Conversations with Grace Coleman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Grace Coleman.

Hi Grace, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I first moved to the KC area when my mom was 8 months pregnant with me. Since then, my parents and my two siblings have lived in the same house. All my life, I have been so lucky to have parents who were able to work hard to provide us with private school education grades k-12. When it came time to choose where I wanted to attend high school, I had so many choices.

My parents encouraged us to look at Blue Valley North, St. Thomas Aquinas, Sion, and St. Teresa’s Academy. The idea of attending public school always seemed intimidating to me because I went to such a small grade/elementary school. I also had an idea of what I wanted my high school experience to look like, hence the three private schools on my list. One amazing thing all three of those schools have in common is their ‘shadow’ programs.

These programs consisted of spending a day following a current student around through their daily lives creating an authentic feel of how an actual school looked. I enjoyed every one of my visits to all three of the schools I toured, but one stood out more than the others. I ended up attending St. Teresas Academy for all four years of high school.

As most people know, St. Teresas has been around for over 150 years now so I knew choosing to attend this school was going to be a special one. I always loved the idea of going to the same high school as my mom and two aunts! It sort of turned into a fun ‘family tradition’ because my younger sister also ended up graduating two years after me.

Continuing the trend of my family coincidentally all ending up at the same school, I found myself at Kansas State University for my freshman year of college and will be graduating next May leading me to my first year of teaching! I could not be more excited to start my career in education. I have made such an effort to gain experience in the classroom, maintain honors status in school, and enjoy every minute of the journey.

On top of being a student, I have taken steps and made an effort to participate in local, freelance modeling in Kansas City and Manhattan Kansas (where I attend school). I feel modeling and teaching have given me the confidence and skills to be a strong leader and positive example for my students and young people everywhere.

I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been a fairly smooth road?
I believe my life has gone exactly the way it was supposed to, and I wouldn’t go back and change a single thing or experience.

Was the road to where I am now bumpy at times, of course! I often find myself laughing at my life because of how reflective it can be of those silly “coming of age” movies and books I was obsessed with in high school. When prompted to recall growing up and my awkward phases in high school, I often cringe at how I used to conduct myself. (I mean, who doesn’t cringe just a little?).

Being 100% transparent to the many strangers on the internet who may or may not read this, growing up with really difficult inside my own head. I think this is how most people feel or felt at a time, but for others, those feelings seemed to subside faster than mine. I had a hard time feeling like I fit in amongst my peers until I got to college (still working on it too).

Those feelings really held me back when I was younger, as I often felt too insecure to pursue things I was interested in. Elementary school kids can be brutal when it comes to teasing and bullying. I look at myself today and criticize myself for the very things those rude kids teased me for many years ago. While I can take ‘teasing’ & ‘bullying’ much better as an adult, some words just never seem to settle.

If the mean girls weren’t enough in K-12, it didn’t get much better when I was in high school. Say what you want or call it ‘boys will be boys’ or even “he’s mean because he likes you,” I call it poor morals. As I’ve said before, some words you just can’t shake. The words that I couldn’t seem to shake came from the school that declares its students to be ‘men for others.

At the time every insecurity, I had in myself was brought to my attention through the eyes of another. When this was all being said to me, I was convinced there was something wrong with me, I believed those kids. And for the first time in my life, I genuinely hated most parts of myself.

Eventually, I got used to the bullying and felt like I didn’t belong in most social circles. Coming full circle with the “coming of age” film I painted my life to be, I love the idea of a fresh start in college. Attending a huge state school with a slim chance of running into too many people from my high school community, sign me up. I do believe those kids contributed to who I am today, and how present myself.

It’s ironic now as I’ve been actively freelance modeling for just a few months and have walked in one show of Kansas City Fashion Week for multiple designers in my first year auditioning. What makes it even funnier to me now is that one of my biggest insecurities has become one of my favorite parts about myself.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Just recently, one of my close friends started bringing me to shoots with her so I could ‘network’, meet photographers in the KC area, and see what a normal shoot day would look like.

Much to my surprise, she was bringing me so I could start practicing and be the one posing in front of the camera.

Since then, I’ve been sticking with it and making every attempt to gain the runway experience that I need.

Lucky for me I was able to walk for two designers in the S/S ’22 KCFW show this past April. The two designers I walked for were: Amanda Casarez & Michelle Morris (MPOWER)

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grace.c0leman/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100041125697986
• Other: https://vsco.co/gracec0leman/gallery