Life & Work with DeAnna Yvonne Gray of Chicago

Today we’d like to introduce you to DeAnna Yvonne Gray.

DeAnna Yvonne, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
growing up in the DMV area it raises you fast, but it raises you right.

You learn early how to carry yourself, how to move with purpose, and how to keep your heart soft even when the world feels sharp.

I grew up surrounded by love: my mom, my dad, my brother the kind of family that laughs loud, prays hard, and shows up for each other.
I was the Girl Scout selling cookies in front of the grocery store, the dancer on stage with a bow in her hair, the cheerleader yelling from the sidelines.

My childhood had structure and sparkle but as I learned, even the brightest stories have their twists.

I knew early that I was an artist. I didn’t have the words for it yet, but I could feel it.

I used to write plays and make my brother act them out, transforming our living room into my own stage. I was obsessed with creating with seeing ideas turn into something real.

That spark carried me all the way to Chicago when I was 19, moving into the city with big dreams and an even bigger imagination.

At Columbia College Chicago, everything opened up. It was the first time I felt surrounded by people who spoke my language artists, dreamers, designers.
I pushed my vision further, and soon I was working with artists and brands that many people only see from afar. My life was a constant flow of fashion, art, and energy.

Then came modeling unexpectedly, like fate.
My dear friend Shaun Andru, now one of the top photographers in the entertainment industry, saw something in me that I hadn’t seen in myself yet. He put me in front of the camera, and just like that, my world expanded. I walked for brands like Akira and Jugrnaut, stood under bright lights,I also was a music video model and have been in numerous videos as well as aiding in fashion brand start ups helping them figure out which direction the brand should go down to color palette and design and felt the rush of seeing myself transformed into something greater than the DeAnna I knew at that moment.

But behind all the flashbulbs and afterparties, there was another side the quiet one.
The one that craved balance, meaning, and peace. I loved the art of it all, but the life that came with it started to pull me away from who I was.
My faith in Jesus Christ is the foundation of my life, and when I started to feel that slipping, I knew something had to change. I hit a wall not because I wasn’t capable, but because I was no longer aligned.

When you’ve spent years being known for something, stepping away feels like losing a piece of yourself.

For a while, I didn’t know who I was outside of the image people had built of me.
But sometimes God breaks things open not to end them, but to rebuild them stronger.

That’s when teaching found me. I started working in early childhood education, and what began as a new chapter turned into a calling.
For the past six years, I’ve been an early childhood educator and it’s been one of the greatest blessings of my life.
Kids remind you to see the world as new every single day. They remind you to laugh at small things, to create without fear. They became my mirror, reflecting back the best parts of me that I thought I had lost.

And still art never leaves the soul. It never left mine. It just shifted, evolved. I’m now studying to become an art auctioneer blending creativity, culture, and communication in a way that feels like the perfect next step. Because no matter where life takes me, art is my language. It’s how I breathe it’s who I am my eye is bound to see the art and beauty in everything.

Life now is calmer, but richer. I’m a proud cat mom Kyng, who’s no longer with us, and Alpha, who keeps my spirit warm.

I have a small, solid circle of people who love me deeply not friends, but family. The kind who pray for you, laugh with you, and tell you the truth in love.

And then, there’s love the kind that’s steady, genuine, and sent straight from God. I’m in a relationship with a man who loves me in alignment with my spirit someone patient, grounded, and heaven-sent. After all the growing, the evolving, and the redefining, love came to me not as a whirlwind but as peace. It’s the kind of love that reminds you that timing is divine. We are making plans for the future.

Through it all, I’ve also learned to live with anxiety to recognize my highs and lows, to give myself grace, and to keep choosing joy no matter what. Every challenge, every lesson, every pause has shaped the woman I’ve become: a woman of purpose, faith, and creativity still evolving, still glowing, and still becoming.

Alright, 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?
When I’m asked if my journey has been a smooth road, I find it to be a loaded question. In truth, I believe no one’s path is ever completely smooth. Life is always filled with unique hurdles and moments of uncertainty, but those very challenges shape the foundation of who we become. Every detour, every lesson, and every setback has only pushed me to evolve creatively and personally. I’ve learned that growth often hides in the rough patches and that’s what gives my story its depth and meaning.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I’ve never been someone who fits neatly into one box. After leaving school, I realized I wasn’t meant to live life confined to a single path or passion. I don’t love any one thing enough to make it my entire world—but I do fall deeply in love with the concepts behind things: the artistry, the details, the emotion. Lines, color, depth, patterns, facial expressions, body movements, light, darkness, flowI wanted to understand it all. That curiosity led me into modeling and eventually to producing two very successful high school fashion shows alongside three of my closest friends. Together, we taught students many of whom had no idea they even had an eye for fashionto discover their creative voice. Today, several of them have gone on to become designers, models, and educators in the fashion world, something I’m deeply proud of. From there, I branched into brand development and creative curation, helping artists and social media pages find their visual identity, sound, and overall flow.

As Leonardo da Vinci once said, “Learning never exhausts the mind.” That truth lives in meI’m driven by curiosity and creation, known for my eye for aesthetics and my instinct to bring a vision to life. I prefer to be seen as multi-hyphenated, because I truly am gifted in many things—the kind of things the world hasn’t even seen me do yet. But it’s coming.

What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Creative
Faith-driven
Resilient
Authentic
Nurturing
Visionary
Empathetic
Disciplined
Grounded
Evolving

Pricing:

• For pricing you can tell them feel free to reach out directly for rates

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @ms_elextricgray
• Soundcloud: https://on.soundcloud.com/RX2tYuYRsipcMIA9LC

Image Credits
Erika Grey
Travis Houze
Molly Rose
Christopher Brown