However, unlike most memoirs about a business so cut throat and competitive, one thing is lacking from Cheryl’s memoir: cynicism.

“I was going around being a model and it occurred to me that these characters [in the business] are so much larger than life,” she says. “They have these huge egos and just so much life. Their comments are hilarious. The way they look at things is so unique. I just thought that I really have to put it down on paper and preserve it for future generations.”

So it was written. So it is done. And this at an age when most young women are just trying to figure out how to write their resume, Cheryl already has a resume as long as your arm.

“I was sixteen when I decided to start writing it,” she says, “so I wasn’t too concerned about what people would think. I’ve always been a little bit naughty in that sense, that if I decide something will be good and will be interesting, I will just do it. And then I’ll deal with the consequences later. Amazingly, I’ve been really shocked but it hasn’t affected me negatively in any way. In fact, I think a lot of people in our industry get a kick out of it.

Not an easy feat in an industry where everybody takes everything seriously, no matter how baffled the outside world may find their odd concerns. After all, aren’t there more important things to wring your hands over than how acceptable your height is, and how to conquer a catwalk?

“I even ran into a photographer who I talked about [in my memoir],” she says. “And he said, ‘Oh, I really liked your book.’ And I was surprised because he was in it, and I didn’t talk about him that favorably. So I said, ‘Aren’t you a little offended by it?’ And he said, ‘oh, no, Cheryl. In this industry, we all know we’re crazy.’”

“I like them,” she says of her photographs. “I think it’s entertaining that they take a young girl who really is just a girl, and they do her up and they paint her and they dress her and she almost looks twenty-three or something, as opposed to sixteen.

“You look so worldly and rich and all that. And I’m just the girl who is trying to make ends meet in New York. It’s almost like a fantasy. In that way, it’s quite fun to see glamorous versions of myself without having to really do that much work myself, without having to pick out the outfits or do the makeup or anything like that. It’s interesting for me to see the photographer’s interpretation of me and the makeup artist’s interpretation of me. It’s interesting always to see a new side of myself.”

 

It’s also interesting to see what you’re made of on the inside as well, to see what type of sturdy, beautiful, but tough fabric that goes over big with the powers that be.

“It’s almost like you don’t go into the modeling industry if you’re not extremely unique,” she says. “You have to be really fearless when you express yourself. The way [modeling people] talk and the way they say things can be so outrageous sometimes. [People outside the modeling business] are often amazed that they do and say those things. In the modeling industry, though, they are considered normal.”

Though genuinely beautiful, Cheryl is far from “normal,” especially as a candidate for long-term modeling success. It’s not because she’s not smart – her intelligence and articulate manner is almost amazing for a girl of her age – but she’s been consciously collecting her thoughts on the subject since she first appeared before the camera. And in modeling years, five years equals two lifetimes.

“I don’t think I even feel twenty-one,” she says. “I always felt a lot older. I was always trying to do things that were usually reserved for people who were much older than me. I would always be the youngest person doing whatever I was doing. I feel almost like forty right now. But chronologically, it feels good. I really like challenging myself, because I don’t ever want to be bored. That would be the worst thing for me. If I’m not doing something unusual, that other people haven’t done before, I don’t like that. I like to do things differently and I like to do them right now, while I’m really young.”

This may stem from Cheryl’s globetrotting upbringing, an only child of supportive, ambitious parents.

“I grew up all over the place,” she says. “My dad was in real estate and he also loved traveling, so my parents used that as an excuse to just travel all over the world. I grew up in Australia, Japan, Morocco. Really out of the way places that no one used to go to back then. I would visit some of these places and I would be the only blonde person that people had ever seen and they would follow me down the street. It was very funny.

The agencies drew to her like a magnet to steel, the very kind of metal that helped Cheryl survive and thrive in New York.

