MODEL, ENTREPRENEUR EMMA BROOKS MCALLISTER ON SPONTANEITY AND CREATIVITY

BY IRVIN RIVERA

PHOTOGRAPHER: IRVIN RIVERA, FASHION STYLIST: JORDAN GROSS, MAKE-UP ARTIST: KAYLI RACHELLE, HAIRSTYLIST: RACHEL LITA, PHOTO ASST: PHIL LIMPRASERTWONG

Being open and vulnerable under the limelight at such a young age and exposed to the constant chaos and noise of social media is not easy especially if you’re a rising creative who does a lot at the same time. Model, actress, entrepreneur and social media star EMMA BROOKS MCALLISTER is no stranger to the nuances of being in the spotlight. 

When A BOOK OF connected with her, she is preparing for a trip to another round of fashion week shows, she is taking care of the details of her skincare brand, she is learning more about acting and constantly keeping her mental health in check. 

In this exclusive interview, the rising creative talks about the importance of raising awareness regarding mental health and dealing with it, her creative process, dealing with imposter syndrome, social media, creative process, dream projects, and what keeps her grounded.

Hi Emma, how are you? Good to see you. Thank you for the time today. Really appreciate it.

Thank you for making time for me too.

I heard you're going to Fashion Week. How excited are you about it?

I'm really excited. I actually just got back from men’s (fashion week). And now we're about to leave for the next three weeks. And I'm really excited just because it's full of opportunities and there's so many moments. It's just really fun to travel and be with friends and just work.

So aside from traveling and work, and all these things that you're attending, what else is keeping you busy nowadays?

So besides all the fashion week stuff, I am also working on acting. I just signed to UTA so I've just been starting to study that craft and that area and learn at the current moment. I'm also helping develop a skincare brand called 'Our Science' with a wonderful team, and we're kind of just going through the phase with formulations and we're learning more. I'm learning so much at this moment. So I feel like in between all of that there's just a lot going on.

Do you love it? Do you thrive off it a lot when there's a lot going on?

Right now I really do. I think I've just been wanting this for so long. So now that I'm amidst the craziness of this world, it's just very fulfilling and motivating. And also, there's just so many things that have happened that I never really expected to happen or ever, like dreamed of. So it's just been very exciting. So I'm just on this motion right now and I'm really taking advantage of it.

It's amazing, because it's really quite incredible what you've accomplished so far, and all of these things that you're doing, and seeing you blossom in all of these endeavors that you do. It's really great. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. That means a lot to me.

Yeah, it's just nice to see you evolve. And speaking of evolution, tell us about your evolution throughout the years.

It feels like it's been a long time. I'm really young. So it hasn't been a while. I think where this all kind of began is when I was little. And I really looked up to Tyra Banks and this whole world. I grew up wanting to be a part of it. And in high school, I decided to do pageants. I was like 14, so it was the beginning of high school. And I spent the next four years doing that as a way for me to find a way out to Los Angeles. During that time, I dealt with a lot of mental health situations. So aside from the pageants and pursuing that, and learning more about mental health, and also incorporating that with pageants because you are supposed to have a platform and learning more about the small industry that I had a view of- and just myself as a person and my growth it led me to Los Angeles. This is like a very short summary. The rest has been history. I've been in LA for almost three years now and it's been wonderful. But yeah, I'm very grateful to be in a spot where I can kind of utilize my past for the future and hopefully talk about my past and have other people relate to it as well. Just like kind of pursuing what you love and also just dealing with mental health just as a whole.

A lot of people only see your front, right? The facade. Especially on social media, they only see what you post. And it's nice when you talk about these things on the back end and a lot of people don't realize that mental health is such an important thing, and how you also struggle and all those things. It's great that you're doing that.

Thank you. It's definitely an interesting space, and I want to be very genuine about it. Because I think only the whole point is to one, help with the stigma, but two,  just have someone know that they're not alone with their journey. Just because we've all been dealing with mental health, you know, we've all been dealing with it for such a long time. And it's just very important, I think.

It's great, it's great that you're providing a voice through your platform. It's really something that I admire from you. Now, talk to us about the challenges and the highs that you've experienced throughout your career so far.

So I'm diagnosed with bipolar disorder. And I think that the way that it kind of affects me sometimes is, especially now with working so hard, and like being a part of something so crazy, the highs have become really high. But that just means like the lows kind of become even worse, and they're very sporadic times. So dealing with that and learning how to deal with that, especially in the face of a lot of publicity, and a lot of online comments and trolls and things that are out of your control in your daily life- It's just something I've been learning as of recently how to kind of adapt and move on and live this life and learn how to be gracious for it and not get so consumed by so much negativity that is in your own mind that kind of makes it hard to have a positive outlook on whatever is happening in front of you.

But how did you manage to rise above these challenges that you experienced? What are the steps that you did to overcome it?

Honestly, I cry a lot. I cry, I feel it, I feel the emotions and it moves on pretty fast. Just because emotions can be fleeting, and especially just with how fast paced life can be sometimes and moving from one thing to the next. It's sometimes very overstimulating. So just kind of learning how to feel it in the moment. And be generous about it and change your perspective afterwards, and then kind of just move on.

