Meet Faith Blackshear: Model & Fashion Blogger

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

Hi Faith, why did you decide to pursue a creative path?
Honestly, working in another field besides the arts never sat well with me. Fashion, social media, and traveling have always been my goals ever since I can remember – I never once imagined myself working at a typical 9-5 job. Even before I wanted to pursue fashion and social media, I wanted to be an architect, which is an art form in a completely different realm from the fashion industry. Now, I use my social media platform to explore the world of fashion and chase opportunities every step of the way! During my younger years, I always knew that I wanted to be apart of the fashion industry in some way, I just didn’t know where I fit in. As I started to get older, in my prepubescent years, I started to get told: “You should be a model!” or my parents would be told, “Wow, you should get her into modeling!” Once those comments kept rolling in, eventually I started to research modeling on my own and explored the fashion industry in Arizona.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
As a non-professional model in Arizona, one of the hardest things to do is get signed – it took me years of building up my portfolio to finally get signed to the agency that I am currently represented by. However, I definitely think that I appreciate my journey more than I would have if I got signed on the spot the first time I submitted myself to an agency. Aside from modeling, I also have a blog called A New York Minute which focuses around current and future fashion trends. One of the biggest struggles about having a blog in Arizona is the fact that fashion is not a booming industry here – it is much easier to grow a fashion blog in a creative based state such as New York or California. Along with modeling and my blog, I am also a content creator, mainly through Instagram but I am currently trying to expand into the TikTok realm. I think that the most exciting part of my journey as a content creator, was my first gifting from The Mayfair Group, which happened to be this year. I think that one of the hardest things about being a content creator in the age of social media is how saturated the industry is, making it harder for smaller influencers to grow. However, I do think that it’s incredible that so many people are venturing out into creative jobs and becoming young entrepreneurs – this is truly a new wave of job possibilities. One of the biggest lessons that I’ve learned along my journey of being a creative, is that your connections are everything. Building long-lasting relationships with people will help you grow not only as a person, but in the professional world as well – you never know what someone has to offer, whether it’s a new opportunity or just plain good advice.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If I were to show my best friend around the area for the week, this would be our itinerary: Monday: Breakfast: Home made waffles and eggs Lunch: Picnic at Tempe Town Lake in the grass Dinner: Caffe Boa on Mill Ave Tuesday: Breakfast: Waffle House Lunch: Walk down Mill Ave & shop Dinner: PF Chang’s – sushi! Wednesday: Morning: Walk Scottsdale Fashion Square Brunch: Ella’s Cuisine (French café) Evening: Drinks at Bevvy Uptown Thursday: Morning: Have a photoshoot at Blok Photo Studio with friends Lunch: Visit Old Town Scottsdale and have a snack at Sugar Bowl Dinner: Grab food at In N’ Out Friday: Brunch: LoLo’s Chicken and Waffles Evening: Staycation at Squaw Peak Resort – long weekend!

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I wouldn’t be where I am today without the support from my family and friends. My parents, my sister India, and my best friends Shelby and Rebekah are the best support system I could have ever asked for – I am so grateful to have each of them in my life and I couldn’t do it without them!

Website: https://www.anewyorkminute.net/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/faithblackshear/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgxERjU919-q2rMlLRGjDXA?view_as=subscriber

Image Credits
Jeff Otto Ryan – High Tier Photo