“I think there are certain personality types that work well in the modeling industry,” she says. “It’s not so much about developing a thick skin. Maybe it’s if you already have it or not. I think it’s tough for people to develop that. I know girls who have come into the industry and they are lovely girls, but they’re sensitive. Also, they have a way of taking things quite seriously. And I think that’s the worst thing you can do in modeling, to take it too seriously, because it’s a very subjective industry.

“A girl can be told one day that she is nothing and no one is interested in her, and the next day she can be doing a campaign for Chanel. It’s like that in the industry. I mean, one day you can be told your lips are too thin, and the next thing you know, you’re a supermodel.”

For those about to supermodel, Cheryl offers this sage advice: “I think the most important thing to do first is to get informed, especially reading about the industry. Reading my book wouldn’t be a bad idea, because you will know what to expect. That will give you so much more power than just walking in blind.

“I think a lot of reason that girls get derailed in the industry is that they think it’s going to be way more glamorous than it really is. They think they’re going to be somebody’s muse and somebody is going to want to fly them here and fly them there and love them. It just doesn’t work that way. So much of it is going up and down stairs every day [on castings]. And when you go on those casting calls, it’s a bit of a shock because there are fifteen girls there who are as good looking or probably better looking than you are. The competition is unbelievable and they usually come from smaller towns where they are probably the most gorgeous girls who ever lived in that town and everyone tells them so every single day. It’s tough to come to New York and realize that there are tons of models here and they’re all gorgeous.

“The New York modeling market is tremendously competitive and really no nonsense. If you can take it in New York, you can really take it anywhere. It’s a very tough market. You’re going to go on a lot of calls and get told that you are not what they are looking for, and you have to keep going. Also, you have to be realistic. If it’s not something that’s working out, you might have to look into doing something else. I think the reason why a lot of [aspiring models] will get too involved in the club scene or drugs is because they thought it was going to be better and it depresses them.”

That’s why Cheryl recommends having an ace in the hole, something to fall back on, and a passion that doesn’t define you specifically as a model.  For Cheryl, she was able to apply her interests to her profession.

“Ballet really helped me in knowing how to pose,” she says. “That feeling of almost wanting to freeze when you’re pinned by the camera and the lights and all that attention is imposed upon you. But just by doing a lot of dance training in my life, I would naturally know how to assume different poses. That alone helped me so much with posing. Also, I kind of like attention. That helps, because I know some girls who would actually start crying during their first shoots because they weren’t used to it and it would make them feel very self conscious. But with me it was the opposite. I really enjoyed it.”

Her passion for writing, like modeling, also prepared her for the strange combination of rejection and creative satisfaction.

“When I reviewed the first few chapters and I realized that it was good, it was a real shock to me because I didn’t know that I could just do that, just pick up a pen,” she says. “It wasn’t that easy. I really had to edit and really think about it. But I was amazed. And I was really proud when I sold the book. I was so happy.

“But what I think I really learned most about myself was that my parents always told me that I was the most determined person they had ever met and it’s true. I got turned down by so many literary agents just because they didn’t believe models could write so they didn’t even read my manuscript. They didn’t believe a seventeen-year-old could write anything so they would hang up on me. I would just keep phoning. I had this huge list with about 60 literary agents on it, and I just kept phoning and I wouldn’t stop. And I kept sending my manuscript out over and over again. The publishers were nice, but a lot of literary agents were abusive. And they were so mean to me, I couldn’t believe it. If people think modeling is tough and that there is a lot of rejection from modeling agents, they should try literary agents. But I always believed that my book was good, and that people would be interested in it. And that it was funny. And I really, really believed that. So I guess my parents are right. I really, really am very determined.”

Her determination is taking her to her next writing endeavor, which digs even deeper into the world of modeling. 

“My next project will also be about the modeling industry, but this one will be a novel,” she says. “I just think there is so much more to tell. It’s an industry where you don’t have to go looking for the characters. They just walk right through the door.”

 

Photos courtesy of Cheryl Diamond, all rights reserved.

For more information about Cheryl’s book – and how to buy it, go to

www.cheryldiamondmodel.com

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