I’m Romany … Romany Suicide … I’m a Suicide Girl … an alt model and a weird person (laughter) … I’m from the south … south … suburbs of Chicago … south of the south suburbs … Crete … Kankakee … a little bit of Indiana … I’ve moved around a lot … I had a very unstable life … So I moved around a lot … I’ve had a lot of different roommates … Right now I live in Bourbonnais which is 65 miles south of here … a little bit over an hour … it’s not too bad though … When I was young … I was I was very imaginative when I was a child … so I drew a lot … I read a lot … I loved comics … I loved video games … I still do … There were a couple of things I wanted to be when I grew up … one of them of course was a veterinarian … because every little kid wants to be a veterinarian when they’re young … another one was a comic book artist because I loved comics … big on Candy X-Men fan … so … I’m a Marvel girl … Right around the age I hit eighteen was when i noticed that my drawing skills … art skills … kind of plateaued and I wasn’t really getting any better … I was also out of high school because I dropped out … I really didn’t have a lot going on … I didn’t have internet …. I really didn’t have any friends … I spent a lot of time in solitude … so I would just draw … and I was really discouraged when I realized I wasn’t getting any better … because I wasn’t getting exposure to … maybe an instructor … or good books that could help me grow and develop as an artist … I started modeling when I was eighteen … and my second photo-shoot was when I started doing nude shoots … I find nude shoots to be liberating … somewhat gratifying just because it’s natural and I can be me in my natural state … my mom used to walk around nude a lot when I was young so I don’t think nudity is such a big deal like other people do … My fashion sense when I was eighteen was very goth … pants with chains on them … fishnets … odd colored hair … dark makeup … black lipstick … band shirts … band hoodies … I still wear some of that stuff … not so much the pants and the chains … cause it’s kind of like … what’s the word … passé … I read Gothic Beauty magazine … I used to get that from Barnes and Noble … and I wanted to be on the cover … so badly … I haven’t gotten there yet but I still think some day I will … So yeah … I was a dark child (laughter) … When I was about sixteen was when a friend showed me Suicide Girls … maybe I was fifteen … but a friend showed me Suicide Girls … about the time that the site was created … and I thought it was amazing because I love Betty Paige and pin-up … women … beautiful woman … nudity … I was like … this is amazing … to me it wasn’t porn … it was more like modern pin-up … so I wanted to be a Suicide Girl from the time I was gifted or sixteen … but … throughout several relationships where the guys were kind of controlling … I quit modeling … I modeled on and off here and there … Then finally in 2012 is when I actually became a Suicide Girl … So that’s quite … quite a few years later … I think I was 25 at the time … so that’s ten years after discovering the site … and that being a huge future goal for me when I was younger to be a suicide Girl … and now I am … So … to get involved initially … I made a membership on the site to begin with … a paid membership … so I was a member at first … to see … to read the FAQ’s and see what the other girls did … see who in Chicago was a staff photographer that I could shoot with … that would give me a good chance at becoming an official Suicide Girl … then I did contact one of the staff photographers that resides in Chicago and he agreed to shoot me … I paid him I think 150 dollars … because I was a hopeful at that time … I wasn’t an official Suicide Girl … so they can charge what they want … We shot the set … I actually ended up hating that set … I think I’m really ugly in that set … I don’t like it at all … but … it made me a Suicide Girl … it was in member review for six days … that’s where members and staff vote on it … comment and have their say on how much they like it … So it was in member review for six days … then it was bought … and it was displayed on the front page of the site as set of the day … and then I was paid … my 500 dollars … which covered the photographers cost and all that … Now they do two sets of the day so that’s kind of cool … that’s double the chance of possibly getting your set bought … Yeah … I started off as a member … just to learn more about it … The headquarters are based out of Los Angelas … I’ve not been there … I don’t get to do a lot of traveling unfortunately … I’ve been to San Diego … but … that was before I was a Suicide Girl … and thats not near Los Angelas … Hopefully someday I would like to visit there … and meet the girls … some of the other girls that work there … But no … I don’t get to travel enough really … As far as other modeling … I started modeling when I was eighteen … I think I said that already … I made this profile on this website called I model.com … or something like that … and I just put some pictures up … and someone contacted me … someone whom I’m still good friends with to this day … We did our first shoot in Crown