This is what made me.

   Hey y'all. My name is Makaela Reve Heard. Born October 29th, 1994 at 8:03am in New Braunfels Texas. I was blessed with a loving mother and father. My family is my life. I love my siblings Miranda, Maylea, Darion, Cheyanne, and my fathers latest addition Serena. Around the age of 8 my parents split up. I was living with my mom, Miranda, Maylea, and Darion. We grew up in poverty and it was difficult times. But we all had each other and there was so much love between us. Our bond is strong. There were days when we didn't know what we were going to eat, and there were days when my mom didn't know if she was going to be able to pay the electricity bill. But mama always made a way for us. Life balanced itself out because I was always surrounded by amazing friends, love, and support.

   I was blessed to attend amazing schools where I was one out of three black people. Haha okay there was like ten of us. Hahaha so tragic. I never really knew who I wanted to be growing up. I just always knew I wanted to do great things and make a change in the world. I always felt I had a bigger purpose in this life. One thing I knew for sure was that I wanted to go to college. I wanted to play basketball when I was young so my parents put me in a little league. In high school I played basketball my freshman year, and I ran track all four years. I was fast. My long ass legs took me far. I ran hurdles, the 400m dash, and the mile relay. Track was so fun. I know for a fact that if I would have taken it more seriously and would have eaten a better diet, I would have been in the Olympics or some shit. My senior year, my passion for track faded and thoughts of my future began flooding my mind.

   I had an off period in the mornings, but I didn't have a car so I would catch the bus and chill in the library. I used that time to speak with the college counselor my school had and I would apply for college. I was in her office every morning for about a week. She was cool enough to waive my application fees because they were expensive as fuck. $60 per application? The system does not want colored people to prosper. For real though. I applied to three schools and got accepted to Oklahoma State University and Texas State University. My mom had no idea I was doing all of this so when I told her I was going to Texas State she was so happy. She was so excited for me. I was going to be the first in my family to attend college. I chose TXST because I wasn't ready to be away from my family and I only applied to OSU for my boyfriend at the time. LOL. Thank God he swayed me to stay in Texas!


   College was the most fun I ever had in my life. I spent the summer after my sophomore year, junior year, and senior year of high school busting my ass working at McDonald's. I would go to school, track practice, then go straight to work until 10pm. On the weekends I worked 8 hours from 12-8pm. Thankfully in college I didn't have to work much during school because school itself was a full time job. I would work whenever I was in desperate need of money and I worked during the summers 9 hours a day. College was my time to make new friends (yay black friends), live in dorms, wild out in the clubs every weekend, learn my lessons with fuck boys, experience the roommate life in my first apartment, learn, just enjoy myself and figure out who the fuck I was.

   My sophmore year of college, I decided to major in Sociology and minor in psychology. I was finally discovering who I was. I loved psychology because that is just my Scorpio nature. I love to understand and analyze the minds of others and their reasoning behind their actions. Also because i'm intuitive as fuck. (call me psychic hehe). Sociology was the perfect major for me because it helped me to better understand who I was, and to better understand the conditions I endured growing up. I understood that I live in a society that is set up to set me back from the moment I was born. I better understood the racist conditions I grew up in with the other 10 black people in my hometown. Living in the South, racism is everywhere. Those racist fuckers called me Nigger at times I almost thought that was my middle name or something. But the biggest realization I had was how blessed I was to come from poverty, and to be sitting in the classrooms at TXST university. I was the first in my family to go to school and I didn't take that lightly. I had beat the odds that worked against me. In sociology they say if you're born in the lower class you're most likely to stay there. I was on my way to the middle class. Entering a whole different tax bracket. LOL. WHAT?! I began to understand how powerful I was.


   In college I began modeling my freshman year as my creative outlet. Growing up I always heard "omg you should be a model" and my dad would always tell me "Someone just needs to see my baby." When I was 16 I was scouted at a Justin Bieber concert when I went by myself. (I was obsessed obviously). She was a Ford Models scout, and at that time with the conditions I was living in I just didn't think it was possible so I didn't take it serious. My freshman year my soul really began speaking to me and I was so inspired to be a supermodel. After my first photo shoot ever, I saw the outcome and everyone else did too. Photographers began hitting me up left and right to shoot. I would style myself and do my own make up for every shoot. After gaining experience after a few years behind the camera, I began to take myself more serious. Especially after a shoot I did that went viral on Tumblr and Twitter I thought "God, everyone else can see this in me, I know I can make this my profession. I can be a supermodel."


