A little about why I am doing this.

When kids watch their favorite television shows they see all the positive aspects of what it takes to become famous. "Oh I can easily do that!" They say. Most kids these days don't realize the sacrifices that are involved in just getting started much less once the ball starts rolling. Very few kids dedicate themselves in going all the way. One thing that drives me crazy is those parents that force their children into becoming a cash cow. You know spray tanning their kids, yelling and screaming at them to do something they never wanted in the first place, making them wear makeup, and turning a three year old into a forty year old. Have you ever seen the show Toddlers and Tierra's? Yuk!  Hey parents! Your kids are not robots! Just because you made them it doesn't mean you own their lives! So many people try to live their lives through there children. When it comes to my daughter that is not the case. My dream for my children is that they follow their hearts and dreams all they way. My kids happiness is number one. When my daughter came to me and told me that this was her dream I didn't run out and start entering her into pageants. I simply sat back and watch to see if it was a phase. It took about five years for me to believe this was my daughters true passion. Once I realized that I moved forward with all my might. To know me is to love me or hate me. Why do I say that? Let me explain... I am a never ending puzzle of imagination and secrets. I absorb everything around me and marinate in all the good and expel all of the bad. I am direct and strong willed but I know my limits and I do not take risks for the sake of self gratification. I asked God to make me a mother and promised to be good at it. I am aimed at not disappointing him. Now getting back to my daughter. I know that at the age of ten a child can change there point of view in life. Today she may want to be a superstar but tomorrow she may want to be a doctor. I keep this in mind when I go through this process and I say we will take it day by day. Before I initially started this my husband and I went over all the hard work, sacrifices, and dedication with our daughter and we told her this was her opportunity to get out, That once we started there was no turning back. We explained that this was team work and that this wasn't a game. After telling her all this we gave her a week to process it and we would reconvene the following week for her to give us a heart felt answer. We also promised her we would support her either way. A week later she said " Mom and Dad I want this more then anything! I promise I will give it my all but I cannot promise I will be what they want.". I knew then we were in for an adventure. I know as we go along in this process we will have skeptical people who laugh amongst themselves and say this is all hype and nothing will come of it. Truthfully maybe they are right. No one truly knows the day they will be discovered. Some get discovered on the internet, some get discovered at work, some get discovered in alleyway's, and some get discovered by chance. I teach my children to live their lives always with a co pilot. That co pilot is God. If it is his will then he will make the way. I say this and close with an. Amen.

Heading home

Unfortunately not going to the beach was a bummer but seeing Miami was a good enough experience and it gives us a destination place to look forward to for our next visit. It was about four o clock in the pm and we had a five hour drive home. Since my husband drove down I took the liberty of driving home giving everyone the chance to sleep a bit. I have to say it was quite nice and peaceful. About two hours into the drive my leg started cramping up and pain started shooting down my left leg. I didn't want to disturb my husband because he was sleeping so sound. So I started adjusting myself as I was driving to alleviate the pain. I had to do this about every twenty minutes and then eventually my left leg went numb. I was just happy the pain was gone. Driving home I got to explore the wonders of Florida such as rain clouds to the left of me and blue skies to the right. At one point I drove through a torrential down pour and within three minutes it was blue skies again.

 

In the summers of  Florida it doesn't get dark until around eight thirty at night. One of my favorite things about the drive home was being able to see the skyway bridge light up right before the sunset.  I was so beautiful.

 

 

When we got about an hour away from our home sweet home front destination my car campers decided they were hungry again. So we made a pit stop at a local gas station for a quick stretch and snack. Oh I felt so sorry for the gas station attendant. My poor tired son spilled a thirty two ounce drink all over there floor. Now he says the cup cracked and it simply spilled out. Guess we will never know.

 

 

We were relieved to finally get home. We needed showers and believe it or not we were still tired. I guess we were tired of being tired. We praised one another for being so well behaved and said a family prayer thanking God for our safe journey.

Our mini vacation is not quite over yet!

Our mini vacation was a concentrated treat of sights and memories. Who says you need a long vacation? You can pack all of your fun into just a day and that's just what we did. We knew our drive home would seem longer then the drive down to Miami because we were all tired. I wasn't quit ready to give up on our vacation just yet. I wanted to see the beach. One of the best known beaches in Florida. Miami Beach.

 Heading towards Miami beach wasn't to far out of our way. It only took us about twenty minutes. I couldn't wait to see the beautiful blue water and feel the warm white sand beneath my feet. I was also excited to see the culture of Miami and share that culture with my children. Once we reached our beach destination we discovered we were in for quite a ride. Have you ever been to New York or watched a movie that gave you an inside glimpse of how the traffic is  in these crazy places? Well I am here to testify that populated places such as New York, Vegas, and Miami are crazy when it comes to traffic! What you see on TV is very real. Once we got into the beach area we were surrounded by cars, motorcycles, and bikes.  It didn't matter how fast or how accurate you were driving if you didn't get a horn blown at you at least once a minute then your in the wrong place. Driving from one parking area to another we were unsuccessful at finding a place to park our car. So we stopped a local and asked for assistance. He was a very kind man who wanted to help but he was dealing with a problem of his own. He was waiting for the police because his van was rear ended. Poor guy. All he could do was tell us to park miles away and basically pray. lol  We said maybe another day. We needed to get home and at this rate we were not making very good time as it is. Miami will be back and ready to take on your traffic because one way or another we will see your beaches!

