“THE HONDURAN PRINCESS”
GABRIELA BANDY!
Lets take it back to the very beginning, I was raised in a city named San Pedro Sula in Honduras. By age 11, my parents decided it was in our best interest to move to the United States due to the high rate of crime that was going on at the time. Coming to a country where we knew nothing was a very difficult time, in not only my life but also my family’s as we left everything behind and basically started over from zero. I immediately began school in California, moved to North Carolina a year after where I spent most of my high school years and finally ended in Florida where I finished school.
Luckily I was very young when I graduated, since coming in with a more advanced education allowed me to skip 2 grades in middle school, I was 16 when I graduated and I decided I wanted to take a break from school to work and help out in the house. At the time, I didn’t think I could do much to create an income but I had this brilliant idea to start an online boutique. I would make these really cool high-waisted shorts myself and people just absolutely loved them. The orders started to accumulate and with only two hands, it started to get a little bit stressful. In the middle of all of this, my parents would push me to go to this beauty pageant called Nuestra Belleza Latina, which is sort of like the “America’s Next Top Model” in the Spanish world. I thought to myself, “well the boutique idea is great except, I’m too young and don’t have the resources to make it bigger right now, so.. maybe I should give this pageant a try.”
Just January of last year, I decided to come to Miami to cast for NBL and I was determined to win. I arrived at the casting, I did not know what to expect and as I saw the other models I realized I was not prepared. Not because I didn’t feel pretty, but because the competition was different than what I expected it to be. I gave the casting a try, unfortunately I was not picked that year and although I was bummed out, I knew that there would be plenty of opportunities to cast again. I decided to stay in Miami to pursue my modeling career, I was living in Sarasota at the time. I had no idea how I would start this, but I knew that if anything was going to happen I needed to just jump in and give it a try.
I started shooting with a few local photographers, I basically would hunt down castings. I asked questions all the time, for any casting. Who is it for? Why is it taking place? Who is their audience? etc. These were all important questions I knew I had to ask to make sure I didn’t accept any jobs that could hurt my image. For a year, I was booking different jobs on my own but I knew I needed direction, which is where my manager Laura Bonet comes in. I happened to meet Laura through an acquaintance and after getting to know her I knew I wanted her to help me get to where I want to be. Till this day, Laura and I have been working hard on new projects. There is a lot from me that will be seen more this year, and a lot of new work that I know my fans will be pleased to see.
For Inspiring Models!
One thing I can tell all inspiring models is to keep your eyes open. Look at your surroundings, don’t accept every dream someone promises you, remember that good things come to those who work hard and if an opportunity that seems too good to be true comes knocking at your door it probably is. Love your work, Love your craft, and love
the people who believe in you. This career is competitive but it can be beautiful if you are willing to put in the time and effort. If modeling is truly what you are passionate about I say give it your all, with anything that you wish to do in life, and make smart decisions. Find something that will keep you motivated, I always get asked what inspires me.. and there is nothing that inspires me most than my two old people who left everything behind to make sure my safety was first. My parents are my everything, and they once had to give everything up for me and my future, now I’m willing to work hard to spoil them and make them proud. I believe that I have a lot of work to do, this year is all about building up and growing, and I just want to thank all the people who have so much faith in me, they motivate me to work harder today than I did yesterday, and especially all of the people who have invested their time to help my career flourish. Choosing this path has been the best decision I have ever made in my life, and I think that this goes for everyone who decides to put all their faith into what they love to do. There’ll be a lot of rough patches and struggles in anything you do but stay positive and just keep it moving.
“I Would Love to send a Special Thank You to Gabriela for sharing not only her Art but her Story.”
P.M.
