Leading Edge student, 8, hits fashion runway

The fashion world is a head-spinning, flamboyant, artsy and often deluding place. And it can also be a career.

DeAnna Gonzalez certainly wants to make a career of it.

An 8-year-old student at Leading Edge Academy, DeAnna is already finding success in the cozy confines of child modeling. She has been cast in Arizona and Texas shows, modeling kids clothes for outlets that include J.C. Penney.

“My heart started freaking out,” she said of her first show. “But when I got on there, I just felt cool. And then at the second one I was just fine.”

DeAnna and her sisters ElyAnna, 6, and Alannah, 4, picked up on the fact their mother, Shelly Gonzalez, did some modeling in her younger days. They were naturally curious whether they might have the same skillset.

“When I would walk, if felt like I was on a real runway,” DeAnna said. “In stores, I’d just practice being a model. And my mom was like, ‘What are you doing?’”

Shelly Gonzalez has the three girls in acting classes with coach Cara Alvey, but DeAnna’s love is for the runway.

“Her passion is in modeling,” Gonzalez said. “She eats, drinks and breathes it, ever since she was 3 years old.”

She was picked up by the Bazaar Models agency in Texas and was cast by the Young Agency’s Kids Fashion Week of Phoenix. Her younger sisters are also making moves get into the business at casting calls.

DeAnna said her modeling idol is Heidi Klum, who not only made a hugely successful career out of modeling but also turned her celebrity into a business.

At nearly 5 feet tall, DeAnna is tall for her age (her father Derling is 6-foot-6), which could be to her advantage if she wants to continue in the field. For now, she is in the moment when she hits the runway in the latest kids’ fashions in front of a crowd.

“I pay attention more to looking forward and not looking at the audience,” she said. “But when I look at the videos, they’re always staring at me!”

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This story appears in the October issue of InMaricopa.

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