Point Indiana … in this covered bridge … and I was super dark and creepy goth girl … then nude shoots to me were just a natural thing … I jumped into that fearlessly … because … it just seemed natural … I didn’t have any reservations about it … Then I got into some long term relationships that were on and off … and the guys were … I don’t want you doing this … So I’ve been modeling on and off for thirteen years now all together … Now I’m back on because I have a supportive boyfriend and he’s not insecure like my ex’s … I’m just trying to do as much as I can … inspire people … express myself … a lot of it’s really an expressive outlet for me … even though a lot of the time … the concept might be the photographers … being involved with it helps me feel creatively gratified … just being able to create something … help someone create something … even if it’s naughty … nude photos … those could be fun too … I mean I do fashion … I’ve done foot modeling … I don’t do porn … but I’ve done erotic shots … I’ve done make-up shoots … I’ve modeled my hair for Vidal Sassoon in Chicago … they gave me a cut and a color and they took videos and photos … it was part of a master class hair show … I pretty much try to do any kind of modeling … except for bikini modeling I find to be very boring … beach shots … I think every model has done that … it’s very boring to me … I prefer to do more artistic … creative stuff … But depending on what the project is … if a photographer reaches out to me … I may or may not do it depending on just what it is … If it sounds boring to me … I’m just going to be liker … here’s my rates … If it sounds interesting … I’m not likely to charge … I wouldn’t have charged you … I have spent a lot of money this year just on outfits … lingerie … makeup … wigs … I had 2000 dollars in savings that I just blew … on stuff like that for photo-shoots … so … a lot of money I do make goes back into it … It’s kind of like … you just kind of sink or swim … and now … my style is all over the place … it’s whatever my mood is … there’s so many layers to me … I’m very multi-faceted … not to sound like I’m tooting my own horn … but … I really love 90’s alternative … grunge … and that whole look … obviously because I grew up in that decade … that generates … but I mean … depending on the day … if I’m going out … with my boyfriend … I could be wearing something very sophisticated … or … if I’m just not in that mood … I’ll were some pajamas … I don’t know (laughter) … It really all depends on my energy level and how much effort I’m willing to put forth into my look … on that day … and where we’re going … I guess I’m just a bit bi-polar … just a little … I find it very empowering to model … to be loved … to be looked … whether it’s nude … or something artsy and creative … it’s just all very empowering to me …I really like it … a lot of time I get a rush from it … I’m not conceded … but I love being loved … I love being liked … obviously … who doesn’t … but I wouldn’t say that I’m better then anyone … or that I’m hotter then anyone … or anything like that … But I do think it’s empowering … I’m very sex positive … female positive … I did work at a strip club for a few weeks … I liked it … it was easy work … I thought it was empowering … but there was an issue with my boyfriend so I quit … because some jerk-off who I was giving a lap dance to gave me a hickey … and of course … that’s not ok … and that was a big problem with my relationship … at the time it was a big fight … he was very worried for my safety … so I quit … If that hadn’t happened … maybe I’d still be working there … but … people think they can do anything they want with you … When you’re a woman … a lot of times … guys think they can just do whatever … and if you’re in some kind of trade like sex worker … stripper … whatever … maybe someone else let them do that … so they think they can do that with you … or treat you like that … or whatever … So there’s pros and cons to all of that stuff … modeling … whatever … I still find it to be empowering … but sometimes … there’s going to be that jerk off who does something … anywhere you work … whether your a cashier … a bus driver … whatever … somebody’s going to be an asshole … and try to scare up your day … because they feel privileged to … they have the privilege to do what they want … So I don’t think that it’s just a risk for woman in this trade … yeah … when I lived in Chicago near Loomis and Taylor … when I was 12 or 13 … I went to Washington Irving elementary school … and me and my friends … who was a grade younger then me would walk to this pizza place that her dad worked at … and then we would carpool … cause he lived … right next to me … And this guy at the pizza place … he would make these gesture at me … gesturing at my breasts … that I barely had when I was 13 … making me very uncomfortable … so it’s like … even as a child … a female isn’t safe from that … unfortunately … so there’s always that risk … and my boyfriend being very well aware of that is always trying to make sure I’m safe … and make sure I’m on my feet incase something where to happen … He’s very conscious of … of a lot of that stuff … probably because he’s a man … and he know’s how a lot of men think … As far as feedback … the media platforms I use … mainly … right now … Instagram books me a lot of shoots … The demographics for my followers are 92% male … between the ages of 25 and 34 … 8% female … I don’t really get negative comments … I don’t  know if i have … I don’t remember if I have certain words blocked … but I haven’t had really any bad experiences online where I’ve been slut shamed for my modeling … or even attacked verbally by feminists that think I’m objectifying myself … or being objectified … or whatever … It’s usually positive responses from men … they don’t usually take it too far … it’s usually … their comments are usually fine … So I haven’t had that bullying too much … I mean … we’ve all been bullied a little bit online … but I haven’t had it too much … Maybe I’m just not out there  enough … I don’t know … As far as how the #MeToo movement has effected me … not so much with my modeling persona … sometimes … on my personal Facebook … some of my more conservative guy friends will post stuff like the HimToo movement … you know like … “bad stuff happens to men too … it’s not just woman … it’s not all men” … you know … that kind of stuff … If they really feel they have to say not all men … then they must think that we’re talking about them specifically … as opposed to a patriarchy or a generalized group or a majority of people who are doing these things … but no … I haven’t really noticed so much strife … I haven’t had so many issues … with it … I just get into arguments with people on my personal Facebook usually … then I get banned for 30 days … or something (laughter) … because I post a nipple or something just to piss people off (laughter) … I don’t know … I can be an asshole sometimes … I think it’s funny … people are so offended by a nipple … Experiences … I’ve had a lot of good experiences modeling … a lot of time it comes down to who I’m working with … how creative the shoot is … how much can I express myself in the shoot … If it’s a boudoir shoot … which I do plenty of … I like them … I don’t mind them … there not the most creative … there not always the most interesting … but I do them … I do them well … Just being able to express myself … like here today … I think has been wonderful … being able to wear the clothes … the wacky clothes I’m in the mood to wear … stuff like this instead of someone having a specific idea in mind … I want you to wear this … and do your makeup like this … stuff like that … So … I can’t necessarily think of a specific instance … I’m good friends with quite a few photographers I’ve worked with … I’ve become good friends with a lot of them over the years … I’ve developed great friendships with great people … It’s been a fun thing for me … As far as social media … I think a lot of people started off on Myspace or Model Mayhem … Obviously … those have really … Myspace is dead … and Model Mayhem has been dying for a while … Yeah … In the begging I did get a lot of shoots through model Mayhem … but … sometimes certain networking sites just have a shelf life … right now … I book the most through Instagram … because generally it’s a photo … or … media website … where people can post their art … their photos … their drawings … or whatever … so it’s easier to connect with people that way … I think … because you can just hit the home button or whatever … and it shows you a feed of something that someone did recently … It seems like the easiest way … It works great for me … that’s pretty much all I use now … Instagram … I thought that was kind of weird … a few years ago I would have been … no … but that is what I do now … Instagram … that’s where I get the most shoots … and followers … It’s given me some success … As far as followers … I like other models too … so … I like keeping track of what other models are doing … because I enjoy … seeing what other models are doing … also … sometimes … I’ll see a fantastic photo that someone posts … and I’ll be like well who shot that … and then I’ll follow the person … I don’t know if that’s frowned upon … sometimes I just creep other girls pages just to find photographers they’ve worked with if they’re good … or artists … maybe that sounds a little weaselly (laughter) don’t tell any one I said that … you can put that in the interview … I’m joking … I think I started off on Instagram by following people that I knew from Model Mayhem … names like … of course like you … I saw your work originally on Model Mayhem … so when I found you on Instagram … I was like … wow …awesome … you hadn’t posted too much … so I was a little sad … I was like … oh … maybe he’s just not doing anything … It seems like if people aren’t on Instagram at all these days … then they’re not doing anything … because its kind of like the go to now … even for bands … bands have their pages … I guess a lot of people use Twitter … but I’m just not down with Twitter … I don’t get it … I don’t really get Twitter … I have one … I really don’t know how to use it very well … I don’t like it … maybe I’m too old for Twitter (laughter) … so I stick to Instagram … that’s a good platform for