Miami here we come!

We all know that most people love road trip's.  To view different sights and meet different types of people is exciting.  I know going from a silent small town to a tropical oasis such as Miami was a vacation in itself.  Of course I wanted to view the side of Florida that I never got a chance to see ,but we were here for business and meeting our families new agent was number one on our to do list!

 

I guess my husband and I could say we have OCD. OK I am  just kidding but for some reason we are always two hours early to our destination.  We didn't want to seem anxious so we went for lunch. It was nice to view the area looking for a quick bite to eat before our big meeting. Kristal's restaurant was the lunch choice of the day. I know  it seems like a thrifty choice for food in Miami  but we were on a budget and it pleased our pallet's at the time.

 

 

 

Now that we were done with lunch we headed back to the address that was given to us in the initial confirmation email. Once we got there we were greeted by a door man who politely let us in. The place was quiet and there wasn't a soul around. So we gazed  at our phones and pictures on the walls until our agent arrived. Instantly she said " Your early ". I assumed it was a good thing. She had a few other families to meet that day and lucky for us  she met with us early. It was such a wonderful experience. She was professional and yet straight forward about the industry and what she required from our daughter. The agent asked our daughter to give her a small audition to see what she can do.  Of course our little angel sparkled like a diamond. Soon after a director joined the meeting and was just in love with our little girl. 

 

 

Sitting across the table the director smiling from ear to ear asked our daughter Jessica one question after another. Like a grown girl Jessica replied back not only with confidence and a smile on her face but with eye contact as well. In the modeling and acting industry you must have all of these qualities to succeed. There is no age acceptance for a dry personality. You must stand out above the rest.  After our meeting was over we left with even more hope then we had before.

Its hard work but it's worth it!

We are now signed up with Starlets. The first step is the paperwork. I must have spent several hours reading,  filling out, signing, scanning, copying, and sending paperwork. After that was complete I needed to build an online profile for my daughter with pictures and a basic resume of information. The next step was wait with patience. Day by day the scout and I would chat about how to make my daughters webpage perfect and he was there to answer any questions I may have. Meanwhile the scout was hard at work finding my daughter the perfect manager. A couple weeks had passed and I received a delightful  email saying Great news! We have an interested manager! Soon after I was  on a phone conference with our new manager from LA. He was such a delight! Telling us what he can do to get our daughter started in the industry but he had additional good news. Our soon to be manager already referred us to an agent yes! that fast!. Now we have more paperwork and additional online work to be done. But I was OK with that! So I complete the W9 form, sign another contract, book a one on one meeting with the agent in Miami FL, and created another website for our daughter. The websites that I am building with the help of the company is strictly for directors, agents, managers, scouts, and casting members. So I don't have to worry about weirdo's trying to violate our privacy. The hard work is now done and we are on our way to Miami FL for our mini vacation getaway.

All good things come to those who work hard and make sacrifices

After signing with starlets the butterflies came rushing in.  I could now break the good news to my daughter and get this party started. To see the pure joy in your child's face when you tell them that you've fulfilled your promise and there dreams of being a super star may come true is just pure bliss!. I told my daughter that this opportunity is not going to be handed to her that she has to work hard, deal with some disappointment, and make sacrifices.  When I went over these things with her she looked me dead in the face and said sell everything I have, ill work hard in school, and I will even give up my dolls. I knew right then we were all in! Of course I never sold everything she had or made her get rid of her dolls but to hear her say that only made me want this for her more.

A new day is dawning

Sleeping all of my frustrations away I prepared myself for a new day with a new mind set. Get the kids off to school, clean the house, pay bills, and get to working on my promise. About four cups of coffee and an hour into my research I come across this website called Starlets Baby Modeling. I said to myself I am going to go through this with a fine toothed comb. I check them out for scams and my research turns out clear, I check out community chats, clear!, looking good so far.. I check out video tutorials of moms who have experienced this company and I realize that this could just be our key to open the door. So I will try it . I filled out the questionnaire and sent five pictures I took from my phone. That's all they want. day by day I would wake up with anticipation for acceptance of my daughter once again. Checking my emails to see if anything came in.  I wanted this more then anything but I had my guard up. I checked out every possible way to find something wrong with this company and I simply couldn't.  Starlets is a baby modeling and talent agency that acts as the  middle man for agents, managers, and scouts. Its who you know right? What this company does is it takes all of your information after you submit it to see if your child is the right fit for their representation. I had to take a leap of faith and I did!  After about five days of emailing pictures and answering questions the agency had a local Starlets mom call me to answer any questions I had. Trust me I had questions!. After that they  assigned a  scout to call me. I was on the phone with my scout the next day. I was getting so excited again but I was still Leary. I mean who wouldn't be? I had to protect my child's heart here. As I was going through this phase I kept my daughter from knowing about it because I couldn't stand to see her hurt again. I was very pleased at what the scout had to say. As the scout and I were chatting away he  mentioned to me that  Starlets is the back stage pass for qualified children who cannot find any other way to get into this industry. Agents simply will not take people off of the streets! So of course there was a fee. Was it $6000? like the last place?  No! It was extremely minimal compared to that and to be honest I would be more skeptical if this service was free. anyways I paid the small fee and took the risk. Oh man I am  glad I did! 0 Comments       Play Pause