Today we’d like to introduce you to Neessam Moustafa.
Hi Neessam, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I started modeling when I was around 17 years old. My (now ex) boyfriend had gotten a camera and started shooting me. I realized how confident I felt behind the camera, but I never really took it seriously since I didn’t think I was “pretty” enough to model. From ages 17-18, I really built my confidence a lot. I went through some mental health struggles at the beginning of this year, and when I started on new medication and working on myself, my confidence skyrocketed. This year, another friend of mine got a camera and started shooting me, and I realized how good I am at posing and coming up with good concepts. Photographers began reaching out to me via Instagram and it all went from there. During my time in Morocco (My home country), my social media skyrocketed as I started posting travel content. This was when I began making fashion content on Instagram. When I came back, I spent the rest of the summer doing photoshoots, traveling to New York and the DMV area to work with photographers on building a portfolio. I also kept on being consistent with my content creation. My activities slowed down when school began. I became very unhappy with my major in Nuclear Medicine, and it was destroying my mental health because it was a lot of stress. I wasn’t passionate about studying medicine, I was only in it for the money. Eventually, I built up the courage to drop my major and began taking only one class for this semester. During this time, I had a lot of free time, so I got really into digital art and fashion design. I never had the money to go to fashion school, even though I still really want to, but it is fun learning on my own. I decided to work towards perfecting my craft during my semester off so that I could start my own fashion label. I joined the board of directors for the Delaware Art Society and met many like-minded people, which motivated me to keep pursuing my dreams. Currently, on DAS I work with photographers and creative directors, as well as modeling and styling for our publication. Art, modeling, and design make me happy, and I have never felt freer in my life. Currently, I sell my art and clothes at DAS events monthly.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I have had a lot of challenges with my mental health and productivity. I suffered from depression since I was young, but I have gotten treatment and feel a lot better now. I had to do a lot of work on myself and move towards things that make me happy, like modeling and art. I started journaling, reading philosophy, and using my art as an outlet to let things go. I have also had a lot of struggles with my social media content, I try to keep posting and stay consistent, but I get burnt out and sometimes don’t have the motivation to make more content. I have had a few videos and posts gain a lot of traction, but it’s very hard to keep going when you fail at it almost every day.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
So, I recently I have been focusing on digital art creation. I use Adobe Fresco, right now I mostly work with nudity and realism, sometimes emotional art. I am currently working on a collection of pieces called “decolonize” regarding decolonizing aspects of minority culture, beauty, and history, etc. Fashion wise recently I have been playing around with upcycling. I really want there to be a more sustainable fashion industry, so I want to start in my own closet by taking the clothes I don’t wear anymore to something I’d wear today. I was really big on modeling and content creation in the summer, but I have put those things a bit backwards and have mainly been focusing on just my art, fashion and digital. It is the only thing that brings me peace is creating.
In terms of your work and the industry, what are some of the changes you are expecting to see over the next five to ten years?
I think that the fashion industry is becoming more and more competitive. There are a lot of creatives out there, and with a rise in social media, marketing for large companies has become a lot easier because. This makes it hard to compete as a small designer. There is also a fast-paced trend environment going on right now, which makes it hard to keep up as trends are rising and falling faster than ever. This makes fast fashion more convenient because it is cheap and trendy clothing. This and the fact that these companies are stealing designs from smaller artists makes it very hard to compete. Most of these trends come from TikTok, but I don’t think that the app is bad because many designers gain a loyal following out of it which benefits their careers. Nowadays, if you want to get anywhere in life but don’t have proper funding, social media is key. As for modeling, the industry right now is great because there is much more inclusivity. You see all types of models from different ethnicities, sizes, races, and backgrounds. The only problem I am facing with the industry right now is my height. I want to walk in shows and go into runway modeling, but I am 5’4. Another New York model friend of mine that is my height told me I should start getting into commercial modeling, so I have started reaching out for castings.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/neesssam
- Other: linktr.ee/neessam
Image Credits
@slowmophotography999
@jrod_visuals
@qorxart
