Photography by Rudy Joggerst[/caption] Tell us about your career as model. How did you get started?I was a performer before I was a model, but the city I chose for my short-lived college career wasn't really happening with events that called for the sort of performance I specialized in. I was creatively starved, and friends who were in the highly reputable photo program at RIT were interested in photographing me with my crazy hair, costumes, and makeup abilities. What was once creative outlet became a career when the economic recession hit after two semesters, and my parents bailed on helping me with school at the same time as my stock-based college fund was cut in half. I opted to drop out of school and try this modeling thing full time, and worked insanely hard to network my way into the industry by the time I was 19.What other advice do you have for models just starting out?Define your goals early, and work towards them with focus. Don't let anyone define them for you, or distract you. Make goals that are in line with who you already are, and your values.Your hair absolutely gorgeous and you’ve been known to change the colour often. What’s your hair secret?I rarely wash my hair to keep color vibrant, and dry shampoo and Argan oil are my saviors. Recently a lot of my styles and coloring have been thanks to the amazing Justine Marie who is the only person I've let touch my hair since I started doing it myself at 14- she's a wizard.After coming back from modeling after a yearlong break you’ve decided to change your direction genre-wise from fetish and glamour to more high fashion. Was there any particular reason for this?I wasn't shooting too much glamour or fetish work to begin with, really. I've just chosen to exclude these styles of shooting from my general availability because they don't play well with my goal of doing more high-fashion and beauty work, and the gigs I have had in those genres have been less personally gratifying and enjoyable than more creative work. There will always be exceptions to any rule, and I am still shooting select editorial projects that have elements of fetish or glamour, and am always open to certain kinds of fetish fashion like latex or hosiery.You’re a performer. Could you tell us a bit more about your performance work?Around 15, I was introduced to the rave scene in Colorado. I became obsessed with dancing, creating costumes, and found myself transitioning from raver to performer by the time I was 16. Most of my creative drive to use myself and my body as a form of expression was born during that time frame. I continued working as a gogo dancer, stilt walker, choreographer, and overall performance artist until I graduated and left for college in Rochester, New York.Now, I am a professional fire performer, and occasionally book gigs as a dancer, clown or wielding my flaming fans. It's not something I get to do often as I am very focused on modeling right now, but there's some projects in the works for 2015 so keep your eyelids peeled.Could you tell us a little about your first tattoo?My first tattoo has evolved to my most extensive in the past couple years, it was the text "admonito" on my chest, which is the base declension of the Latin word that is the root of the word "admonish." It's meaning isn't concrete, rather a collction of thoughts from my non-adult life, but they're translated to my adult life and grown with me. The recent additions of line work and detail are all by my super talented partner Kiana Kangaroopaw.Do you have a favourite of your tattoos?Either my chest piece or the ouroboros squid piece on my hip, also by Kiana Kangaroopaw.Are you planning anymore for the future?TONS. full coverage. Not sure it'll happen before I'm mostly retired from modeling, and moved on to other things, though. The in between and incomplete process with big pieces isn't really conducive for constantly being photographed, and it gets a little harder to book art nude shoots the more work I get.Do you have a favourite tattoo artists for whom you’d like to give a shout out?Kiana Kangaroopaw is responsible for 80% of my work! She's based in Portland but travels often. You’re quite adventurous, particularly on your outdoor shoots? What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you while shooting?This year on a shoot outside of Reno, NV I fell and busted my knee pretty badly. I was precariously balancing on a fallen log across a stream, which was more of a ravine filled with sharp rocks and sticks, and lost my balance, flipping over and tumbling down. This being an art nude shoot, I was lucky to walk away with only a few severe bruises and a scar from the scrape on my right knee. That's the most painful thing, perhaps not the craziest.When I was starting out I did a topless shoot in front of the NYPD station in Times Square. The cops weren't pleased, but toplessness is technically legal in New York state, so it was kind of a crazy thing to do in such a public and congested place. I may have almost caused a car accident or two.You have a lot of great ideas for how you want to help people in the future, you mentioned wanting to work on sustainable housing for low income families on The Wasp Factory. Do you have any current projects or dreams for the future?No solid projects or dreams, just vague notions of what needs to be done. I hope to get on board with a sustainable reclamation project or off grid housing development in the next couple years to get my toes wet, but I want to go back to college for at least 3 years to have the tools I feel would be helpful in this pursuit. The tricky part is that quite a bit of sustainability is re-thinking how we use space and how we build, both things pretty indoctrinated in our culture at this point.On a more delicate note, you have recently come back to modelling after a full remission of a brain tumour. I just want to congratulate you on your bravery. Do you have anything you want to say on the matter?I would urge anyone who has a loved one, or is themselves, suffering from cancer, to read up on the proven anti-tumor properties of cannabis extracts, specifically the CBD molecules found in the plant. I was able to heal myself using a combination of extract therapy, diet and lifestyle changes- no surgery, chemo, or radiation, and I am so grateful to have found that path with the help of friends and personal research, because my body is not weakened and damaged nearly as much as it would have been had I taken the western approach. Depression is bosom buddies with cancer, and battling that has been an even bigger struggle than fighting off what I was told was a terminal illness. I'm exceedingly grateful for the grace and patience of my friends who stuck through the dark times with me, and even more happy to be back working, traveling and living.Do you have any tips for models who find you inspiring?Get off the internet and live a little. I don't mean that to be demeaning, the internet after all is my domain and my bread and butter, but I find myself most inspired, content and productive when I have experiential and tangible inspiration for my work. Whatever you think you are, be prepared to be the opposite: the most talented models do not classify themselves as any one thing, but evolve seamlessly from more off kilter looks to clean and sophisticated ones. You are not your identity any more than you are your alter egos and charades. Make goals, work for them, laugh a lot and take care of yourself along the way. For more (after checking out the gallery below, of course!) you can catch up with her on Tumblr, Facebook and Model Mayhem. Let us know what you think! She’s totally inspirational, right? You can also find tattoo artist, Kiana Kangaroopaw, at Facebook or on her website, Kangaroo Paw Tattoo.