   The first thing I knew was that I wanted to be with the best of the best. I wanted to be with Wilhelmina Models. So I wrote it down in my first manifestation journal and I made it my goal. I didn't know how my dreams would come about, but I believed in myself.


   My friends Ariel, Shyenne, and I wanted to visit LA for spring break during my junjor year of college since Shyenne was from LA. It was great because we stayed with her grandma and didn't have to pay for a hotel hehe. My boyfriend at the time was also getting out of the Army and was moving to LA with his best friends to pursue his passion for photography. He wasn't supposed to get out until April, but the Divine set it up to where he got out early and happened to move there the day after I got to LA with my best friends. He told me Wilhelmina was having open calls Tuesdays and Thursdays so I went in on a Tuesday. Crazy because the night before I tried psychedelics for the first time and I almost didn't go to the open call the next day. But that night, I had so many epiphanies and actualization's about myself and who I was it was SO intense. WE WAS TRIPPY MANE hahaha. But I said "NO this is MY time, MY dream." I got my ass together and I went. I had my portfolio ready with all of the work I had put in over those few years. My actions aligned with my intentions. Finally, I was making the big move to make my dreams come true.

 

   When I walked in I was so nervous. But luckily the woman hosting the open call had the same name as me, just spelled a different way. Mikaela. I thought "OH MY GAH, THANK YOU GOD SHE'S GONNA REMEMBER ME!" I came prepared. I had my portfolio, the names of the people I worked with and I let her know the experiences I had with modeling. I felt confident. That same day I got an email from someone at the agency saying "Hello Makaela, I saw you at open call today and would love to set up a meeting with you. It was mentioned you live in Texas." Something of that nature was said, I was SO happy. But I was leaving back to Texas in a few days and I had to let them know. I went back and was hitting them up for three weeks waiting on them to give me a call, but they kept pushing me to the side. I was emailing them and calling them often. I wasn't giving up. I was growing impatient. But I was going back to LA to visit my boyfriend and one morning a voice (an angel) in my head told me "Why don't you let them know you are coming back so you can set up a meeting with them." I acted instantly and got an instant response. FINALLY I was going to have a meeting with them!


   It was April 8th, 2016 when I met with Wilhelmina. I was so nervous and I told myself "Remember Makaela there are many other agencies out there they aren't the only one." Half way through the meeting my armpits were sweating like crazy as he discussed his concerns with me. My hips were the maximum size, I lived in Texas, and had a year of college left. At that moment I thought "They don't want to sign me." He told me the rest of the team wanted to meet me. Ali came in and was like "OMG I love your personality! *Looks at my long acrylics* have you thought about getting shorter nails?" ahhhahaha I love her. Then I met Steve and we talked and he asked me if I could sing (I don't know why I said no cause Beyonce is my spirit animal.) LOL. They left the room for a moment and came back. Then Steve told me "we'd love to represent you!" I was in shock. Honestly it was overwhelming because it's like I knew it would happen. I wrote it down, believed it, took action, and God gave me what I deserved. I am so thankful after coming from poverty, working at McDonalds for five years, and being the first in my family to attend school. I knew I was worthy of living my dreams. The journey doesn't stop there. So much has happened since the moment I put that pen to the modeling contract. I've had many victories, tragedies, and obstacles. I have dealt with depression and learning how to live thousands of miles away from my family and friends love and support. I can't wait to share my story with you all and I hope that you all can get to know me better through my story. A lot of times I feel so misunderstood and I feel like the best way I can express myself is through my passion, writing. I have so much more to tell y'all about this journey if you can just hang on tight. I'll make you laugh, smile, and i'll even make you cry. Most of all I pray that I can inspire you to find your life path and tend to your calling. I hope you guys can stick with me through this journey. More stories to come. Love and Light, peace and blessings.

Namaste,

Makaela Reve Heard