industry is all glitz and glimmer but in reality we struggle as well. We have bad days that make us want to stop trying, we have moments where we want to give up, we have all the human emotions just as everyone in this world does. Another big thing that society must do is be nonjudgmental with our art. Every single creative in this world is making art that caters to who they are and what they are going through, so as a society we must be open to all art forms and be understanding and welcoming of everyone’s work.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

The goal that is driving my creative journey is inspiring others. Being able to give a person the drive to chase their dreams. In today’s society there is so much happening that can make you distracted from what you are called to do in life. I want to be the person that people can look at and see themselves in. Everyone is human and everyone goes through things so If I can be an inspiration for someone to go for what they have been sitting on that is what drives my creativity.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: jonahruffin
• Youtube: jonahruffin

Image Credits
@whereisyancey @tysins.jpeg @jaycobainn @eli_azansou @nonsoemefo