Teen a role model to other Aboriginal youth

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The fashion runways of Europe may seem a world away from the hallways of the Nakota Oyate Education Centre, but it looks like soon Desarae Eashappie will be dividing her time between both worlds.

Desarae, a 15-year-old from Carry the Kettle First Nation, has been on the receiving end of a lot of attention from modeling agents in fashion centres like Milan, Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Miami, and has had offers of runway work in Barcelona, and print work in Toronto.

Desarae first got into modeling last year, when she entered and won the province-wide Fresh Faces Model Search coordinated each year by Stages Model and Talent Agency. As part of her prize for winning the Saskatchewan title, Desarae travelled to Vancouver in November to take part in the Faces West Model and Talent Convention. There, she continued her winning ways, claiming top spot in three out of the four categories of competition-swimsuit, portfolio, and overall top model.

Of the 300 or so girls taking part in the convention, Desarae was the only First Nations participant, said Brenda Eashappie, Desarae's mother.

"All the agents that were there put lists up and circled the number of the contestant that they want to see. And Desarae had probably the most call backs," she said. Since returning home from the convention, Desarae's agent has received calls from agents in Milan, Barcelona and Toronto.

"But all the ones we met are all very interested in offering her a contract at some point," Brenda said. "It's pretty overwhelming."

In the year since winning Saskatchewan's Fresh Faces Model Search, Desarae hasn't been doing a lot of modeling, Brenda explained. She's done a shoot for SaskTel, appearing in a brochure explaining the company's services, a photo shoot for Red Road in Fort Qu'Appelle, and has done some work on YTV's Incredible Stories Studio.

Now, following her recent success in Vancouver, her modeling services are going to be in greater and greater demand.

Despite all the success and attention, Brenda says her daughter is "pretty humble about it all."

"She's very excited, but at that same time, she's pretty low key about all the attention. And she's really proud to be able to be a role model, and to kind of flaunt her culture."

While her modeling accomplishments are impressive, they aren't the only thing earning Desarae that role model designation. In October, she was one of the recipients of this year's SaskTel Aboriginal Youth Awards of Excellence, winning in the education category. That award recognized not only Desarae's academic accomplishments- such as maintaining a 92 per cent average-but also her efforts to help her fellow students, and to share her culture.

Sharing in and celebrating all of Desarae's successes are her family members-her mother Brenda and father Lonnie, twin brothers Kylie and Lonnie Jr., as well as her two older brothers Randall and Kris Shiplack, who live in Fort Qu'Appelle.

Heading into the competition in Vancouver, Desarae said she was both nervous and excited.

"I was eager to see the other girls and how well they did. I was eager to see if there was any other nationalities there. But I was the only First Nation girl their again."

Her emotions were again mixed following her victories at the convention.

"Well, I guess you could say I was really overwhelmed, and really proud of myself. At first I didn't think I would do well, because I had to go on stage in my bathing suit, and I didn't even want to do that, and I ended up winning that part of the competition. So I was also really surprised, I guess."

As for the modeling itself, Desarae has a lot of fun with it.

"It's a time when you can get away from everything and kind of, not shut everything out, but just kind of forget about it, I guess," she said. "When I'm in front of the camera, I become a whole different person. I don't think about anything else. It's just fun."

The prospect of travelling to other countries on modeling assignments is somethng Desarae finds exciting, and is one of the reasons she decided to get into modeling in the first place.

"It's kind of going to be scary though, because I'm going to have to leave all my friends and go to a new place for a few months, and I'm going to have to adapt to a new lifestyle over there for a little while. So it's going to be a big change, but I'm pretty sure that I'll be able to fit in quickly," she said.

"Of course, I'm going to miss all of my friends and my relatives in Saskatchewan here. It will be a new and different experience for me, but that's the whole thing about modeling. If you want to go into it, you have to be prepared to try new things. Because I'm used to the same old Saskatchewan. I'm used to all of my friends being right beside me and making me laugh and that kind of thing. When I'm over there, I'll be there with maybe a couple of other girls I hardly know," Desarae said.

"My friends are actually really supportive. They're really proud of me. I've had a couple girls cry over me before because they were proud. They're very supportive, and they're always here for me. I haven't had somebody turn on me because of jealousy or anything like that. They've all stuck by my side," Desarae said. "A big thank you to all my friends and family who have been here."

While her modeling success may not have changed Desarae's relationships with friends and family, it has changed the way some people look at her, Desarae explained.

"Well, I get a lot more hellos everyday. People, they've actually become more friendly. You know, I was called anorexic and stuff like that. But people, since then, they have turned completely around and now I'm their new best friend and that kind of thing. But mostly everybody has become really supportive. I don't believe anybody has got a green eye yet. So hopefully they don't."

While Desarae will be focusing a lot of time and effort on her modeling career for the time being, she will also continue to working hard on her stuies. If the traveling for modeling begins to interfere, she plans to home school, but doesn't anticipate there being a problem as long as she keeps her marks up.

As for her long-term goals, Desarae hopes to go to university to study architecture. And her goals for her modeling career?

"I'm really hoping to travel, and someday be on the cover of a magazine, or be well-known," she said.