Rising Stars: Meet May Anne Jordens-LaFlamme

Today we’d like to introduce you to May Anne Jordens-LaFlamme.

Hi May Anne, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
After high school in 1991, I took the one-year modelling course at Sheridan college in Oakville Ontario, and through there was selected by an agency in Toronto. I modelled on and off for about 10 years, and also did some acting. During that time, my agent asked me to try out for a pageant, and I ended up winning. I was crowned Miss Metropolitan Toronto 1994 and throughout that year represented Toronto in the Miss Oktoberfest pageant with contestants from both Canada and the US, and also the Canadian search for Miss Universe in Edmonton, Alberta. It was an incredible experience and I met some amazing people along the way. I stopped modelling in my late twenties due to moving around the country and eventually raised a family. In my early 50’s I began to have a strong desire to model again, and at 52, returned to the industry, collaborating with as many photographers as I could to get back into the flow of things. It didn’t take long to find my flow again and to realize how much I missed it. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and am grateful for a second chance at something that brings out my creativity and that I truly enjoy doing.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road has had its ups and downs. When I first began modelling in the early 90s, I moved from a farm in a small town, two and a half hours northeast of Toronto, and learned how to navigate Toronto with it’s subways and street cars on my own at 18 years old. In my mid-twenties I began to experience severe anxiety and panic attacks and had to take a step back for a few years. Eventually, I left modelling and acting and went to work in various different industries. When I returned to modelling and acting 25 years later, it was very much a different experience. Previously, there was no internet, so everything was done in person going door to door for auditions and Go-sees with a portfolio and comp cards in hand. Now, all of that is done online. It’s a huge change. Part of it is easier because you don’t have to go into Toronto for every audition and part of it is harder because now there are so many more people doing it online.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
In the in-between years that I was away from modelling two of the titles I held were personal trainer and Registered Holistic Nutritionist. I’ve always had a deep interest in natural living, eating well, mindfulness and physical exercise, and I believe that age, to a very large extent, is truly just a number, and that a big part of how we look and feel has to do with how we treat ourselves and how we think about ourselves. I can say that I feel better now, at almost 54 years old, than I did throughout most of my 20s and 30s. I am hoping that what shines through my pictures is strength, class, grace, elegance and confidence in finally knowing who I am… with a touch of sass 🙂

What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
It has been a journey really of discovering who I am, what I like and don’t like, learning to be ok with my mistakes and failures, and most definitely, that it’s never too late to begin again. I’ve learned that challenges are not there to break you, they’re there to help you to grow and to reveal who you truly are.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/mayanne_j_laflamme