Join the Bronx Documentary Center from Noon to 2pm for your free holiday portrait (Bronx residents free with proof of residence) and each additional print only $5!
Now in its 5th year, the BDC Holiday Portrait Series has become a tradition many look forward to and is one of the many ways the organization gives back to the community.
Major shout out to to Fujifilm for their donated supplies to make this possible!
Ok so a friendly contest just got real and we need you all to vote and WIN!
A Philadelphia journalist took a shot at The Bronx with regards to USA Today’s reader’s choice award for the best botanical garden.
For days now, The New York Botanical Garden has been alternating first place with Philadelphia’s Longwood Gardens.
In the post they write:
“What does the New York Botanical Garden have that Longwood Gardens lacks? Perhaps its surrounding neighbors.
The New York site’s 250 acres lie within the Bronx, one of the nation’s densest, greenery-starved locales. How else to explain the fact that the New York attraction keeps grabbing the lead from Longwood in the 2016 USA Today Readers’ Choice Travel Awards?
Certainly, it’s not a question of acreage: At 1,077, Longwood boasts more than four times the display space.”
First of all, according to The Trust for Public Land, New York City ranks the top in the nation in terms of green space—19.5% of our land is dedicated to parks and The Bronx’s total area is almost 25% of its total.
Philadelphia comes in 7th on the list with 12.6% of its land dedicated to green spaces.
That’s almost half of what our beautiful Bronx has. In fact, if The Bronx were a separate city, we’d leave rest in the dust and would be #1. (We’re also one of the greenest urban counties in the country!)
Not to mention that we also have 3 of the largest parks in NYC.
The New York Botanical Garden may be smaller but it’s a recognized global leader in botany not to mention its world-class exhibition and it sure packs a lot in those 250 acres.
So if we’re continuously knocking Philadelphia’s Longwood Gardens down to second place, it’s only fitting given the grandeur of our beautiful garden.
Now get out and vote, vote, vote ! You’re allowed to vote once per day until Monday at Noon (March 28th) but you can vote from all your devices.
Spread the news and let’s secure the #1 spot!
Maybe you’ve been to The New York Botanical Gardens or maybe it’s your first time but when you arrive at the gates just as the sun is setting and twilight sets upon the land, there is just a hint of magic in the air making you fall in love with the place.
Last night I had the pleasure of attending Orchid Evenings at NYBG where the garden is open to adults only over 21 while libations flow and music plays in the background. It is one of the region’s best kept secrets and the thrill of being inside a place that is typically closed at night only heightens the beauty of the evening.
If you’re a member, tickets are $25 per adult, otherwise, it’s $35 per adult but included in the price is a complimentary cocktail—the Ginger Vanilla Fusion made up of a tasty vanilla infused vodka with ginger (remember to drink responsibly!). By the way, did you know that vanilla comes from an orchid? Well, now you know!
Whether you’re on a date or just hanging out with friends, Orchid Evenings is one of those special only in New York moments. When you enter the garden you immediately feel the stillness and quiet that permeates the grounds and as you walk towards the crystal palace that is The Enid A Haupt Conservatory, the beauty of the enormous glass house lit up at night pulls at you.
Enjoy the orchid show—this year’s show is called Orchidelirium which is all about the fever-pitch craze that swept the world in the late 19th century that sent collectors and explorers to all parts of the globe for the beloved species.
Nothing to do this weekend or the next few weekends? Then we highly recommend you get your tickets in advance and go in a big group with your friends or just you and a significant other—don’t be surprised if you see a couple getting engaged as I’ve witnessed several in the past. I mean the setting just lends itself to such occasions.
The following Orchid Evenings are available:
Saturdays, March 26, and April 2, 9, 16;
Friday, April 15
6:30–9:30 p.m. (entry times at 6:30, 7, & 7:30 p.m.)
Advance purchase is recommended so make sure you head on over and get your tickets now for an unforgettable evening.
To view the various programming events around Orchid Evenings, make sure you make your way to their page.
Hope you enjoy and let us know how it goes! We’d love to see your pictures so make sure to tag us on Instagram @welcome2thebronx or Twitter @welcome2thebx
If you feel subways and buses are crowded now more than ever—it’s not just your imagination.
For the first time in New York City history, the population has hit above 8.5 million people according to US Census estimates issued for last year—and The Bronx is leading not just the city in terms of growth but also the State of New York.
