Today we’d like to introduce you to Mikela Huston.
Hi Mikela, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
Growing up, I lived in Columbia, MO. I was thicker than most young girls my age and tall as well so a lot of the ladies in my family would speak on my body. Anything I wore was too revealing or too tight to be around older men. I can remember words like “Big Cowboy” and “get the panties out your butt.” As I got older, I started to wear loose clothing to hide my growing body. So, I started dressing in sweats and started being a Tomboy. My outlet for my body shaming was writing at the time.
When I moved to Kansas City, KS I joined my school and church choir at the time. Now, I was still thick and I knew that so, I would still wear basketball shorts and a fitted t-shirt. When I started going to church, I realized I was getting the same stares that I got as a kid in Columbia, I didn’t let that bother me I knew why I wanted to come to church. It got to the point that I couldn’t even speak to people or men in church without someone thinking I was trying to flirt with them. I ignored the talks and to release the anger I started playing basketball and track and field.
My body formed more of an athletic look but I still had curves they weren’t going anywhere. After I graduated high school, I still had the Tomboy look in a way and I still wasn’t sure of my body. I kept the workouts going even after high school. In 2013, I would welcome my first child my son Jaquez, after I had Jah’Quese I still had the same athletic body only this time a few pounds of baby fat as well, I wasn’t happy about my body at all, so I started fasting and I started to eat less and eventually I gave up eating meat altogether.
When I started to lose weight after using Apple cider vinegar for a year I lost so much weight that the same people that body-shamed me for being thick were now body-shaming me for being too skinny, people who haven’t seen me would think I was sick or on drugs. I could remember one time watching America’s Next Top Model with Tyra and seeing Toccara model she had curves and was very confident in her body, I started to follow in her confidence, in 2015, I would do my first photoshoot. I battled up and down with my weight the entire time and stress was not my friend.
I was joggling being a newly single parent to a toddler, working as a shift lead at Taco Bell, and paying for photoshoots at the same time. I then developed a skin condition and let my model rep know. She thought it was contagious so she ended the contract and I was left without a portfolio. Still keeping That inspiration from America’s Next Top Model, I dived back into modeling and I didn’t give up. I wasn’t getting paid but this was helping me stay sane and helping me lift my own spirit.
Today, I have new confidence about myself some would say it’s vain or cocky but if you went through what I went through you would pay me on the back and say keep grinding. So, I did just that I kept grinding. Every year I would have a photoshoot for my birthday to build my confidence. I would like to remind other little girls that are thick and curvy to live their bodies as it was made perfect the way it is!
And that it’s ok to love people from a distance even if they don’t see your body as normal. I can honestly say I look in the mirror these days and smile with all my imperfections because that’s who I am. I had to learn to love myself all over again. I wouldn’t take back what I went through that’s what made me who I am today! Fierce, humble, someone who gives respect and would love it in return.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
On my road to modeling, I struggled with my weight and skin in my early 20s, I would wonder if I was even doing the right thing or if I should just stop. Every time I turned around I was planning for a photoshoot to help build my confidence.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have been modeling since 2015, I like to create photoshoots that help me with learning how to love my body and my flaws. I’m not sure what I am known for but in the future, I would like people to know me for a woman that never seen quitting as an option in anything.
A woman that isn’t perfect but she was perfectly made by her creator. A woman that likes to build others up and remind them who they are or where they are headed. I am most proud of the fact that I never quit I may have stopped or slowed down and went back to the drawing board but I never quit!
What sets me apart from others besides these two locs is, I’ve seen myself big, small while being curvy and learned to embrace myself at any weight gain or loss. I am still Kae Nicole. No one can take that from me.
What do you like best about our city? What do you like least?
What I like best and Kansas City, MO are the connections I have made and the connections I plan on making in the future.
What I like least about Kansas City, MO is that you don’t get as much support from anyone if you didn’t grow up with them. I mean I get it. That’s why I just kept grinding and learning how to stay consistent.
Contact Info:
- Email: Kaenicole218@gmail.com
- Instagram: @iamkaenicole_
- Facebook: Kae Nicole
Image Credits
Adrian Munoz, Tj TheMan, Jerome W. Hutchinson SR., and @iamkaenicole_
