We were lucky to catch up with Kim’Mia Bratcher recently and have shared our conversation below.
Kim’Mia, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
Hi!
My name is Kim’Mia Bratcher. I am a model, creative, and influencer based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The first beginnings of my journey into the creative world started as early as the age of six years old. Taking an interest in singing, anywhere from involvement in choirs and community based art centers. For high school, I attended an arts school as a vocal major which helped me experiment with my style in many forms whether vocally, socially or fashion wise. Unexpectedly, the pandemic occurred within the middle of my junior year and I was able to recalculate what else I could depend on other than singing. I began to feel lost because I didn’t have singing as dependent outlet anymore. I then had purchased my first tripod in the fall 2020 and within the past year I tested out new and my original styles in fashion. I discovered a newfound passion of confidence in taking pictures of myself. It was noticed by my peers and local creatives in Pittsburgh. I was being approached by new faces and I felt grateful because growing up as a shy person I never thought I would be able to have the communication skills that I have today. My first official photoshoot was in January 2021, and my second occurred in March of that year. I was always seeking new photographers to reach out to but lacked enough belief in myself to reach out. At this time, I was able to discover that I really enjoyed modeling and being in front of camera lifted my spirits despite the stress of worrying about college being on my mind. My last photo shoot in Pittsburgh of 2021 was in August before leaving the city to attend an college in Virginia for one year. During my time Virginia, I had a total of five photo shoots and solidified my style in appreciating film photography specifically. I returned back to Pittsburgh in the fall 2o22 and began attending my local community college as a business major. I began searching for new outlets to push my name further and I wanted to participate in ambassador programs. My first ambassador partnership was with a women’s intimates brand. My partnership with them is current til this day and I was very appreciative of the brand giving me an opportunity because I wasn’t sure I fit the image or criteria of an influencer. I truly embraced my feminism and the partnerships that I have helped me tremendously in beauty, skincare and health. Modeling became my second nature and began the identity for my style being colorful and noticed to set apart from the traditional modeling. I received more outreach from locals in the city and finally gained trust in myself to speak up more in all situations. In my modeling journey, doubt has played a huge role ranging from anything of my insecurities of my height, my features but as of late I have grown into myself. I am proud of many things in my last three years of being a model but mostly proud of my agenda which has always consisted to strive to put out modeling content people haven’t seen before and releasing fresh content. Modeling forged me to create concepts which opened me up to new possibilities. Currently, I am still an active model, alongside fourteen brand partnerships and a growing education. I want to thank modeling for truly bringing me out of my shell and molding me into the young woman I am. Modeling is the outlet to feel beautiful and escapism of all my worries. I’d never believe it would’ve brought an immense amount of joy, friends, love and wisedom.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding of being a creative is going against the norm. I always felt I had to fit into the mold of stature that what others models were doing or what models I grew up watching and how they got into the business. I am a bright person who loves to smile and always appreciated color. I always say color really makes you feel better on a gloomy day. I wanted to incorporate that within my modeling as much as possible and not hide away from bright colors because some might view it as tacky or unprofessional. I’m glad I gave myself a chance to embrace non traditional modeling because it struck emotion to people who haven’t seen color utilized before in modeling.
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
A lesson I had to unlearn is your time will come and to stop forcibly wanting great things to happen right then and there. I believe that is what held me back for while because I was fully convinced that I was ready for any and everything. Your body and mind will tell you when it’s your time to handle a full work load of beautiful things to come in your life. Sometimes my body would shut down when I would try to pick up multiple tasks and there on out I knew I had to eliminate the distractions. I had so many distractions that took me away from assigning time aside for my modeling and school. I then learned that patience is truly key into learning your time is your time. I would psych myself out because I wasn’t on the same level as my counterparts or the people who are my same age. And I started building my own insecurities meanwhile no one felt I was behind other than myself. So, I was the only one telling myself bad things about myself. Luckily, I had a great friend who told me that social media isn’t real and you’re seeing only a glimpse of someone’s life. I took a step back from social media and was able reanalyze how my journey cannot be compared to another’s. I started appreciate my journey to the fullest and started getting back to my roots of who I was before modeling and found a balance of past and present me.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kimmia.bratcher/
- Other: https://linktr.ee/kimmiabratcher?utm_source=linktree_profile_share<sid=20522e91-2818-4d2f-a347-4dc46835f1c1
Image Credits
1st image Yessica Martinez @yessicamartinezphotography 2nd image Rahwa Weldemichael @filmbyro 3rd image Courtney Stroup @courtneymstroup 4 &5th image Sara Cronin @saracroninphotography Alexis @alexiscoworld 6th image Caitle @luckyfox.photo 7th image Nicholas Clark @_nicholasclark