Today we’d like to introduce you to Karina Zevallos.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Karina. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I am 22 years old and was born in Lima, Peru. I immigrated to the United States when I was three years old. Moving to find a better life and conquer the American Dream is something that definitely taught me a lot about sacrifice and hard work. When I was in the 6th grade, I wrote a short story called “My Life in the back of a Taxi Cab”. Many people would have never known that the first years of my life in the US, I ate breakfast, lunch, and dinner in my mom’s taxi cab. During that time, I would also go door by door selling pieces of bread my dad had baked to bring extra income to our home. As a little girl, I did not have a little girls life. But I am thankful for that because it shaped me into the young lady that I am today.
As I got older, I learned to be independent and had to mature sooner than most. Being the only one in the household that was bilingual I was doing big girl stuff. I was translating documents that at the time were too hard to even understand. When we went to a restaurant I ordered everyone’s meal, and when we went to the doctors I was who explained everyone’s symptoms. I loved it. I loved taking action.
I always loved school. I loved being a part of every club. Key club, FCA, FCCLA, Beta Club, student council… you name it and I was in it! I guess I was quite the nerd. When I moved to Buford I learned about a whole new world. The pageant world and my parents hated it. For them, the industry would be a distraction to my education. They simply went along with it but never really supported it. One of the toughest days for me was when I had a pageant and both my parents had work, so I did not have a way of getting there. They were not going to take me, so I walked. As I was walking, it started to rain. With my dress in my hand and my hair soaked, I wanted to turn around and cry, but instead, I managed to get to the venue. As soon as I got there, my pageant sisters helped me as much as they could in the 10 minutes before having to be on stage. And guess what? I won! I won, not because of of pretty hair or a pretty dress, I won because the judges heard my heart when I interviewed with them. Right there, I felt like the most beautiful girl. I felt confident and I wanted to share that with everyone.
I started competing when I was 13 and was the first Latina to win 3 consecutive years in the Miss Buford system and receive 3 presidential awards for community service. After that, I went on competing at the state level and won a few more titles and fell in love with pageantry and modeling. The more I competed, the more I learned about myself. I learned that I was unstoppable and could do whatever I set my mind too. Pageants introduced me to community service. The love for serving others led me to start “A World Mission” a non-profit organization that helps underprivileged kids in Peru in 2016. Ever since I have a goal of completing a minimum of 100 service hours each year and for that, she is recognized with Presidential Awards. Proving to my parents that I was going to be able to balance everything was hard but not impossible. Now, they are my biggest fans and the best support system.
In 2017, I became the CEO of SHINE Pageants and Modeling, the best modeling and pageantry center to go to Georgia and surrounding states. Thankfully, my business grew tremendously and SHINE was being recognized worldwide. I love it when people call me the queen of queens because it makes me proud to be the only Latina in this industry. SHINE is known for the “Treadmill challenge” you’ve probably seen it on Facebook! Now, I travel to give personal classes around the states and will be going to Mexico and Peru next year to launch international classes! I have modeled for print jobs with Toyota and Sam’s Club, to commercials with Telemundo. The last one being a commercial for “La Copa America”. Last year, I was honored to win “50 Most Beautiful” from the JEZEBEL magazine. This year I was the cover of “Mujer Magazine”, and “Revista de Fiesta” two well-known magazines in the Latino community.
Though I have a busy schedule, I am still in school and am an international business major. I would like for anyone reading this to know that anyone and everyone can reach their goals as long as you maintain discipline and comprise and that if someone says you can’t do something, don’t strive to prove them wrong, strive to leave a legacy that you would be proud of!
Has it been a smooth road?
It definitely was not smooth. From the start, I had many people including my parents telling me that I was going to waste my time. While I completely understood where they were coming from I had a vision that I was not going to let go of. Thankfully, years later they saw what I was capable of doing and now they are my biggest fans and support system! They are the reason SHINE is here today.
Balancing school, a non-profit, a business and a social life at 19 was definitely hard but never impossible. I always knew what my end goal was going to be so while I made social life sacrifices I always had my mindset on the bigger picture.
