Meet Kaia Shea | Dancer/Model/Vocalist

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

Hi Kaia, why did you pursue a creative career?

I have pursued an creative/artistic career because the mundane bores me. I don’t like doing the typical 9 to 5 job. I don’t want to have to continuously work my entire life away. We work to live. We don’t live to work that may sound cliché, but it is very true.

I also at times have problems with authority. I do not like the typical job where you do what you’re told rather than what you think is right. I honestly hate helping corporate America build more riches by being greedy, and taking advantage of the less fortunate. I believe in good ethics, which is very hard to find in corporate America jobs. Unfortunately a lot of us especially the ones based in Phoenix still have to work a 9 to 5 job in order to afford living expenses, especially with the economy being what it is right now.

I have also pursued my artistic career because it makes me happy. It was just a dream that I had, and never really thought that I was going to actually be able to achieve. However, when small opportunities came my way to make that happen, I jumped at them.

I did go out and seek opportunities that I wanted. However, I went about them the wrong way, because I was young and didn’t understand the industry. A lot of us see things on movies or TV and believe that’s the way that it is. But I learned maybe not as quickly as I should have that it doesn’t work that way at least not here in Phoenix. So I more or less gave up on it and then the Universe threw a huge opportunity in my lap and I took it. After that all I had to do was see the networking opportunities, which I’m very good at seeing, and be myself.

I pursued my creative and artistic career, because I believe that art is the foundation of life. Art expresses emotions and art inspires people. Art inspires hope and drives/encourages/and stimulates dreams. And without hope and dreams, life really wouldn’t be worth living. This is why we are able to find beauty in the world. Those who have hope can find beauty in this ugly world we live in.

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Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I’m Kaia Shea and I am a Model, Dancer, and Vocalist. I also help run Fashion Shows with the company I am with, JNM Talent. I have been Modeling and Dancing professionally for about 8 years.

I am a very expressive person, when I feel or think something I share it for the most part. However I am much more expressive through my art, my dancing and modeling. I do also write poetry. My art is my outlet to express everything I am feeling inside. Even though the things I am feeling inside at times aren’t always pretty, the art in which I express it through is beautiful. I am currently working on a concept for one of my poems, which is very dark. I wrote the poem when I was in a deep depression, and even though it came from a lot of sorrow, it is beautiful. And I believe that the concept of my poem, put into photos is going to make a beautiful collection.

I am very good at being able to see opportunities where others may not. So when I see these opportunities I take them.
I am also amazing when it comes to networking. I have been seeing a saying on social media lately, which basically says that networking will get you farther in life than a degree will these days. I find this to be very true. Networking is something I am always doing, even when I don’t realize I’m doing it.

There are a lot of people in this industry who think that networking is getting help from people who can give you a leg up and then leaving them. That is simply not true. You won’t get handouts you have to earn it and using people will only give you a bad reputation. Doing that may elevate you at an accelerated rate but you will fizzle out even faster. What sets me and others apart from the mass majority is that we understand you have to build relationships with people. If I am networking with someone I have to know that I bring something to the table, if not then there is no benefit for the other party. But I also build at the very least a working relationship with them. Most of the people I network with become friends if not family.

Things I am most proud of? I am most proud of walking in New York Fashion Week and being in numerous magazines. I am also proud to be interviewed in online magazines. I still have a ways to go but I am much farther along than I thought I’d be.

I think that how I got to where I am today professionally directly ties to how I got to where I am today personally. I had loving parents who told me I could do anything I set my mind to. But leaving it there would be a generic answer and only starts to scratch the surface. I saw both of my parents struggle in different ways and I saw qualities in them that I see in myself. I saw my father, may he rest in peace, never give up, he had big dreams, and he made the impossible possible. I saw my mom working so hard every single day to balance everything. I got my perseverance from my father and my resilience from my mother. I learned how to make something from nothing.

Watching both of them making things work where in reality it really shouldn’t have made me the person I am today. And that person knows real struggle. That person understands exactly what it takes to get to where I am today. This is not for the weak and there are a lot of people who think, “Oh she’s a model, she just stands in front of camera and smiles.” No there’s a lot of work that goes into what I do.

It wasn’t and is not easy, there’s a lot that goes into it. You have to network all the time and make appearances even if you aren’t feeling it that day. You have to make yourself available as much as possible. Schedule flexibility is key and for the vast majority of us we have to work 9 to 5 jobs so flexibility can be hard. The term “Starving Artist” doesn’t come from no where. You have to invest in yourself long before you make it. I am still doing so.

There were times and still are times that I have to force myself to go to a show or shoot even though I am too depressed to get out of bed. Honestly it’s harder these days to do this. I recently lost my father (never lost a parent before). He was my world, he was the first man I ever met, my first hero. My father was my Superman, I feel like I don’t know who I am without him here. That being said it is extremely hard to find joy in anything even my dreams, even my art.

See Models and Influencers, honestly anyone who needs to have a Social Media presence to further their art/career have to post content  several times a day, every day. This is how we stay relevant and on the right side of the algorithms of social media. That being said we are NOT allowed to have a bad day. We aren’t allowed to be off our game. So those of us, which are a lot, who suffer from depression or severe anxiety to the point that we don’t even have the energy to post are at a disadvantage. You may ask “Well don’t you want to be authentic with your fans?” Yes, absolutely we do, but when we are feeling depressed or upset or angry that day and we post content that shows that emotion, our fans don’t want to see it. We get way less likes/way less views, which, unfortunately in this day and age is what keeps us relevant within that algorithm.

