While most students in high school are working retail or waiting tables at a restaurant, junior Steele Schimming is modeling for an agency about 48 hours a week. Schimming has been working on her modeling career ever since she was little.

What life events lead up to the decision to pursue modeling?

Because I did as a really young kid and I had stopped because I got braces and I was in the middle of growing up and I didn’t want to deal with working as a kid and then recently I knew one of my really good friends does modeling at voices and agency and I just knew I wanted to continue on working on it again.

How did you get yourself in the modeling business? Was it tough? 

No it wasn’t tough getting into the modeling business, I had known people that did it so it was really easy to get back into it.

When you are modeling, what state of mind are you in when you are posing?

I actually get nervous a lot and whenever I get nervous it’s hard for me to like move because you have to think so hard of what you want you want to do on your next stage I think I would say I change into a serious state of mind.

Do you think having a huge sense of confidence helped you be natural in front of the cameras? How did you develop so much confidence?

I don’t have very good confidence, but you have to be confident in order to have good pictures. In pictures you can tell whenever you or the person isn’t confident because usually their pictures don’t turn out as good, so you just have to be confident in yourself.

Do you ever get frustrated or tired during the modeling process, like during a shoot or something? If so what causes your frustration? 

Yeah, I do get really frustrated during the process, because sometimes the photographer really wants so much out of you when your really giving it your all and it’s like “I don’t know what else you want” but yeah I do get frustrated and it’s really tiring it’s so tiring. The frustration is caused by not knowing what the pictures are going to look like but you want them to be really good so I try really hard but it’s not always easy.

Have you done any traveling for your modeling job? If so where? If not where would you like to travel?
I haven’t gone anywhere but if I were to go somewhere I’d probably want to go to Milan or Paris, somewhere where high fashion is at.

Who are your biggest people who motivate you to do what you do? 

Definitely my mom, my mom has a lot of faith in me and she takes me to every job that I go to because when I turn 18 I can’t bring my parent so I like her to go with me because it’s just always really fun.

ALSO, Why cant she go with you when you turn 18?
She probably could it’s just when you’re 18 you’re more of an adult job so it’s better to just go by yourself, so it’s more of like I’m actually working.

How much time do you spend on modeling?

A lot of the time, about 48 hours a week because you fit a lot of the stuff I do goes out of school and most of my weekend.

Is there any preparation you have to take before a shoot? Mentally? Physically? 

Yes, I have to do face masks, and just pamper myself and I don’t physically work out. Mentally yes I always have to be prepared and just tell myself that “I got this.”

What is the competition like? 

Competition is so hard, if you go to a shoot with a bunch of girls everyone is either really nice to you or really rude. It really depends on who they are because they are just trying to be better than you and they want to be prettier than you  Most of the time you can find really nice people.

Do you see yourself ever getting tired of modeling? If so what would you pursue after? 

No I didn’t see myself getting tired of modeling because that’s all I have ever wanted to do and I just know that i dint want to do anything else because this is what I’m happy doing but if I could do something else I would be a nurse. I wouldn’t do fashion or anything I would just give up on that.

Do you think that Kansas is a good place to start a modeling career or do you think it would be better if you lived in a bigger city like New York, Chicago, California? If so why do you think those places would be better? 

I think it’s a good place to start because its like small and you can work your way up but I thinks its better to say your started here than anywhere else because it can be hard starting in California or New York because people that go there and the competition that comes with it and there would be a lot more agencies in California than there is here in Kansas.

Do you ever feel uncomfortable doing certain things while modeling? If so what causes your uncomfort? 

Sometimes I feel uncomfortable doing things with dudes because it’s kind of weird because usually they are older than me but you just have to think of it as this is work and if I wanna make money then this is what I have to do and it can also sometimes be fun.

Why do you do continue modeling? Is it because of the (money, passionate or?..)
I continue it because this is what I want to do for the rest of my life and I just have to keep going and if I want to make money then I just can’t stop.

In the long run where do you see modeling taking you in the future, where do you want it to take you?

I want it to take me to a high place and I want to be high enough in the industry into where I could make enough money