#profile interview

How long have you been actively creating content?

I’ve only been actively creating content for about 8 months.

Where are you originally from and how long have you called Miami your home?

I moved to the US from Poland actually! I grew up on a small farm just about 15 minutes away from the border of Slovakia then my mother and I moved to New York. Miami has been my home for a year and a half. I live out of my suitcase pretty much between NYC, Miami, and LA.

Where is your favorite place in Miami to take visiting friends?

Haha, please do not judge me on this one but this place called E11EVEN. I love to take my friends out dancing and to have fun to fun music and that place provides that. It’s a 24-hour burlesque show/club place. For a good dinner, I take them to Katsuya. They have amazing appetizers and dinner menu that’s not through the roof prices.

What are some of your favorite local brands/businesses that you worked with?

Local brands that I worked with would be Military Hippie! They’re a super fun, girly brand based out of Del Rey Beach! This one is not really local, but it took place in Miami. Walking for the D&G fashion show. That was AMAZING. Also, the brand Maxime. We shot in Virginia Key for a few days so that was local but not really a local brand.

What would you say is your favorite part about working in the fashion industry?

My favorite part about working in the industry is constantly meeting new people. Every job I book or photoshoot, I’m surrounded by new creatives and I personally love it because I develop a lot of valuable friendships that way. Whether it be with another fashion model, photographer or stylist.

How can local businesses gain more exposure on social media?

Giveaways at a store’s location under the condition that the person who gets the give away posts on their Instagram and tags the company. That’s the best way I’ve found. If you’re at a store, people are wanting to come in and meet you and see what the giveaway is about. It’s not only good pr for the store, but you get to connect with people face to face, then later on social media.

Tell us your biggest challenge as a content creator?

My biggest challenge as a content creator is to constantly get new content. It’s time-consuming. Organizing a photoshoot or a video shoot takes a lot of effort and time. You put in all these hours and you can maybe do 2-3 posts for the photos and 1 post for the video. So definitely coming up with creative ideas & getting big brands to collaborate on these ideas is a challenge.

How can other content creators better engage their audience?

Honestly, post funny memes of yourself and your friends. Let us get to know the real you. It helps. We’re all human at the end of the day and if someone can relate to you, or get an idea that you are not this “famous unreachable person,” they will spread the word & keep coming back.

Who is your biggest inspiration?

I have two. My father is one and the other is a friend of mine from college. Both of them show me that anything in life is possible. Whether you want to be a fashion model, a lawyer, a day trader or an owner of a business. If you really believe in something, go after it. Don’t take no for an answer, fight for what you believe in and want. Finding a passion, and performing it every day, that’s living.

You’ve done TONS of photoshoots, but which one has stood out to you the most?

The photoshoot that stood out the most to me was actually a recent one I just shot in NYC with Jeff Kravitz. I’ve never clicked so well with a photographer as I did with him. We’re already planning our next shoots and projects! Also the photos we captured that day were phenomenal.

Tell us your strongest skill?

My strongest skill would be that I’m very outgoing and I can connect with people very easily. I’m like a chameleon! Give me a shy person, we’ll be friends in 5 minutes. Give me a party animal, we’ll be taking shots in 3.

Out of all the books you’ve read, which one left the biggest mark?

The book that has the biggest impact on my life is “The Intelligent Investor” by Benjamin Grahm. Some might think it’s boring but it has a ton of useful information about investing wisely.

What equipment do you use?

I use a Nikon camera D3400, my iPhone 8 plus & natural light (can’t beat it).

Top 5 apps

INSTAGRAM! Rated number one haha

SPOTIFY

THINK OR SWIM

GOOGLE MAPS

UBER

As a fashion model, have you run into any roadblocks with people listening to you talk about things like the stock market or investing?

No, honestly I haven’t. I’m sure people are skeptical at first but when the conversation gets rolling and they realize I actually have a pretty good understanding and knowledge of the market in general, their opinions change. I think, I don’t know, maybe they are being nice!

With the rapid integration of technology into fashion, where do you think the industry will be in 20 years?

I think everything about it will be digital. I also think it will be easier to work as a fashion model due to platforms such as Instagram and various apps that already exist for models to book jobs on their own without a need for agencies per se. It’s already happening!

Anything else you are currently working on that you would like to share?

I’m in the process of creating and developing a website along with a few social media accounts to educate models on how to invest their money in the stock market.