Being 19 was the hardest thing yet. Many people, especially potential clients always doubted me because of my age. There are amazing coaches in this industry and that have been doing it for years, so I definitely felt the pressure there. I hit rock bottom once and was ready to say bye to it all. That is when my mom said NO. She reminded me of everything I had been through to have everything I have today and told me that if I was doing this at 19 imagine what I would be doing at 25? This motivated the heck out of me and I have been fearless ever since.
So, to the lady that told me to stay in school because that is where I belonged and the only thing I was good at (I took that as a compliment) and to not mess around with real “professionals” like her because there was no space for a little girl like. I am here, I love me, I am still in school, I love my job and I love being my own boss and I am here to stay.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with SHINE Pageants & Modeling – tell our readers more, for example, what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
SHINE Pageants and Modeling started in my living room. Then we moved to the parking lot, then the tennis courts and now we are located at 4155 South Lee st. Suite 500 Buford, GA 30158! We accept ages 4 and up. What makes SHINE the best place ever is that you get the best of both worlds. You can strictly practice and learn everything about modeling or pageants or both! From runway shows, print, commercial to portfolio building and from local pageants to internationals. No matter what you decide to do, you will always SHINE. If you are prepping for a specific show or pageant, then we also do private training.
In 2017, I started off with 11 students today there are over 150 SHINE MODELS! When I made our Facebook page we had about 50 people following, today we have 98K. In the first year as SHINE, two of our videos went viral due to the “treadmill challenge” I started with my first advance group. It was seen all over the world and now it is incorporated in different schools, modeling centers and it makes me so happy to see that people everywhere were able to learn a little something from one of our challenges.
This year, we partnered up with JUSTICE and our kids were able to walk for them at our 2nd anniversary and it truly was a dream come true for some of our models! I love seeing each model transform, build confidence and become unstoppable as they go.
I want to shout out the graduating class of 2019:
Kevin Canales
Valeria Pattarroyo
Maritza Carrillo
Angel Lopez
Joseph Sellman
Josephine Ibarra
Shamira Lee
Isabella Rocha
Olivia Borges
Iris Rocha
Vanessa Candelas
Lauren Jones
Osvaldo Arteaga
The one thing I absolutely love about SHINE and anyone here can tell you is that we are more than a school. We are a family. We work as a team and we build each other up. That is something we teach everyone who comes here. Your biggest competition is yourself and no one else. We SHINE together.
Back Next
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love everything the city has to offer.
What I don’t like is the famous Atlanta traffic! You could be 10 minutes away and still be an hour late!
Contact Info:
- Address: 4155 South Lee st. Suite 500 Buford, GA 30518
- Website: www.shinepageantsandmodeling.com
- Phone: 678-765-7042 and 678-908-2551
- Email: shineinfo15@gmail.com
- Instagram: @Shinepageantsandmodeling
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Shinepageantsandmodeling/?ref=bookmarks
- Other: https://youtu.be/TBVA5GHtSrU
Image Credit:
1 – Models: Fransua Marrero & Vivian Reed
2 – Models: Kevin Canales | Designer: Six Feathers | Photo: Adriano Max
3 – Models: Isabella Rocha, Lauren Jones, Shamira Lee, Maritza Carrillo | Photo: Israel Ramirez
4 – Model: Yarisleidis Bron | Designer: JUSTICE
5 – Model: Joselyn Portillo | Designer: SHINE
6 – Model: Michelle Mendoza | Designer: Anita Evans | MUA: Shey&Arte | Photo: Maxx Yinn
7 = Dejavu interviewing Isabella Rocha and Josephine Ibarra
8 – Model: Yesenia Montero | Designer: Aqua Mar Swimwear | MUA: Naty Edwards | Photo: Israel Ramirez
9 – Model: Omar Medina | Designer: House of La’rue | Photo: Darian White
10 – Hosts Michael Pierino and Ruby Bustamante | Photo: Maxx Yinn
11 – Model: Valeria Pattarroyo | Designer: Senic Chic | MUA: Santos Serrano
12 – Students in class
Suggest a story: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
