Into the Story

Bree: Hola! Soy Bree de AC Inglés. Hoy queremos celebrar contigo nuestro décimo episodio de Into the Story! Esperamos que te hayan gustado las historias publicadas hasta hoy y hayas conectado con alguna. Y que vas aprendiendo palabras y expresiones en inglés! Si te gusta este podcast y quieres apoyarnos , déjanos 5 estrellas en itunes.
Thank you for your support! Ok let’s get to today’s episode.
‘Camera-shy’. It’s an expression we use in English to describe someone who feels nervous or uncomfortable about being in a photo or being filmed. As a publicist in television, who worked regularly with celebrities, our storyteller, Rose, used to feel camera-shy, like she didn’t belong in the spotlight with her famous clients.

In today’s episode, Rose shares a story of moving to Canada and how the encouragement and kind words of her host mother helped her to find self-confidence and acceptance. We hear how Rose launched her modelling career and faced her fears in front of the camera. From there, it wasn’t long before she found herself on the catwalk in South Africa’s fashion week and launching her own mentoring program to help other girls find self-love! We’re calling this episode, ‘From Offstage to Onstage’.

Before we begin listening, let’s talk about some of the vocabulary and expressions you’ll hear Rose say:
Firstly, hype up. This phrasal verb has a couple of key meanings. To hype something up means to describe something in an exaggerated way so that it sounds very impressive. Rose however uses the expression ‘to hype someone up’. This means to get someone very excited and motivated.
Bittersweet. You’ll hear Rose say ‘a bittersweet moment’. What this means is that the moment was exciting and happy but there was also some sadness or pain. Bittersweet.
A host mother. A host mother or a host family – es una familia de acogida. When you decide to go overseas to do a school exchange or to work as an au pair, you’ll usually live with a local family, who will be your host family during your stay.
Nerve-racking. We use this adjective, nerve-racking in English to describe a stressful or difficult situation. For example, you could describe job interviews as a come nerve-racking situation.
And finally, a runway. A runway is the stage that models walk along in a fashion show – en español, la pasarela. You’ll hear Rose talk about stepping out on the runway which refers to the first steps she takes on stage. Runway

And, as always, if you want to get the most out of, si quieres sacar el máximo partido de, Rose’s story you have a full transcript, vocabulary list, and listening comprehension activities on our website acingles.com, that’s la letra a, letra c, ingles punto com. OK let’s get into the story…

Rose: My name is Rose and I am from South Africa. So I was working as a publicity and marketing assistant at a television station in South Africa. I would be part of it that was arranging the press events, arranging the marketing events and also the road shows which were truly a highlight of this whole job because we got to travel around the country we would take the celebrities that were on the channel and take them directly to the people. When we are at these roadshows I am backstage basically hyping up the celebrities before they go on stage and before they drive the whole crowd completely crazy and I’m there in the back and it’s just, the music is pumping. The energy is extremely high. A bittersweet moment at times though because you know I was facing my own challenges in terms of my body confidence and I… when you were on these road shows in you with these people who are, you know, celebrities that look like they just stepped off the TV screen it was always an internal conversation or fight that I had to have with myself to do… to tell myself that I do belong in that place and I do belong and I am enough for my look good just the way I am.

I still had a part of me that always wanted to explore more than just South Africa. I decided to go to Canada. My objective with going to Canada was really a self-love journey if… if I can call it that because I felt that I had put myself to the side quite a bit and that was hoping that when I was in Canada that I would sort of pull myself towards myself again and kind of find myself again and… and learn to love myself.

As an au pair was looking after 3 boys aged 13, 11 and 7. It didn’t stop from the morning till the nights it was just always go go go. I was fortunate enough to be part of the family set up that was probably a dream come true because my host family was set up in a way that seven days the parents go to work. Seven days they were off so I would be on seven days and off for seven days and in those seven days I was really given the opportunity to travel and discover more than just Canada but myself mostly. But to just discover and just see the place and just get to know and really experience and, and really fulfil what my plans and my goals were.