Just 3 weeks ago Welcome2TheBronx predicted that we would get even closer in 2016 and now we’re just 16,257 residents away from our historic high of 1,471,701 in 1970.
Considering that thousands of new apartments—mostly “affordable”—will open up this year, it’s probably a safe bet that we will surpass the historic marker for our borough by 2017.
As the affordability crisis worsens, more people will continue to be pushed out from Manhattan and other boroughs and The Bronx will continue to absorb those residents.
According to New York City Department of planning, The Bronx came in second in growth (after Brooklyn) between 2010 and 2015 with a 5.1% increase (70,300 persons). “The robust pace of growth in the post-2010 period has not been seen since the 1920s. However, the most recent 2014-2015 estimates point to a relatively lower growth rate as compared to 2010-2014.”
“The robust pace of growth in the post-2010 period has not been seen since the 1920s. However, the most recent 2014-2015 estimates point to a relatively lower growth rate as compared to 2010-2014.” added NYC Department of Planning.
Another interesting statistic is that 43.2% of the population of New York State resides within the 5 boroughs of New York City, an increase from 42.2% from the 2010 census.
Anyone who rides the subways and mass transit can anecdotally report that there definitely has been an increase in population in our borough. The MTA needs to increase service along the 2,4,5, and 6 lines which are some of the most congested in our borough not to mention severely overcrowded bus lines.
Our infrastructure is strained beyond capacity now that our population is almost the same as it was in 1970 but the difference then was that we had the Third Avenue El and now we’re one subway line short.
We can’t continue to build and build without addressing our transit needs and increasing capacity. Now more than ever, the Second Avenue line needs to be extended into The Bronx and even the TriBoro RX connecting The Bronx, Brooklyn and Queens directly without having to go through Manhattan is needed.
There are many elements of Charlotte D’Alessio’s life that read like a teenager’s fairy tale. Instagram didn’t exist when I was in high school, but I imagine I’d be pretty fascinated by the beautiful, leggy 17-year-old with more than 174,000 followers and a Wilhelmina Models contract, too. For the legions of aspiring Cool Teens™, D’Alessio, who has been modeling full-time for the last year, is living the dream — though her Cinderella story has been anything but conventional.
At Coachella in 2015, pictures of D’Alessio (above, right) and her friend, 18-year-old model Josie Canseco (left), flooded the Internet, winding up on places like the festival’s official Twitter and The Cobra Snake’s Instagram, among others. BuzzFeed spoke to D’Alessio soon after, resulting in a viral article that has since garnered 1,479,600 views. Wilhelmina reached out to D’Alessio from there, and the rest is history. In the 12 months since D’Alessio was discovered, the Canada native has landed a slew of commercial campaigns, left Beverly Hills High School to pursue homeschooling and launched a YouTube channel with her friend and fellow model, Abby Champion. And with a secret project in the works for this summer, I imagine that D’Alessio’s stake in the California modeling pantheon will only deepen.
On the eve of Coachella 2016’s first weekend, I hopped on the phone with D’Alessio to get caught up on the last year of her life, from her social media strategy to her dream campaign.
You obviously gained a lot of attention at Coachella last year. What can you tell me about your experience there?
I went with my friend Josie — it was my first year going — and we barely took photos. I think we took 10 photos, but people really responded to them. They ended up everywhere. I saw them on Facebook, and not just [from] friends, but random people posting them. And then The Weeknd and the Coachella Twitter reposted [one of their photos]. It was so surreal because I was just a normal girl from Canada who was going to Coachella. I had, like, 16,000 [Instagram] followers, and now it’s [174,000].
Coachella really got me started in modeling. Wilhelmina reached out to me from the [BuzzFeed] article — that’s how they saw me.
Fragrance is great, but it’s hard to write or read about because your computer screen isn’t scratch and sniff—also because I can’t talk about base notes or top notes without feeling like a fancy sommelier. I prefer to think of fragrance in terms of anthropology, which is much more fun. Have you ever thought about your personal fragrance history? Well, here’s mine.
And when Wilhelmina reached out to you, how did you feel about going forward with the process?
Basically every single one of my friends in L.A. is a model, with Next or Wilhelmina or whatever it is. I was the non-model in the friend group because I wanted to go to UCLA. I didn’t have that much of an interest — well, I had an interest, but I didn’t think I would be successful so I didn’t really pursue it.