Everyone says they want us to be authentic but really they only want us to be authentic when we’re happy and life is good, they don’t want to see the negative part of our lives. And I might get some hate for this on both ends here, but in all reality what we show to the world, to social media, for the most part is a fantasy. We show our fans what they want to see. Our lives are not nearly as lavish or amazing as they look on social media.

There is a lot that goes into posting content we have to hashtag the crap out of everything we also have to give the credits for the photo, wardrobe, venue, etc. We also have to know which hashtags are trending, which, by the way, I still have yet to understand, or master. We have to know what songs are trending, which is definitely easier on Facebook than on Instagram. If we are putting clips together, whether it’s pictures, videos or both, we have to get the timing right for each slide that goes into that reel. Our social media presence has to be on point all the time.

Along with the issue with social media presence and depression and anxiety comes when personal tragedies happen. I have dealt with a lot of personal tragedies and yes they have kept me from posting every single day but I was able to at least maintain it enough to where I was remaining steady where my numbers were concerned.

However, I just lost my father on September 27, 2023 and I was already down. I had one of the most important people walk out of my life in February of 2023 and I was barely holding it together. And then my father left this world that September. To say that I’m completely devastated and that I have been completely destroyed would be an extreme understatement. Due to this, I have not posted content for a couple weeks. I will get small bouts of energy to post maybe for a day or two in between and I think this is probably been the longest that I haven’t posted since September.

This creates an issue with the meta-algorithms which allows less people to view our content. I have seen my numbers dwindle in a span of a week and a half. Now I’m not one to care about numbers, however, because of how social media has become, our numbers is what gives us credibility. So this goes back to how people want us to be authentic but then when we are, we lose followers and views, which then affects our credibility. I am still trying to overcome this challenge, and one of the ways I’m doing it is sharing it in this article. If people can relate, and understand what’s going on behind the scenes, it can bring awareness to it, and hopefully create change.

Lessons I have learned along the way is that people are not always rooting for you. They may act as if they are, but in reality they want to see you fail. There will be people who get close to you just because they see you as competition. I never look at somebody as competition. I look at them as someone I can learn from. There are people who have been in the industry longer than I have, and I can learn from them. And there are also people who just started in the industry, and I can learn from them as well. The people who last in this industry are the ones who look at things in that way rather than looking at everybody as competition. If they’re looking at everyone as competition then they end up trying to be cutthroat and as I said above if you treat people that way you might climb up the ladder fast but you’re gonna fall down that ladder a whole lot faster. This is an industry that knows each other, or knows of each other.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

Honestly since I am from here, nothing really jumps out as something new and exciting if that makes sense. I have run into a lot of people who have moved here and they view it in a different way. That being said, I am going to answer this question a little bit differently. Some of my favorite spots in Phoenix would definitely be Roosevelt Row in Downtown Phoenix. I love it because it’s very artistic. There’s this one house that’s abandoned and it’s pretty much called the “Graffiti House”. Everyone knows it. There are so many talented artists who have gone there to create their art whether it’s been adding to the graffiti or models doing photo shoots with the house. I don’t know of any actors or directors who have used it in their films, but it wouldn’t surprise me if there has been. As of now, it has bars around it, which is an extreme shame because now we can’t use it for our art. The bars pretty much defeat the purpose. The door doesn’t really lock, it did have a padlock on it I believe the last time I was there but I’m assuming that hasn’t kept people out because from what I heard the whole reason for the bars is due to people using it as a house to throw parties in, which, if it were for artistic reasonings, I could maybe understand as long as everybody respected the spot and cleaned up their trash and all of that. However, I would think that you would get a permit for that first.

Some other favorite spots of mine definitely would be, the first 2 to 4 blocks on Central starting at I believe Shea and ends around Maryland. It’s been quite a while since I’ve been in that area or had time to go to that area. However, the reason why it’s one of my favorite places or I guess areas is because of the beautiful homes. It’s almost like an art center itself if you’re somebody who likes the architecture of homes or buildings. I love the vintage older looking architecture. There is an art to it. To me modern day homes are very boring. They don’t really have any character at least from the outside. This city definitely has some secret gems for sure, and they are some of my favorite places. I absolutely love speak easy’s especially the ones that actually work the way speakeasies worked back in the 20s. These are definitely some of my favorite places.

Now I did ask some coworkers of mine, who just recently moved to Arizona from out of town, what were things that they wanted to do or see when first coming here. They had said that one of the biggest things they wanted to do was go hiking because we have amazing mountains. I 100% agree that we have amazing mountains and they are beautiful to hike up. As well as be able to look at the city lights below in the night time. They also said the Grand Canyon would be something they’d want to see. So if I had a friend in town, I would definitely do these two things with them.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?

I want to dedicate this shout out article to my father. May he rest in peace.

My father was my entire world! He was my protector, my superhero, my Superman. Unfortunately, I lost him at the end of this past September. And his loss has been the most devastating thing I have had to deal with, losing the love of my life being a close second.

My father believed in me and in my dreams. He would always give me advice, even if I didn’t agree with it, to make me better. I think that he wanted to play a part in my success, but I don’t think that he realized that he played one of the biggest parts in my success with just being there and knowing that I could do it. I miss my father more than anything in this world.

Instagram: www.instagram.com/kaia_shea_

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kaytlin.mclaughlin?mibextid=eQY6cl

Other: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@kaiashea16?_t=8lXIpW4lYCs&_r=1