The turning point in all of this is constantly my host mother has been or had been the best that could have ever happened to me and we would always have these conversations and not a day went by without her telling me that I was beautiful and I, I do believe that I was starting to believe it a lot more. One day, she said to me, ‘I think you should be a model!’. Soon after her and I had the conversation I, you know, started doing some research and I was looking for agencies and I, because I didn’t necessarily know how it would go, because I think also… because of… remembering that the perception of modelling with, you know, you need to be a certain body type and a certain height and a certain this, I wasn’t sure where to even begin to look for people who would say that they were looking for plus size models. So I started looking around for agencies and I was sending out a few applications and this was just really as a feeler and I had no expectations of it because I was really still not believing in it that much and when I go to call from one of the agencies that said look they would like to work with me it was, it was I thinking that moment when then I truly believed that it is actually possible.

My first photoshoot was the most nerve-racking experience and I mean, I.. I did not even know what to expect. I walked into this huge studio that was just open and I could hear some music playing in the background and I could hear the flashing of the camera and as I was walking into this room, I was realising more and more how real that this is. But I was still so nervous even in that moment because in as much as I knew that I was there for my first photoshoot, for my portfolio, I was so still a little bit self-conscious about how I looked. I was wondering if the outfits that I picked were ok. But experiencing the other models that were there, who were so, so friendly, who just made me feel so comfortable and of course, the photographer who was completely amazing. After that, I really just focused on positively embracing myself, in my body.

Fast forward, I come home because I want to bring all the skills that I learned in Canada and bring them home. I also get fortunate enough to get scouted by the best, one of the best modelling agencies in the country as a plus-size model. Within the first three months, I land my first job for an online lookbook for designer in South Africa and a month later she called me and she asked me if I would love to walk for her in South Africa Fashion Week and I, I had to pause for a little bit because it just was such an unreal thing for me because south… S.A. Fashion Week was a long-term goal. I was just starting out as a model in South Africa, anywhere actually, and it was probably the most exhilarating experience. Going for the different dress size fitting and my dress was probably the biggest dress in that, in its design, it was just, it was designed for just grand and it was long and it was, it was a black and gold dress and… Moments before we walk out, you know, I mean, we get there very early in the morning to go through rehearsals and they take you through the different things which you need to do and then eventually it becomes time to get your makeup done and then it comes time to get dressed. Only when you are putting on your dress do you realize that this is actually happening right now and we’re all backstage hyping each other ‘you’re so beautiful’, ‘you can do this’, ‘this is going to be amazing’, ‘you’re not going to fall’, ‘you’re not going to fall’. As you step out on the runway, you just focus on one spot and you just walk and after I turned at the end of the ramp I was, I remember just feeling, just relief but also just I could not believe that this is where I finally was able to showcase my body just the way it is. I didn’t have to lose any weight. I didn’t have to change myself in any way and in that moment decided I needed to tell young girls about this feeling because I want them to love themselves the way they are.

Coming out of fashion making and coming out of that complete high, you know, when my modelling career was just starting off way too high, which showed that you know, I can only go higher but you just ask yourself how high could I possibly have gone to. So I feel like higher would be to pass down that confidence and that self love and so I decided to start a mentorship program where I help young girls and I am dealing with helping them with overcoming body image issues and helping them and teaching them to have body confidence.

The journey of body confidence, you know, it’s not, it’s not 10 minutes long, it’s not a taxi ride from here to up the road. It really is a long journey. Now when we went backstage and I say we because we were a few plus size models that were there, you know, you still experience that there is a little bit of tension from you know the models, by model definition, and you know you, you can’t help but have a moment of doubt where you think maybe I don’t belong here. I just would like to be that person that can show them that I know what it’s like not being able to express yourself but not only that, I can tell you that you are good enough just the way you are.

Bree: That’s all for today! We hope you enjoyed Rose’s story. Para conseguir la transcripción, vocabulario clave, y ejercicios del episodio visita acingles.com. Allí también encontrarás más recursos para ayudar a mejorar tu inglés.! Thank you for listening, until next time we hope you have a good time, or at least, a good story to tell.