I’m a working fashion model myself and I quickly realized that there are months where you work non stop & then there are weeks & months where you don’t have any jobs. But you have to eat and pay bills right? Being a full-time model makes it hard to get a regular 9-5 job because you have to be available all the time. You never know your schedule.

The Albany All Stars Roller Derby Team has been active since 2006 when it only had six members. Today it has just over 50. The team consists entirely of women aged 21 to 50.

The Albany All Stars league. Photo courtesy of the Albany All Stars website.

The basics of the game go like this: Each playing team has five players on the rink: one jammer (scores points by passing opposing team members around the rink), three blockers (block opposing team members from getting ahead of them) and one pivot (may be designated as a jammer during the course of a jam; establishes team strategy). The play time is divided into two 30-minute periods and a halftime.

The team members of the Albany All Stars are a diverse group of women. They have day jobs that range from social workers and nurses to teachers and Etsy shop owners. The common denominator is their love for roller derby.

“You join the league and it’s instant 50 sisters,” said Ace. “On top of being a team, we become friends. It’s an extended family.”

Ace calls Trauma one of her best friends. The women have known each other for nearly the entire time they’ve been with the All Stars. Ace is a nanny by day and a coach and skater by night. She attended her first bout, a.k.a game, four years ago at The Armory and instantly fell in love with the sport. She joined the team soon after. Trauma remembers having birthday parties at roller rinks. She’s been skating since childhood and joined the All Stars in early 2011.

Not only is being on the team purely voluntary but members actually pay monthly dues to be part of the league. Roller derby is not just a hobby. It’s a real sport with game rules, a board of directors, national championships and even its own association, theWomen’s Flat Track Derby Association (WFTDA). The All Stars will soon be part of the association as soon as they finish their apprentice “trial period” to prove that their team is capable of maintaining a league under WFTDA rules.

Unlike roller derby in the 60’s and 70’s which was all staged, today skaters can get serious injuries on the track. Bruises, sprains and broken bones are old news to these tough women.

“We’re all a little bit Type A,” said Trauma. “I think you have to be in order to deal with the rigors of the sport because it’s hard, it’s really hard. You have to be motivated and passionate and intense because it’s an intense game.”

Even if a skater gets hurt, she tries to recover while still being part of the team. Each member is required to be part of a committee whether that means being on the board of directors, doing public relations, running social media, selling tickets, or manning the merchandise table on game nights. The skaters are the league, there are no outside sources.

“If you’re not skating, you’re working,” said Ace.

Short film: Albany All Stars Roller Derby from Gregory Wilson on Vimeo.

A lot of hard work goes into this sport even outside of the rink. The girl all have their own work out routines to keep in shape. They do yoga, CrossFit and running. The team also has five coaches whose job it is to keep up with derby strategies and rule changes. Ace is a coach this year and she spends a few hours every day responding to emails, watching archived and live streams of games and even traveling to see bouts.

“We have 50 plus girls in the league,” said Ace. “The coaches have to know all of their strengths, their weaknesses. We have to be up on the current strategies of derby, plan practices, meetings, emails. It’s very draining on your personal life.”

The sport can be overwhelming, especially for new skaters. It takes an average skater about three to six months to adjust her body to the physical toll that roller derby can have on her body.

“This is one of the few sports were you have to play offensively and defensively, sometimes at the same time…on wheels…with other people hitting you,” said Trauma. “But it’s crazy what love and passion will let you do. If we didn’t enjoy it, none of us would be here.”

The Albany All Stars league logo. Photo courtesy of the Albany All Stars Facebook page.

Their passion is evident on game nights when they leave their sweat, tears and blood on the track. The fans can see that and appreciate it.

Trauma said the two most common comments after people see roller derby for the first time are “Oh my God, you have to be really good on skates to do this” and “Oh my God, that’s really hard. I thought you guys just punched each other.”

Roller derby is not for the weak. While it can be a brutal sport, it’s also a lot of fun to play and to watch.

“You don’t realize how much of a sport it is,” said Ace. “I think the girls in fishnets getting hit is what draws the people in and the game plan, strategy and the finesse of the skaters is what keeps them here.”

Ace and Trauma said the fans are a huge part of our league. Audience turnout can vary from 400 to 1,500 people. Winter days are the most crowded when The Armory can provide a warm environment and an entertaining show.

Trauma likes the variety that roller derby brings to Albany’s sports scene.

“It also brings the women factor into it,” she said. “There aren’t many sports where you get to see only women playing something.”