Photo: Instagram|bethint
Extreme cold, rapid temperature change, and illness are just a sampling of triggers that can launch an all-out sickle cell crisis. But Virginia native Bethany Barber, who is now living in NYC, has to battle those conditions on the regular for her career. Bethany is a model.
Recently, The Virginian-Pilot shadowed Bethany as she walked in the freezing New York temps to and from Fashion Week model castings. According to the paper, Bethany fell in love with the fashion industry during her multiple hospital stays, in which she would devour magazines and emulate the faces and poses of the models she saw in the pages.
She's come a long way in a short couple of years. Since her initial modeling gig, a local fashion show in her hometown, Bethany has landed a guest spot on "Law & Order: SVU" as well as modeling jobs with Rocawear, Mizani, and L'Oreal, just to name a few. Besides all of that, she also earned her bachelor's degree in nursing.
"When she started college, she would leave from doing 12-hour clinicals, jump on the train to go to casting calls in New York, and come back to work," her mentor Kevin Lawrence said in an interview with The Virginian-Pilot. "It didn't always go well. There were umpteen trips until she got it right. She never complained, never became complacent."
Bethany is definitely an inspiration, and we salute her perseverance and success this Black History Month and beyond.
Read the entire article about Bethany's journey here.
