Name: Stacey McKenzie
Age: 21 (Seriously! LOL!)
My Hood: Kingston, Jamaica/Brooklyn, N.Y; Toronto, Canada (Jungle and Glendower)
I Was Discovered…When I realized I had a lot of attention at the age of 6, I knew I had something. My sister read an article about a famous coupled named Jean Paul Gautier and Madonna. That’s when I first learned about a career called modeling. Right then and there, I knew that a model was what I was meant to be, and ever since then, I’ve pursued this fabulous industry relentlessly. I discovered myself!
My first VIBE photo shoot…Was in 1999 with Mary J Blige on the cover. I shot with Tyson Beckford, Nicola Vassell, and a couple of other models. I had a great time as always! Who wouldn’t? I had the hottest BIG BLACK BEAUTIFUL BROTHERS all day long!
For fun I like…To mentor young people and train potential models through my Stacey McKenzie Presents Walk This Way seminars, which promotes self-esteem and confidence.
I’m currently working on…My Walk This Way Workshop Tour, I will be traveling all over the world mentoring people. The tour will be heading to major cities and rural towns within Canada and the U.S first. I am also doing motivational speaking engagements within colleges, universities and soon high schools. I appeared at Brown University and Daemen College.
I’m fab because…I’m one of the few unconventional beauties in the fashion industry that has never forgotten where I came from and who I am. With a lot of passion, perseverance and belief in myself, I’ve never taken no for an answer. I hope to inspire others who don’t fit the narrow confines of society’s perceptions of beauty.
Think you know, you have no idea…I've acted in 3 films including The Fifth Element with Bruce Willis and Chris Tucker. I also do voiceovers, I've done one for a play in which I was the voice of a 10 year old boy! Yes, it comes in handy to have a raspy man like voice a la Nina Simone! And, I did a Japanese cartoon where I was the voice of one of the 4 sexy villains.
My hidden talent…Music, I figured why not give it a try seeing that I have a different voice. I ended up loving it, you know, one of those " YO ,I SOUND SO GOOD" vibes? It was not and still is not easy, especially as a woman doing Dancehall Rock, but I was blessed by the most high to have the opportunities to work with artist such as Tricky, Kool Keith and Foxy Brown. So far I’ve done one show in L.A. and I am in the works to perform live. I WOULD LOVE LOVE LOVE TO WORK WITH GRACE JONES!!!! GRACE LINK ME!!
5 artists I bump on my iPod…
1. Nina Simone
2. Bounty Killa
3. Metallica
4. Sade
5. Marilyn Manson
Celebrities I’d love to be shot with for VIBE…Grace Jones (I want to be the albino version of her in a masculine photo shoot!), Andre 3000 and Don Cheadle
4 Photographers I would love to shoot with…
1. Steven Meisel
2. Terry Richardson
3. Inez van Lamsweerde & Vinoodh Matadin
4. Mario Testino
Recently seen on…
Made (MTV)
The Tyra Banks Show (The CW)
THISDAY/ARISE Fashion Collective show done exclusively for Xuly Bet
Xuly Bet Paris Campaign with Marc Baptiste
From "PAPER"
From "All My Modeling"
From "Interview"
From the runway
From "The Tyra Banks Show"
From VIBE's 2008 Civil Rights Era inspired fashion shoot
Stacey as she appeared in VIBE's September 1999 issue
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