Meet Kaia Shea | Model, Dancer, & Vocalist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kaia Shea and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kaia, is there something you can share with us that those outside of the industry might not be aware of?
Most people think modeling is easy just stand in front of the camera and smile. Right? Wrong! It’s a lot of hard work. You have to know how to pose and how to make your body and face match what you are trying to portray to the audience. There are a lot of risks we take. We suffer for our art. I remember one shoot I did for Halloween where we were using color smoke bombs in a pumpkin, well a mishap happened and the pumpkin burst into flames as I was holding it. But did I let go of it right away no. Some people may call me crazy but I wanted to get an amazing photo from it. Unfortunately, everybody else was freaking out and telling me to drop it so no actual photo was taken and it did get too hot and I ended up throwing it.

Please tell us more about your work. We’d love to hear what sets you apart from others, what you are most proud of or excited about. How did you get to where you are today professionally. Was it easy? If not, how did you overcome the challenges? What are the lessons you’ve learned along the way. What do you want the world to know about you or your brand and story?
I’m not sure what sets me apart From others as I do not know everyone’s story. However I can say that I have a very kind soul. I am passionate about what I do. And when I make connections it’s not just about getting to where I want to be it’s also about building friendships and networking and building professional relationships. I care about others and want to help them along in their careers just as they help me along in mine.

Oh wow, there are a lot of things I am most proud of! It’s hard to choose. I guess I would have to be most proud of becoming a beauty queen that’s something that I never thought would’ve been possible. Granted, it’s on a much smaller scale than all the televised ones, but still I am a beauty, queen nonetheless. I am also most proud of being able to walk in New York fashion week this coming September. Again, there are a lot of things that I’m most proud of but those are the two biggest ones.

How I got to where I am today Professionally is with a lot of hard work and determination. And when I say hard work, I mean taking days off of my regular 9-to-5 job to go to Vegas and film two music videos. That’s some thing that if you want to realize your dreams and make it a career there are some sacrifices you have to make. It absolutely has been anything but easy. I have overcome the challenges by having a lot of determination a great support system. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve broken down and felt like it was a waste of time and I’d never get to where I wanted to be. But I have amazing people in my corner who have always helped pick me up. Sometimes I do suffer in silence, but my determination sees me through.

Lessons I’ve learned along the way, how to spot someone who says they’re a photographer, but really has ulterior motives. You will be rejected from time to time you can either allow it to destroy you and deter you from your dreams or you can allow it to motivate you. And not everybody is out to help you so you have to protect your space and your energy.

I absolutely love what I do, and I love to put on an amazing show whether it’s a fashion show or a performance with my dancing. Or even bring out some sort of emotion from my photos. But I also want people to understand that just because everything looks glamorous and great on the outside doesn’t mean that it’s like that truly on the inside. There are a lot of things that the camera doesn’t show. I would also like people to know that growing up, I was made fun of, and I was the “ugly duckling“ if you will. I was told that I would never become a model that I wasn’t pretty enough. I wasn’t thin enough. However, that is all BS. If you are bound and determined to do some thing you can do it. You may have to work harder at it, but you can definitely do it. I never thought that I would be in magazines or being interviewed by a magazine or become a beauty queen or a dancing music videos but here I am doing it and it truly is an amazing feeling. So if you want to do some thing, don’t let anybody tell you you can’t. And if they do tell you you can’t make that your motivation prove to them that you can!

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
That’s a great question! Well, of course anybody who knows anything about Arizona knows the best place to go out and dance and has the best clubs would be old town Scottsdale. So I would first take her there. Obviously that would be on a weekend. There is also a sort of speakeasy place in Desert Ridge that I would take her to. And since we would be at Desert Ridge, we would also visit. XI Clothing which has extremely cute clothes for all types of events going from casual to very formal. There is also another kind of speakeasy place in downtown Phoenix. I believe it’s called The Valley Bar which is a very nice and fun place to go. If you can’t tell, I’m definitely into the speakeasy prohibition era. I would want to also take her to Sedona to visit the red rocks and would also want to take her to Jerome, due to it being one of the haunted towns in Arizona. There is also a small family owned restaurant called Greek Town and it has the best food and it has a very nice ambience. Anything else would really just depend on what events were going on at the time. I am a very spontaneous person as well so I would leave time to look up what is going on in the area and if it’s something we’re both interested in I would take her there.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
There are a lot of people that deserve credit and recognition for my success. But three people in particular that have helped me succeed. Janelle and Jaylisa Mccain, Janelle was one of the first models I ever met, and we became quick friends. And I met her mother Jaylisa when entering into their beauty pageant system. They are the ones who have given me so many opportunities for exposure and photo shoots and fashion shows. They took my modeling career and catapulted it into where it is now. The third person is the most amazing man, my friend Isaac James. Without him I wouldn’t be where I am right now. He became my motivation to better myself, my motivation to become healthier. He saw past the fake confidence that everybody believed I had and somehow made me believe in myself a lot more than I truly did. When it comes to the modeling and dancing he has been my rock. Even when I didn’t believe in myself, or when I was about to give up, he supported me and told me that I have this and that I need to keep going. One of the things he said to me was “You are an amazing dancer. So you didn’t get picked for this music video. You don’t give up and you’re very determined; you will get picked for other music videos”. And I don’t think that he even knows how much that truly meant to me. He has been with me on this journey the entire time. His belief in me, and in my determination is everything. Without him I would’ve given up on my dream a long time ago. None of this means anything without him in my life. I also would like to give recognition to Badkitti (Ken Sharp & Melanie Malkawi), who I am one of the two main dancers for. Without them, my dance career would have never started. They were the ones who took a chance on me, based purely off of my raw talent rather than my looks. When I first started all of this, it started with my dancing, and I was a very big girl. But they loved and believed in my dancing. They are the catalyst that started all of this.

Instagram: Kaia_Shea_

Facebook: Www.facebook.com/Kaytlinmclaughlin

Other: TikTok: Kaiashea16

Image Credits
Demeetre Tillery AC Flower Crowns Raymond Calvert Cruz Gonzales