When they asked me to come in, I went with my dad because I was 16. I almost didn’t sign because I was so scared. But I’m happy I ended up signing with them, because they’ve been a really great agency. I had the contract in my room for two days — like, I was scared they were going to tell me to cut my hair or lose weight or something like that, but they’ve been so supportive. They never told me to change anything.
Fifth Grade: Tommy Boy
I’m not kidding, I won Tommy Boy after I aced a quiz contest in Sunday School. The ultimate bounty. If you find yourself deep in the attic of my parent’s house, and you pay close attention, you might be able to smell it.
Puberty: Abercrombie and Fitch Fierce
Don’t even pretend like you didn’t.
College: Kenzo Homme Sport
My college years were timed with the heyday of the Kenzo sweatshirt, so this was a very fancy scent to own. You can now buy it for $30 on Amazon.
I can look back at them like a tiny museum of me that smells really good—literally, because I still have them all. But enough about me and how (great) I smell. I want to know your fragrance history—tell me what scents you love and why you love them. Tell me when you wear them, and how you apply them, and why they’re special to you. Tell me everything.
—Brennan Kilbane
Photo via ITG.
There are many elements of Charlotte D’Alessio’s life that read like a teenager’s fairy tale. Instagram didn’t exist when I was in high school, but I imagine I’d be pretty fascinated by the beautiful, leggy 17-year-old with more than 174,000 followers and a Wilhelmina Models contract, too. For the legions of aspiring Cool Teens™, D’Alessio, who has been modeling full-time for the last year, is living the dream — though her Cinderella story has been anything but conventional.
At Coachella in 2015, pictures of D’Alessio (above, right) and her friend, 18-year-old model Josie Canseco (left), flooded the Internet, winding up on places like the festival’s official Twitter and The Cobra Snake’s Instagram, among others. BuzzFeed spoke to D’Alessio soon after, resulting in a viral article that has since garnered 1,479,600 views. Wilhelmina reached out to D’Alessio from there, and the rest is history. In the 12 months since D’Alessio was discovered, the Canada native has landed a slew of commercial campaigns, left Beverly Hills High School to pursue homeschooling and launched a YouTube channel with her friend and fellow model, Abby Champion. And with a secret project in the works for this summer, I imagine that D’Alessio’s stake in the California modeling pantheon will only deepen.
On the eve of Coachella 2016’s first weekend, I hopped on the phone with D’Alessio to get caught up on the last year of her life, from her social media strategy to her dream campaign.
You obviously gained a lot of attention at Coachella last year. What can you tell me about your experience there?
I went with my friend Josie — it was my first year going — and we barely took photos. I think we took 10 photos, but people really responded to them. They ended up everywhere. I saw them on Facebook, and not just [from] friends, but random people posting them. And then The Weeknd and the Coachella Twitter reposted [one of their photos]. It was so surreal because I was just a normal girl from Canada who was going to Coachella. I had, like, 16,000 [Instagram] followers, and now it’s [174,000].
Coachella really got me started in modeling. Wilhelmina reached out to me from the [BuzzFeed] article — that’s how they saw me.
Fragrance is great, but it’s hard to write or read about because your computer screen isn’t scratch and sniff—also because I can’t talk about base notes or top notes without feeling like a fancy sommelier. I prefer to think of fragrance in terms of anthropology, which is much more fun. Have you ever thought about your personal fragrance history? Well, here’s mine.
And when Wilhelmina reached out to you, how did you feel about going forward with the process?
Basically every single one of my friends in L.A. is a model, with Next or Wilhelmina or whatever it is. I was the non-model in the friend group because I wanted to go to UCLA. I didn’t have that much of an interest — well, I had an interest, but I didn’t think I would be successful so I didn’t really pursue it.
When they asked me to come in, I went with my dad because I was 16. I almost didn’t sign because I was so scared. But I’m happy I ended up signing with them, because they’ve been a really great agency. I had the contract in my room for two days — like, I was scared they were going to tell me to cut my hair or lose weight or something like that, but they’ve been so supportive. They never told me to change anything.
Fifth Grade: Tommy Boy
I’m not kidding, I won Tommy Boy after I aced a quiz contest in Sunday School. The ultimate bounty. If you find yourself deep in the attic of my parent’s house, and you pay close attention, you might be able to smell it.
Puberty: Abercrombie and Fitch Fierce
Don’t even pretend like you didn’t.