You seem to be a very grounded person. Well, for me, based on my experience when I interacted with you, it was such a very genuine experience, hence we were able to create such amazing outputs because you're just giving and very grounded and open. So what keeps you grounded?

Something I think that's been helping me is reading. I read a lot, and I am yet to get good at reading more philosophical stuff,  and things that challenge your brain. My friend Arrington actually inspires me to do this more, but I love reading fiction because it's like a complete escape. And for some reason, sometimes it brings me back to earth like a little bit more whenever I read. So that is just one. That's my grounding practice. I love reading a lot. Very glad I discovered it again.

What's the last memorable book or piece of fiction that you've read?

I actually just finished my book today. It's the fourth book of A Court of Thorns and Roses series. It's actually a really great book. It's wonderful. I would recommend it to anybody. It's by Sarah J. Maas. It's kind of like a game of thrones-esque mixed with Twilight with a lot of world building. It's fun.

That sounds dope. It's like a nice little escape to be in that world. And imagine things and worlds. And speaking of that, what is your dream project? You’re super young and you have a lot more to accomplish but what is Emma's Dream Project?

Oh my God, that's such a broad question. Oh, wow. Um Oh, it's so hard to say.

So many things come to mind first, but I think just speaking to more of my inner child of what I looked up to, whenever I was younger. I think I just would love to be a successful, well respected model and creative in the industry. And wow, I'm so sorry. This is so hard like a dream project. 

I really want to do kind of what Taylor Jenkins Reid has done with her books with amazing fiction novels and have produced and created them. She has written scripts for movies from these great books. And shecurrently did that with Daisy Jones and the Six. So I think it's something more prevalent now. Being a part of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo would be a dream project for me. I would love to play Celia. I literally love Taylor Jenkins Reid and I wrote her an email one time telling her why I should play Celia in The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. So I think right now though, it'd be a current dream, just to be in a project to work with her on any movie.

Amazing. Put it out there and set the momentum. It's gonna happen.

It's gonna happen. We're manifesting.

So, I'm pretty sure you have your own creative process when you do things because you dabble in different things. So how's your creative process?

Whenever I create I feel like it's interesting. Okay, I think it varies because, for example, I just did a Blackbough swim collection. And the inspo for that collection actually came from a set of nails that I did for Coachella, because every single nail was different. And it was a kind of 70’s wallpaper. That's what I used for an example. And then I was like, I would love to fashion my swim line based on these nails. And so I feel like it kind of comes with just random things that are put in front of me. it's something that kind of sparks inspiration. I do it a lot. Whenever I create content, I'll create an initial video with no concept and then I'll look at the clips in front of me and see if I can form it to be something a little bit more and have a little bit more of a niche to it. So I think it just comes as I think. I have to look at something to get inspired by whatever content or creative thing that I have to do.

You mentioned nails, you mentioned the wallpaper. So is it basically like you see something beautiful, and then you get inspired by it and it snowballs from there?

Kind of. I mean, I just created a branded content for a YSL perfume and I created a video and I had no concept behind it, but then I just looked at the perfume bottle. And that kind of gave me the idea of what I wanted the video to be about. I feel like I just look at the product for a long time until a thought comes up. And then whenever it came to the swimline, it was nails. But even for whatever kind of content it is, for instance if it's fashion content, I'll look at the piece of clothing. Remember when we shot and I looked at that dress on, that's what kind of created that moment of Hollywood glamour and being kind of more pinup and you put up the light. It just comes with my sight. I guess I have to be focused on one thing. 

You find that focal point and then you move around it and create.

Yes, yes.

How do you mentally deal with your success? 

It does feel like impostor syndrome sometimes, I think. Because there are so many people in this world that go through so much. And there's so many people that work in this industry. And it just sometimes doesn't feel real. And it's an interesting feeling. I know, there's probably a lot of people in whatever industry that you are in, or whatever you do where impostor syndrome is a common theme. And so sometimes I try to prove to myself that I kind of deserve what I have. And I try to work really hard, and be very grateful. I try to show as much gratitude as I possibly can to everyone, and everything that's helped me get to where I am. I think that's a big thing. I'm really grateful. And sometimes that makes the imposter syndrome die down a little bit, because we're just very, very grateful. And I try to give back as much as I can.

In terms of that, I highly believe that you deserve the things you get. You know, every blessing that's coming your way, you deserve that. Let's get that impostor syndrome out of the way. What's a valuable lesson that you've learned throughout your life so far that you always carry with you?

Patience is a virtue, it is. Whether it's just like a moment in life, where you're going through a lot- there are a lot of moments where like, I just kind of wanted to stop. But just wait it out and work for the good in your personal and whatever aspect of your life. Just be patient and just keep doing good. Whatever is supposed to happen will happen..

Very nicely said. Final question. If you were a book, what book would it be and why? 

My god. I'm trying to think.

Honestly, Well, that book that I would strive to be is probably The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It is a story but it also makes philosophy a lot easier to read. And I would love to be a wise human and a story book just living life. It's beautiful. You get in high school. And that just never leaves. You know, it's a great book.