Life and Work with Madelynne Ross

Today we’d like to introduce you to Madelynne Ross.

Madelynne, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I moved to Atlanta from Houston seven years ago with about $700 to my name and a will to make it on my own in a city where I knew not a soul! I knew this was a thriving city on the come up and I wanted to be a part of it. I had two jobs and an internship to break into marketing and hospitality world doing branding events. When I had extra time, I would model and that is where my online presence started to grow working with crazy talented photographers here and back home in Houston.

One of my most recent jobs doing Influencer Marketing for Home Depot showed me the business side of this marketing tactic. I said hey, I have 15K followers, I need to learn how to develop a real social media strategy and a plan so I can gain more engagement from my followers, gain more interactive followers, and of course so I can monetize my efforts. I have grown up trying to figure out what to do with my curly red hair, how to put makeup on my many freckles, and what to do with my height. Modeling has helped me embrace my look, and social media has helped me share my learnings and also learn from others.

Food photography actually came along by mistake! I was a Marketing Manager at a salon and I needed some content and the stylist had a starter DSLR Canon Rebel t4i so I used it and fell in love. I got into food photography specifically because I greatly admire the art of plating and capturing those bright beautiful colors, textures, and details. It’s awesome when the hobby becomes a source of income so I have been doing that work for the past few years. I love it!

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
In the world of modeling, it was not a smooth road but I have arrived at a level of self-confidence I don’t believe I would have gotten without the challenges I have overcome.

I have been the tall girl all my life, I was different or “exotic” looking (no kid wants to hear that, lol), and I was skinny so modeling was the obvious option there. It was great I got major jobs in NYC with Calvin Klein and Seventeen Magazine and Anna Sui… but then, I joined the track team and began ballet. I began gaining muscles and eating food wasn’t supposed to and my agent dropped me. I was taking diet supplements behind my mom’s back at 14. No kid should ever be made to feel that much pressure to live up to such an unhealthy standard. So, I quit and decided to model on my own terms sort of like a free agent! I decided who I wanted to shoot with I shared my size and said if you don’t like it find someone else (I was a size 6, mind you smh). I started working with artists who didn’t want to cover my freckles or straighten my hair and my confidence grew and grew but I stayed humble because I’ll never forget what I felt before the confidence and what other teens or even grown women still feel about their look.

My advice would be to look deeply at things that you want to change about your appearance and find the beauty in them and focus on the positive things you can change about your viewpoint on what’s considered beauty. That is YOU! You are beauty.

Please tell us more about what you do, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I specialize in beauty, healthy hair and skin care, and lifestyle blogging. I am most known for my modeling so I have used that growth in the audience to share routines, products, and practices with my followers. I am very honest and vocal about my blogging journey and being a newcomer to the influencer world. I love it! I learn from other influencers and my followers on what products I should I use, what they use, and new techniques routines.

I am proud of my growth in learning about the blogging industry and learning how to really connect with the audience and produce content they want to see and that they will converse with me about.

What advice would you give to someone at the start of her career?
Take in all of the knowledge you can from everywhere. Get on LinkedIn, go to networking events, take internships paid or not, do research on your industry and follow them on social platforms. Stand out without being loud, stand out by being letting your work and your drive speak for itself.

Knowledge really is power!

Contact Info:

• Website: MadelynneRoss.com
• Email: MR@MadelynneRoss.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madelynneross/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/madelynneross/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/madelynneross
• Other: https://www.instagram.com/bitesandbevsatl/

Image Credit:
K.Rish, Justin Aim Photo, Allen Cooley

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