A Fort Worth teen who was denied a job at Six Flags because of his natural hair is now learning to embrace his braided hairstyle with a new gig as a model.
Kerion Washington, 17, went in for an interview at Six Flags Over Texas back in March, where he was told that he would have to cut his dreadlocks in order to pursue a summer job opportunity. However, after the discriminatory incident made headlines, an executive at a modeling agency took notice of the teen.
Corrie Caster, head of development at IMG Models and scout for IMG Worldwide, contacted a Texas-based model management group in order to get Washington started in the industry. That led Leslie and Briley Jones of Jones Model Management to get connected with the teen.
“I talked to his mom, and his mom was like, ‘I’ve been telling him he should model. But you know, he just doesn’t know if he has the look and I think Six Flags really knocked his confidence,’” Leslie tells Yahoo Lifestyle.
Still, the former model and scout assured that Washington’s look was exactly what attracted them to him — a point that Leslie reiterated when the 17-year-old arrived to the set of his first photoshoot.
“He was like, ‘Do you want me to pull my hair off my face?’” Leslie recalled him asking. “I was like, ‘I love it.’ And he’s like, ‘I wouldn’t have to like cut it or anything for modeling?’ And I was like, ‘No! You never have to cut it. We love it.’ I told him I want you to be you.”
Leslie explains that over the next couple of hours of the photoshoot, she saw Washington gaining confidence and even looking back on his photos with pride.
“He is so well spoken and sweet and funny, and a smart kid. He ended up really loving it, and honestly, he’s a complete natural,” she says of his performance in front of the camera.
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