In the beginning of ninth grade, I started working with “The Model Atelier” (TMA) agency and from then on, I was given amazing opportunities to model for a variety of astonishing brands throughout Colombo. In the beginning of my journey, I was quite timid and nervous however with the help of other models within the agency and the founder of the agency, Jacquie Mei, I was able to come out of my shell and better express myself when it came to catwalking as well as posing. My most memorable moment currently is the workshop I did with Jacquie where she introduced me to various methods of posing with various objects/accessories (e.g chairs, stools, box, bag, purse…) or how to layer specific clothing (e.g scarfs, jackets…). This really helped me in my shoots with different brands because it allowed me to come up with different gestures in a short amount of time and also to determine which pose would fit best to showcase the designs. Jacquie also gave me some tips on catwalking such as maintaining posture and height to show your natural length, avoid forcing movement and instead make it look as natural as possible (e.g avoid restricting hip movement, move arms slightly); as well as to constantly keep eye contact to a specific spot in the surrounding room when walking. During my catwalks, I prefer staring at one specific direction to not only limit my stage fright but to also enhance my ability to walk in a straight line. As much as I really enjoy modelling, finding the balance between school and my hobby as a model is quite challenging. However, I have recently managed to properly plan and organize my time schedules to make sure I prioritize important tasks. What I really appreciate about TMA is that there is a lot of flexibility within the agency that allows for me to not only continue modelling but to also arrange my time properly in order for me to complete important tasks at school.