Hello, some of you know me as Michelle, others Me. I Am, some as Mariah. But the best supermodels in world are raw and vulnerable, which is why I come to you as Mel, and this is my journey to become America’s Next Top Model.
I had recently graduated from Cornell University with my Bachelor’s in Food Science, but the job market hasn’t been kind. I saw the casting call ad for the show on my Facebook feed and figured “why not?” I’ve always been told I’m really pretty ever since puberty. I’m the type of girl where guys see me and are speechless; then later those guys go to the bar to hang out with their friends, and they tell their friends, “Oh God you should have seen this one hot chick who was so totally Italian, or maybe some kinda Spanish...” To be completely honestly, I’m actually half-white and half-Asian, but I guess my appeal has always just been my racial ambiguity and the mystique behind it. I had my boyfriend Thomas quickly shoot an audition video of me on his phone. Note: I was just gonna shoot it all on my iPhone, but Thomas insisted he shoot it on his Galaxy because the camera is just so much better. Yeah, he’s one of those guys, but I love him regardless. It wasn’t even 2 weeks later when I got the call from Crave Entertainment telling me to pack my bags and head to the filming location.
The production was kind of enough to let Thomas drive me to the location. Although they offered to pay for my flight, I turned it down. My uncle was actually one of the people who disappeared with the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, and I’ve been too petrified to get on a plane since. I just know I would have a meltdown on the flight due to my anxiety from that trauma and the butterflies from being cast on the show. It was an 8-hour drive, but it went by quickly with Thomas.
Eventually we arrived at the beautiful, palatial manor. It was everything I imagined and more. It was decked out with all the accoutrements, a U-shaped driveway, windows that looked like they were from Jasmine’s Arabian palace, and the most expensive orchids from the Lowes planted around the visage of the building. Thomas and I hugged each other goodbye and he whispered some sweet encouragements before he left. I was now on my own.
Now, I was a big ANTM fan growing up, but I had fallen off in recent cycles. So I was kinda surprised that they replaced Mr. Jay with this Justin Timberlake impersonator named Jack. But whatever, I guess this isn’t so bad, he doesn’t have Mr. Jay’s intimidating fag aura that would have made me feel like less of a woman around him. Jack asked me how I was feeling about the whole situation, I feigned confidence and told him I ready to win, since I know production has a habit of giving the insecure girls a hard time during the show.
We then toured the mansion and he handed me a printed out copy of this week’s schedule. I was told I was the first girl to arrive. More girls were supposed to come in today, but their flights got delayed. I was exhausted from the drive, so I let Jack know that I will be going to bed. He left and I was left alone with my thoughts. I went to the kitchen, ate 4 plates of fruit slices, and went to bed. Everything changes in the morning.
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Hello, some of you know me as Michelle, others Me. I Am, some as Mariah. But the best supermodels in world are raw and vulnerable, which is why I come to you as Mel, and this is my journey to become America’s Next Top Model. 
