I believe I manifested my modeling career unconsciously.

Right after graduating from university, I was encouraged by a high school friend to backpack with him through Europe. During that journey, I fell in love for the first time—not with a person, but with a place and a feeling. It was the lifestyle I experienced while traveling abroad that captured me.

The trip was life-changing, and I couldn’t forget it. I thought about it incessantly for the next couple of years until, seemingly out of nowhere, someone reached out with an opportunity to model for a local agency in Dallas, Texas.

That agency connected me with a photographer who took my first test shots. They placed those photos in their agency book, and just a month later, I was offered a contract by an agency in Japan.

At the time, I thought: if someone in Japan is willing to take a chance on me, maybe I can find an agency back in Europe that would believe in me too. I found the addresses of three agencies in Paris and sent them my photos with a cover letter introducing myself. One of them responded positively and invited me to come to Paris after my time in Japan.

Once I arrived in Europe, my agency helped me connect with influential photographers, designers, and other agencies across the continent. My modeling career began to take off—and for the first time in my life, I felt I had direction and purpose.

Looking back, I realize that initial trip to Europe created a kind of vision board in my mind. The feeling I had during those travels planted a seed, and over time, it unconsciously manifested into a career that brought me back to the place I fell in love with.

RUSSELL CHIEFFALO

RUSSELL CHIEFFALO

RUSSELL CHIEFFALO