According to junior Alayna Haddock’s mom, Alayna’s just a normal bubbly girl, who happens to also walk in Kansas City Fashion Week.
Alayna’s mom Rissa Stein said her older son had gotten into modeling in his high school years, eventually after his son, so did her husband Keith Haddock so when Alayna was old enough it just made sense for her to try it out too.
Alayna said she hasn’t always been interested in modeling but her mom signed her up. She said, “I just kinda went with it and I just do it for fun, like as a hobby or something I’m not really devoted to it, but I am willing to put in the effort.”
Alayna’s mom said she expected it would stay a local career for Alayna, nothing more.
“It’s kinda like playing sports, it’s great to play soccer and you might be a really awesome Kansas City soccer player,” Rissa said, “but the likelihood that you’re ever going to make it into the pros is relatively slim so you do it to stay healthy, you do it to have fun, you do it to meet great people and modeling is really no different than playing a sport um so long as your expectations are realistic.”
Alayna recently switched to LSR7 Online Academy after two years of in-person learning at West. She said school has been consuming a lot of her time and Kansas City Fashion Week, KCFW, was a great way to get out and do something fun.
“I think she likes trying clothes on so that’s cool with modeling. You get to try things on you might not have thought of wearing. And you know nobodies charging you for it so that’s kinda neat. So far, it’s been a positive hobby for her,” Keith said.
Alayna’s dad Keith said that he enjoyed his experience modeling, especially since he too was just in it for fun. He said he may have even picked up a thing or two along the way.
“You know how you don’t look down, some people [have found they] have a better side than the other so I think the only valuable skill is better family photos. Cause I had no idea, when people took my pictures it never even entered my mind to do anything other than just stand there,” Keith said.
Rissa said Alayna fits well in the Kansas City modeling community because she is able to love and respect all people around her no matter their looks, ethnicity or body type; which is especially easy to do when you live in Kansas City where the network is fairly small but largely welcoming.
“If you watch Kansas City fashion week there’s all body sizes and all colors and so it’s very inclusive, it fosters the perception and the intention that all bodies and all people are beautiful,” Rissa said.
Alayna doesn’t fit the mold of big industry models as she hasn’t quite reached 5’10’’ at a height of 5’4’’ Stein said. “I don’t think anybody had any aspirations in moving to Milian or Paris … maybe if Alayna was six inches taller she would make more of a go of it, but yeah it’s just for fun. Something to build confidence if she gets a professional job it’s a little extra money … builds poise, builds confidence. Just something interesting and fun to do,” Rissa said.
“I would say it wastes my time, I enjoy doing it, it’s just so fun to do and to be a part of and participate in and I would love to continue doing it, but school has been taking a lot of my time so I’ll just see how it goes,” said Alayna.
Alayna said that she thinks that’s a good thing however, and everyone should have activities like that in their lives. “I feel like everybody needs to find something that can, you know, take them away from reality for a bit or just give them a break, because people can get so overwhelmed very easily, [it’s nice] just having [modeling] as a nice breather from busy life,” Alayna said.