growth … that’s how I grow my fanbase … that’s how I market myself as a product … in so many words … and it’s the most convenient way to do that   … and it’s free … so … that’s what I use … I’m an Instagram’er I guess … Right now … I’m at 11.5 thousand followers … At the beginning of this … well … it’s modest … At the beginning of this year I started off with 1400 followers that I had just collected over the years … I wasn’t really posting too much … due to those relationships I was in … So it took me all year to go from 1400 to 11,000 … I’m not sure how other girls do it … some of them have 56,000 … 230,000 followers … and I guess I’m just not the best at networking … but … but i think 11,000 is pretty good for me … and I’m going to continue to grow that … network … and market myself … and try to get myself out there … For me … the amount of people I follow … I try to keep it at 666 (laughter) … that’s the goth in me … I’m still goth … I’m still O -G goth (laughter) … even if I’m wearing different colors now … I’m still that crazy little high school goth girl … 666 people I follow on Instagram … sometimes I will follow someone because I forget … I’m like … Oh My God … I have to follow this person … and then I see that the number has changed to 667 … and I’m … oh … I’ve got to un-follow somebody … and there’s people that followed me years ago that are not active anymore … so I just un-follow one of them … It’s something dumb … but it’s just something funny I like to do … I find it to be ironic … because I’m like an atheist … basically … So … Yeah … navigating the site … 11,000 people follow me … but the notification only show you so many things … so many likes or comments … As far as interactions … I don’t get 5000 comments on a picture … or anything like that … not yet at least … as far as the most likes i’ve gotten … maybe something over 1000 … but … 11,000 people … they don’t always see all your stuff … because they’re following maybe 4000 people too … It’s just kind of like … you don’t always get your stuff seen … even though you might have that many followers … I really need to get better at networking actually … I kind of suck at it … but I’m just to lazy to … I already invest so much time into it … and I’m too lazy to do the whole twitter thing … As far as future goals … I would really like to be … um … I need more tattoos … I’m an alt model … I love tattoos … I’m working on getting more … but I would like to be featured … in a tattoo magazine … Inked … I’m not sure if that’s still running … Inked Girls … Inked Women … but that kind of runs hand in hand with Suicide Girls … being an alt modeling site … One of my favorite photographers … Jeffry Scott … who also goes by 10-19 … he was living in Las Vegas … we connected on Instagram … and became friends … and he said he’d love to work with me … but … I haven’t had the chance to get to Vegas … and then I think he moved … so … I would really like to work with him because he creates these really interesting … surreal … digitally manipulated photographs that are just super cool … Ultimately … I don’t really know if I have long term goals … I just kind of go with things … I just go with the flow … life takes me wherever … I guess it’s kind of like a bad thing … maybe I should have long term goals … maybe i would have a PHD now if I did … but my brain doesn’t work that way … it just doesn’t … I can’t commit to a lot of things like college and stuff like that … Due to some stuff that happened when I was a child … I think it’s very hard for me to create long term goals … because of loses I experienced when I was young … It’s hard to have long term goals … when … there’s always that fear that … you’re going to lose something … that you put yourself into … or someone … that you love … So … I just go with the flow … some might think that’s kind of lackadaisical … but … I’m kind of a slacker I guess (laughter)… It’s just me … Places I’d like to visit … yeah … there’s tons … Japan … Bali … Belize … anywhere really … anywhere that isn’t here (laughter) … anywhere that doesn’t have cornfields … but yeah … Japan … that would be … that would be my number one … Shinjuku … Tokyo … and then some of the more rural areas of Japan … where there are temples … and … all of Japan … One of the greatest experiences of my life was going skydiving … I went last year … I was afraid of heights … I had a gift certificate I bought my ex for his birthday … and when I left him I took it with … So … this gift certificate had an expiration date … and I had to use it or I was out 200 bucks … because it came with a photo package … I worked up the nerve … and I went skydiving … and I jumped out of a helix outer at 10,000 feet … It was tandem … I had an instructor strapped to my back … and everything … but it was the most amazing experience … I have ever felt … its such an indescribable thing … and I highly recommend it to anyone and everyone that physically can go … skydiving … because … it was like a cathartic … religious experience … I do plan on going many times over the years … If there’s any advice I could give anyone … is to go skydiving … just do it … it’s the best thing ever …