All my life I was told I should be a model.  I wasn’t athletic, so when a local modeling school hosted a class for girls, my mother enrolled me.  At eight years old, I discovered a place where I could shine:  fashion shows, photo shoots, and TV commercials.  At seventeen, I signed with the Nina Blanchard Agency of Los Angeles, who named me “The Face of the 90’s” and sent me to Europe.  During the next four years, while attending college at USC, I did TV commercials for Oil of O’lay, Mercedez Benz, and Coca-cola; appeared in Vogue, Elle, Glamour, and Seventeen; and modeled throughout the U.S., Europe, and Australia.  


I grew up fast, in a world obsessed with outward appearance.  My job was to “look good.”   But living on my own in Europe as a teenager proved dangerous.  Despite the fashion campaigns I did for the shop windows of Paris, I was grabbed, followed, and spat upon in that city.  I began using drugs, while appearing in bridal magazines and TV ads across Greece and Australia.  While struggling with the notion that my job was my flesh, I posed for magazines and catalogues, and learned to wear a mask.


Just because it looked good on the outside didn’t mean it was good.  But after graduating college, I signed with FORD Models New York and moved to Milan to do the runway.  Like many times before, I denied the sexual advances of clients and photographers, fighting to protect myself from the notion that I was just a “thing.” They loved the models when we looked perfect and did what they wanted, but when we didn’t, they moved on to another girl.  I saw what the beauty business did to models behind the scenes and how they suffered from eating disorders, drug abuse, and sexual indiscretions that derailed their self-image. 
In Milan, I walked the runway for Giorgio Armani and worked for major designers.  But the emptiness of my life caught up with me.  I suffered from anorexia, having starved myself for the shows; my skin broke out; and a dark hollowness began to encircle my once lustrous eyes.  


Having also been taken advantage of by a photographer, I lost the favor of the men in the business.  It was then that I began to pray for love.  Shortly thereafter, I met some people who shared Christ with me.  Reading the Bible for the first time, I discovered a God who saw behind my mask and offered me real love that “men, mirrors, and magazines” could never give me.  I left the modeling business for this one reason:  God saw my heart and said that it was enough.
Today, I speak at women’s and girls’ conferences, sharing how God sees beauty from the “Inside Out.”  In Him, we find our value does not fade with time; instead, it gets infinitely brighter.  


Jennifer Strickland is a wife, mother, speaker, and author of Girl Perfect: Confessions of a Former Runway Model.  Her ministry is devoted to events, resources, and mentoring that re-align women and girls with their God-given value.  Find out more at www.jenniferstrickland.net. 
Jennifer will be speaking at the Inside Out conference for junior high and high school girls April 8th and 9th in Fort Worth, TX.  To register for this invaluable experience, go to www.insideoutinc.org. 

TIPS FOR TEEN GIRLS

• Never base your value on what a guy says about you.
  
  
• Reject the media’s view of beauty.  Beauty is not perfection or flawlessness!  Beauty begins in the heart and spills out in behavior.  
  
  
• Remember your outward appearance will change throughout your life.  Do not base your value on what you look like; base your value on how God sees you.
  
  
• Study God’s view of beauty – you’ll be amazed at how you can become more beautiful all the time!
  

Be a voice for truth – share with others what God believes about their value.  You just may set someone free!