#StruttingTheWorld: 16-year-old Saint model Lydia Barnett
By Aldane Walters
Friday, September 09, 2016
16-year-old Lydia Barnett wants to her name etched in history. The sweet St Thomas native is poised to take the international runways by storm, bearing high the flag of Jamaica and of course, her founding agency, Saint International.
TCQ1: If you could have any super power, what would it be?
LB: I would want to be super smart and super strong to get better grades and fight criminals.
TCQ2: What’s the most trouble you’ve ever been in with your parents?
LB: Fighting with my little sister. And my parents would take away my phone
TCQ3: Which of these kids were you in high school: the popular kid, the nerd, or just a part of the crowd?
LB: The Popular Kid, my friends and I
TCQ4: What is the most teenAGE thing that you do on a daily basis?
LB: I’m all over social media.
Barnett admits that she wasn’t always interested in modeling, as she didn’t know of the opportunities that existed in the field. Her sister was the model in the family, but when Saint International CEO, Deiwight Peters saw the younger Lydia, he at once saw star quality.
“My older sister Taylor Barnett was a model for Saint model but she gave it up recently. When she used to go training my daddy would take me with her and Deiwight would see me and say,’I want her.’ From that, he followed it up and when I grew up, he saw me and remembered me,” she told teenAGE.
So last October when the Saint team visited her high school, Donald Quarrie High, she couldn’t shy away from the audition.
Today, Barnett, who will be a part of the fifth form cohort at Donald Quarrie, is signed to four major international modeling agencies--Wilhemina Modeling Agency, London; Wilhemina Modeling Agency, New York; Why Not Models, Milan; and Silent Models, Paris. She just returned from London after flying out for a 2-week development stint.
“I love being a model. It is the best thing that has ever happened to me. Modeling is one of the best things a teenager can do, if they have the talent,” smiled Barnett, who, in addition to modeling, wants to be a midwife.
“I’ve always wanted to be a midwife because I love babies. Modelling won’t be forever, I know that, so you have to prepare something out so that when my modeling career ends you won’t be left with nothing to do. That’s what I will do,” she said.
Though she hasn’t walked an international runway yet, it is naturally the next strut for this beautiful and confident TEEN. Confidence, she believes, differentiates winners and losers, especially in her field.
“Everybody has the chance to be successful in what they are interested in. You just have to have confidence in it. Don’t doubt yourself. You are the one that is going to make it happen, so if you put your mind to it, you can be anyone you can,” she said.
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