I didn't have a car, I didn't have modeling clothes,
I didn't have portfolio pictures, nothing or money,
I was just broke, all I had was a bus card.
So around 2000, somebody was joking around with me, they said,
“oh Garrain, you should become a model”, and then they started laughing at me.
Now, mind you, this is what was going on in the marketplace at that time.
So the average height for models is six foot one. I was five foot nine and a half.
I didn't have a car, I didn't have abs, I didn't have modeling clothes,
I didn't have portfolio pictures, nothing or money,
I was just broke, all I had was a bus card. The thing about it is,
if somebody tells me you can't do something, it just woke up this giant inside of me.
So I decided to look up all of the agencies in the directory
and there was 13 agencies in the city, I put all of the easy ones first
and all the most difficult ones last, which meant Ford and Wilhelmina was last.
So, the whole time I'm like, “this is so stupid, I don't look like anybody,
I have freckles, I have nappy hair, I'm black, they don't even hire black people,
I'm short, I have no car, no modeling clothes, no abs”,
basically, I was talking myself into not having the things that I actually wanted.
However, there was a voice inside that says, “you've come this far, just keep going”.
I go to the very first agency, I go to the first agency
and they say, “we already have somebody that looks like you”.
They looked at me literally for about 30 seconds and said that,
so can you imagine? I already had a lot of insecurity,
but the fact that somebody looked at me, what the hell is that supposed to mean?
So I just go down my list and then I go to the next agency,
I went to the next agency rejection, the next agency rejection, rejection,
so the very first day I had four rejections. So imagine the insecurity that I already had,
now, imagine the insecurity amplified by day number one and four rejections
when I look like nothing that they want, I already think that I'm not worthy of any of this
and I don't have all the things that I think I need,
the only thing that I had was the willingness to always keep going.
So the next day, rejection, rejection, rejection, rejection, each rejection
to go from one place to the next was about two hour time slot,
so basically those four rejections spread it out the entire day.
Then we come to the last day, first rejection, rejection, next one, rejection,
and then I come to Wilhelmina, mind you, that was about 70
people in the waiting room, there was so many people,
I'm the shortest person there, and remember, my insecurities,
all of those insecurities that I had during around 2000, the year 2000,
and then I got up to walk out, I go out of the building, go down to the elevator,
got all the way to the bottom and the little voice says,
“you’ve come this far, just keep going”, and I go all the way back up, and not only
am I thinking I'm going to get rejected what happens is
all these other people are getting rejected right in front of my face,
they're probably seeing them 15, 20 seconds, no, no, no, no, no, I'm one of the last people.
And then all of a sudden I get up there and a little short guy looks at
me and he's like, “hmm”, and in my head, I'm like,
“yo, this is longer than the 30 seconds that everybody else got”,
and then all of a sudden he goes, “we'd love to represent you,
you don't look like anybody”. So my insecurity is what they were looking for,
they were looking for somebody who was actually unique
and all of the things that I thought was going to get me out of the game,
none of that even mattered, and guess what auditions he sent me on?
Sent me on the Skechers campaign, the Buckle campaign
and the Beyonce jumpin jumpin video. “Beyonce just happens to be with our agency
and when she walked in yesterday, she handpicked your card off the wall
to be her love interest in the video”. So here's the deal, notice,
how I went through four days of rejections and all of my insecurities
and I got this massive result,
most people would quit after the first or second rejection.
And here's the lesson, I went through 13 rejections to earn my powerful yes.
So would you be willing to grow through your noes to earn your powerful big yes?
That is the lesson that I gained through all of this,
because most people quit after the first or second try,
can you imagine a baby
that after the first or second try of it adapting into a new way of being,
could you imagine it just stop walking, that wouldn't even make sense, right?
But the baby gets up and falls down, gets up, falls down, gets up, falls
down like seventy two thousand times. Anything that you do that many times
you will eventually adapt and then the click will happen.
So how do you earn your powerful yes? By growing through your noes, they are only tests
that test you to see if what you want is what you really want,
and the test can be your mom, your daughter, your family, your spouse,
your job, you having no money and so many different things,
but are you willing to grow through the rejection, are you willing to grow through the noes,
are you willing to grow through the insecurities? So that it could shape you and poise
you and cultivate you to earn your powerful yes.