by MIKE CHAIKEN
CTFashionMag.com
You can call Ava Breeze a nerd.
Go ahead, she doesn’t mind.
Ava is a teen model who has appeared in print, advertisements, and has walked the runway during New York Fashion Week, Los Angeles Fashion Week, and been featured in national commercials.
But, Ava is quick to point out her national test scores in school are in the top 10 percent of the country. She’s hoping to boost that to the top 3 percent.
Ava is also an A student with ambitions to work for NASA, after attending Columbia University and taking her post-graduate work at Goddard School in New York.
“School is beyond important to me,” said the New York-area model in an email interview.
“When I’m called a ‘nerd’ it’s literally a compliment,” said Ava.
Ava, now a 13-year-old middle school student, began modeling at age 5.
The opportunity, she explained, was due to a little serendipity and the attentive ear of her mother.
“My mom was working for the president of a company preparing to do a Major League Baseball campaign in Times Square,” said Ava.
However, she explained, the girl cast for one of the roles in the commercial called in sick. Ava’s mother, Heather, happened to be in the office when the call came in. She took the opportunity to show the president Ava’s photograph.
The next day, Ava found herself sitting on the shoulders of Yankees’ pitching great Dwight Gooden’s shoulders.
“I loved it,” said Ava.
Ava’s first few runway events followed. They were typically events for Child Model magazine.
But, Ava said her most memorable event was walking for Bound by the Crown during New York Fashion Week when she was 9.
“Nothing has ever been so scary and that exciting at the same time since,” said Ava. “The place was packed, standing room only, and the cameras were literally in your face. It was incredible.”
Lately Ava’s modeling career has morphed into acting. She also has been working her vocal cords as a singer. Although modeling is fun, Ava is focusing on those vocations now.
In addition to modeling, acting, and singing, Ava has been inspired by her younger sister Lyra to be an activist.
She launched Ava’s Advocacy Army. The organization is intended to elevate children with special needs beyond their illness but on their personalities. Her Facebook page says the endeavor encourages “bridging the gap of fear and insecurity in approaching and befriending special kids.”
“Inclusion is important and it’s what I stand for,” said Ava.
“As a model the most important thing to me is being a role model,” said Ava.
“I just worked on a national campaign with Feeding America as the face of Child Hunger in America,” said Ava. “I hope it sheds light on the needs of kids you overlook as being hungry.”
With New York Fashion Week’s February shows right around the corner, Ava said she will be walking again. She will be representing Camelia Couture. Her sister Lyra also will take the catwalk in her wheelchair with her big sister alongside her.
PHOTOS by MIKE CHAIKEN
Ava Breeze wears Elizabeth Cordelia and Spring Cheetah in the September 2019 edition of New York Fashion Week.