We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Melody Pope a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Melody, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.
I was always a bit of a wanderer in life. I never had a set goal to map my life around, I just knew I loved creating, I loved freedom, and I hated retail. When I was a little girl I used to pretend I was an editor – my grandfather made me a very official looking laminated press pass, and I would spend hours writing, illustrating, and editing a handmade magazine on art, fashion, and social issues (from the lens of an eight year old) to send to distant relatives. I grew up in a rough household, so I escaped constantly into daydreams of being a famous rockstar, a successful businesswoman, a Hollywood starlet on a silver screen, a glamorous model. The exact destination varied, but they were always concepts that each included the freedom to live life how I saw fit, to cultivate my own power, and to create something beautiful and meaningful from tattered beginnings. The daydreams had one more thing in common – the idea that they were unobtainable. I was a withdrawn and socially anxious child and never seemed to shake that anxiety as an adult. Building confidence or trust in anything much less myself was an uphill battle after living a life being betrayed and hurt by the people who were supposed to protect me. I also always believed the “starving artist” trope to be true. I practiced making my best model faces in a mirror, sang in my bedroom when no one was around, poured hours of effort into my high school school yearbook and personal sketchbook as if they were major publications – but I called them all hobbies and trudged through the customer service job I believed to be the only door that would ever open for me. I was 21 and working as a receptionist at a hotel when my co-worker mentioned her photographer friend looking for fresh faces to update his portfolio. I was shy, soft-spoken, and without a clue in the world what I needed to do to build a better life for myself, but I felt it – a lightbulb went off, and before I realized it I was asking questions about the photographer and subtly mentioning an interest. My coworker – who I am still good friends with to this day, she was instrumental in where I am now and has always been an amazing supporter – sent him my photo. He said I had an interesting look and reached out to me to ask if I would model for him; on a completely spontaneous whim I agreed. I trembled the entire time I’m pretty sure, but I felt so comfortable in my own skin for the first time once his camera came out. A part of me once buried was suddenly at the forefront of my life, and I knew I had to keep pursuing this.
Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.
For the last several years I’ve been working professionally as a glamour, commercial, and art model. My clients range from independent photographers of all skill levels to small businesses and publications to slightly bigger businesses and everything between. A large portion of my work involves showcasing lingerie and boudoir photography services, commercial products, makeup applications and products, and fashion designs. I’m delighted as a petite and alternative model to have walked a few runways as well, and I have just recently dipped my toes into voice acting and on-screen acting.
One of the most powerful messages I’ve strived to send anyone who follows me and what I do is that you don’t have to force yourself into the expected molds to be successful. I believe I get the amazing opportunity to make a living from modeling because I am so passionate about it and because I don’t compromise who I am to do it, I am driven, I care deeply about my fellow creatives and my clients and the creative teams I get to be a part of, and I am always working toward my goals even when I’m not on a set. I’m also my own person – in model standards I’m considered very short, and very curvy, and I have several tattoos, and I have unnaturally colored hair that has become part of my trademarked look. I’ve never come across as a conventional person and so forcing my look to look like a conventional model just wasn’t going to work, and I never wanted it to. I wanted to be someone you could look at and feel sincerity from, not just a copy and paste of the same model face and body you’ve seen a hundred times. I want to celebrate and encourage self love and build a platform that inspires it. I want to prove that you don’t have to “fit in” or snuff yourself out to be successful, that it is completely possible to carve out a life you are absolutely in love with without sacrificing yourself to do it.
What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?
Respect artists. There is an idea among some people that creative work is easy, that compensation isn’t deserved, that it’s unimportant – these are such harmful and wrong ideas. Society depends on artists and creative work more than we give them credit for and creative skills are something that take so much dedication, time, and effort. The best thing you can do is try to recognize the hard work the artists around you do and how important it truly is in our daily lives. Mentioning a creative’s name in a room full of opportunities can be the difference between someone being able to pay their bills or not that month, word of mouth is a powerful asset. Of course booking creatives is wonderful, but if you’re unable to do that or don’t have a project yourself to hire for, sharing and promoting the work of your favorite creatives is also helpful.
What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?
I love the freedom and expression that comes with being a creative, but I think my favorite thing about modeling specifically is the sense of regained self it’s awarded me, the way it’s allowed me to reclaim my body from traumatic experiences. My body used to be a corrupted, negative thing in my mind – I hated it for being type 1 diabetic, and I hated it for the terrible things done to it. Through modeling, though, I’ve healed so much of that relationship with myself and can now see my body as an extension of my spirit. My body is a tool I use to express, create, and perform art; it may carry lots of painful memories, but now it also carries hope for the future and the ability to create that future.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://melodypope77.wixsite.com/model
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/melody.pope.x/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melody.pope.5/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MelodyPopex
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MelodyPope
Image Credits
Paige Sanchez Paige Sanchez Eric Berson Eric Berson Alana Reihl Chad Britt James Hogan Alana Reihl