Heads turn immediately as she walks into the room.
Even in Los Angeles, a city that has seen its share of brazen
beauties, model Jacquelyn Quesada stands out. But it’s not
only her looks ““ her dark brown hair tucked loosely behind
her ears and a warm smile on her sculpted countenance ““ that
command attention: Quesada’s aspirations to be a venture
capitalist are as atypical as her looks.
Despite the promising glow of stardom, Quesada, on the advice of
her mentors ““ older models whom she met while globe-trotting
for fashion shows ““ vowed not to continue modeling
“One of the most intelligent women I have ever met is
Chantel, a model who, when I was 17, was just getting out of the
modeling business. She told me that you do not want to end up in
the situation where you depend on modeling or a man to support
you,” Quesada said. “She told me not to become like her
and most other models, and that I should go back to school because
I was too smart for this.”
And return to school Quesada did. The third-year political
science student and California native transferred to UCLA this fall
after attending several colleges along the East Coast.
Although she’s busy with the workload of being a student
at UCLA and holding down three different jobs, Quesada has managed
to survive unscathed with a 4.0 GPA.
However, she admits that her life is a far cry from a fairy
tale.
Quesada took a year off after high school to explore her
possibilities, including modeling, but in the process she lost many
of her high school friends, who took the typical route of going
straight to college.
“At 15, I had my future set: the girls I was going to live
with in my apartment for college, and the college I wanted to
attend, UCLA,” Quesada said. “Then, when I was
graduating from high school, Wilhelmina, my old (modeling) agency,
asked me to stay with them and live in a model’s apartment. I
could have done the same thing as my peers and go to the school
that everyone went to in Florida, but I chose not to. I took the
opportunity and lost my high school friends because they hated the
fact that I did not want to stick to the norm.”
Quesada’s year off allowed her to reside in South Beach
and travel to the Dominican Republic to model for Saks Fifth
Avenue, an experience she would never take back as it helped
strengthen her resolve to concentrate on what was important to her,
not her peers.
In an industry that places so much emphasis on looks, however,
Quesada understands that the pressure to be thin can be
dangerous.
One clothing company in New York even told her to take out a rib
to appear more slender, because she couldn’t get any
skinnier.
“It is demanded in this industry that you be thin,”
Quesada said. “A few years ago, I was (5-foot-10) and 110
pounds, and … that’s how people wanted me to be. It was
hard when I first started modeling, because I was just going
through puberty. I was just becoming a woman and had all these
demands placed on me.”
But Quesada does not plan on modeling forever.
The recent ban on ultra-skinny models with a Body Mass Index
(BMI) of less than 18 on the runways of Madrid signaled to her, as
well as to women who enjoy high fashion’s haute couture, that
modeling may be sending the wrong ideal of beauty to young women
““ even promoting eating disorders.
Therefore, Quesada says that her current job as a model and as a
spokesperson for Honda are only temporary.
Quesada is currently managed by NEXT, one of the biggest
modeling agencies in the world, which lists Alexandra Richards and
EstÄ“e Lauder’s “Beautiful” perfume campaign
model Anja Rubik in its vast clientele.
Quesada hopes that in a few years she will have a steady career
in either entertainment law or venture capitalism.
She currently works at a venture capitalist firm, SFW Holdings,
Inc., in Beverly Hills.
“I do what I have to do, and what I have to do in five
years does not include being a model,” Quesada said. “I
want to do entertainment law because I want to be involved in the
industry, but I would rather control the industry than be
controlled by it. I want to be a woman who is a major player in my
field, whether it be in law or venture capitalism.”
Although Quesada is a model, it is obvious that she knows that
“normal” is a model she will never fit, and she
relishes this idea.
“I take everything in moderation and never conform,”
Quesada said. “I moved across the country to express my
opinions and to learn from my mistakes.
“After all, you are what you go through.”