Bobby Townsend has a chat with model, actress and fellow Something You Said contributor, Britany Nola. You can read his video interview with her by clicking here.

Modelling is fun, I suppose. I love being in front of the camera and when you get a good team working together it’s magic. I really appreciate all the effort everyone puts into a shoot, and the creativeness. I just get to show up, so its fairly easy, but it is a fun job and the people I get to meet (I don’t mean stupid celebrities, I mean the artists) are so interesting and I love picking their brains, because they really do have such beautiful minds, especially the photographers. I learn a lot and I find that if you show up with a good attitude it can be such an amazing time. Truly special.

Aside from modelling work I act… blahh blahh blahh… I know, such a cliche… “I’m a model but I realllly want to act.” Hello every girl in New York and LA. But I was in theatre all my life and it’s something I really enjoy. I know shooting on film is so different and I haven’t been able to afford classes so, for now, I’m just winging it. I’m shooting my first full length film this month (American Ecstasy, directed by Jonathan Leder). I’m also beginning to study photography, I love photographs, I’d like to see if I have the talent. Getting behind the camera excites me. I also write. I’m not any good, but I still enjoy it. I write short stories and poems.

I’m a huge advocate for Human Rights. LGBT is very important to me. I’m trying to get involved in The Trevor Project and am working on a project of my own, kind of stemming from the It Gets Better movement. I think it’s very important to speak to teens and pre-teens about acceptance and how far is too far. I don’t think children truly understand how much they affect others. It’s a scary world. And now we have all these children ending their lives because they see no hope. So I that’s what I’m focusing on now. Eventually I want to broaden and start a program for all children being bullied.

I’m inspired by photographs. I love moments a camera can capture and how profound they can be; how a single picture can speak volumes and move you. It’s a beautiful thing. Music also inspires me, especially when I’m at a shoot. I need to blast music to get in the mood for whatever it is they have me doing. Music also affects me in such a powerful way, as does the cinema. I love the cinema. I’m a bit dramatic so I adore a good cry. I love watching dark, depressing films and listening to sappy love songs. And I’m obsessed with dark books, about tormented souls. I’m a little dark I suppose.

When I have money I’m a serious shopper. I love vintage clothing and jewellery. Skulls and crosses are my thing right now. I also own a pair of overalls that I wear the fuck out of. I love fashion.

I spend far too much time at Barnes and Noble. 

My favorite song of all time is Where Is My Mind?

I am currently listening to Animal Collective, Bon Iver, The Weepies, Band of Horses, Citizen Cope, Chairlift, Broken Social Scene, The New Pornographers, Neutral Milk Hotel, Of Montreal, The Maine, Foals, Fleet Foxes, Bombay Bicycle Club, The XX, Wilco, The Strokes, Shout Out Louds, Sea Wolf, Rock Kills Kid, Phoenix, Band of Skulls, Arctic Monkeys, The Black Keys, This Will Destroy You, Sigur Ros, Explosions In The Sky… I really I could go on and on…

I’ll never stop listening to Tom Waits, David Bowie, Otis Reading, old Kings of Leon (pre: new album), Ben Harper, Portishead, Queen, Talking Heads, Pearl Jam, Brand New, My Chemical Romance, The Avett Brothers, old Taking Back Sunday, Radiohead (probably #1), Joy Division, Cash, Bob Dylan, Hole, Damien Rice, Motown… There are more but I’m going blank.

It might surprise people to learn that my dad is black. Obviously no-one ever believes me because I’m pale, blonde and hazel-eyed, but yes, he is my father and an amazing father at that. I feel blessed that I was raised by two different cultures. Especially musically, with Motown blaring through my family home growing up. I’m grateful I got to experience a childhood like that. But I also experienced the dark side of people, the judgements and hardships my dad had to go through. It was so sad to witness the way they treated him and looked at him and how differently they would treat me when they found out I was mixed. I just don’t understand how people can be so cruel and can make another human being feel so bad about themselves. I just want people to realise that it’s never going to fix their problems, and whatever a person’s race or sexual orientation, it doesn’t make them any less of a man. I just wish people would learn and accept that and be open minded. The world would be a much easier place to live in if we weren’t all so scared of what’s different.

In the future, I plan to be successful in my career, to be happy, secure and still madly in love with my beautiful boyfriend. I’m not really asking for much, just a good life. I want to be able to look back when I’m an old woman and just close my eyes, smile, take a deep breath and say I lived a wonderful life and I loved. I may not have got everything I wanted and may have made many mistakes along the way, but I lived a damn good life. Thats what I would like my last thought to be before I die: “Wow, what a wonderful life I lived.”

Britany is represented by APM Model Management.

Interview and NYC pictures by Bobby Townsend

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