College: Kenzo Homme Sport
My college years were timed with the heyday of the Kenzo sweatshirt, so this was a very fancy scent to own. You can now buy it for $30 on Amazon.
I can look back at them like a tiny museum of me that smells really good—literally, because I still have them all. But enough about me and how (great) I smell. I want to know your fragrance history—tell me what scents you love and why you love them. Tell me when you wear them, and how you apply them, and why they’re special to you. Tell me everything.
—Brennan Kilbane
Photo via ITG.
There are many elements of Charlotte D’Alessio’s life that read like a teenager’s fairy tale. Instagram didn’t exist when I was in high school, but I imagine I’d be pretty fascinated by the beautiful, leggy 17-year-old with more than 174,000 followers and a Wilhelmina Models contract, too. For the legions of aspiring Cool Teens™, D’Alessio, who has been modeling full-time for the last year, is living the dream — though her Cinderella story has been anything but conventional.
At Coachella in 2015, pictures of D’Alessio (above, right) and her friend, 18-year-old model Josie Canseco (left), flooded the Internet, winding up on places like the festival’s official Twitter and The Cobra Snake’s Instagram, among others. BuzzFeed spoke to D’Alessio soon after, resulting in a viral article that has since garnered 1,479,600 views. Wilhelmina reached out to D’Alessio from there, and the rest is history. In the 12 months since D’Alessio was discovered, the Canada native has landed a slew of commercial campaigns, left Beverly Hills High School to pursue homeschooling and launched a YouTube channel with her friend and fellow model, Abby Champion. And with a secret project in the works for this summer, I imagine that D’Alessio’s stake in the California modeling pantheon will only deepen.
On the eve of Coachella 2016’s first weekend, I hopped on the phone with D’Alessio to get caught up on the last year of her life, from her social media strategy to her dream campaign.
You obviously gained a lot of attention at Coachella last year. What can you tell me about your experience there?
I went with my friend Josie — it was my first year going — and we barely took photos. I think we took 10 photos, but people really responded to them. They ended up everywhere. I saw them on Facebook, and not just [from] friends, but random people posting them. And then The Weeknd and the Coachella Twitter reposted [one of their photos]. It was so surreal because I was just a normal girl from Canada who was going to Coachella. I had, like, 16,000 [Instagram] followers, and now it’s [174,000].
Coachella really got me started in modeling. Wilhelmina reached out to me from the [BuzzFeed] article — that’s how they saw me.
Fragrance is great, but it’s hard to write or read about because your computer screen isn’t scratch and sniff—also because I can’t talk about base notes or top notes without feeling like a fancy sommelier. I prefer to think of fragrance in terms of anthropology, which is much more fun. Have you ever thought about your personal fragrance history? Well, here’s mine.
And when Wilhelmina reached out to you, how did you feel about going forward with the process?
Basically every single one of my friends in L.A. is a model, with Next or Wilhelmina or whatever it is. I was the non-model in the friend group because I wanted to go to UCLA. I didn’t have that much of an interest — well, I had an interest, but I didn’t think I would be successful so I didn’t really pursue it.
When they asked me to come in, I went with my dad because I was 16. I almost didn’t sign because I was so scared. But I’m happy I ended up signing with them, because they’ve been a really great agency. I had the contract in my room for two days — like, I was scared they were going to tell me to cut my hair or lose weight or something like that, but they’ve been so supportive. They never told me to change anything.
Fifth Grade: Tommy Boy
I’m not kidding, I won Tommy Boy after I aced a quiz contest in Sunday School. The ultimate bounty. If you find yourself deep in the attic of my parent’s house, and you pay close attention, you might be able to smell it.
Puberty: Abercrombie and Fitch Fierce
Don’t even pretend like you didn’t.
College: Kenzo Homme Sport
My college years were timed with the heyday of the Kenzo sweatshirt, so this was a very fancy scent to own. You can now buy it for $30 on Amazon.
I can look back at them like a tiny museum of me that smells really good—literally, because I still have them all. But enough about me and how (great) I smell. I want to know your fragrance history—tell me what scents you love and why you love them. Tell me when you wear them, and how you apply them, and why they’re special to you. Tell me everything.
—Brennan Kilbane
Photo via ITG.
There are many elements of Charlotte D’Alessio’s life that read like a teenager’s fairy tale. Instagram didn’t exist when I was in high school, but I imagine I’d be pretty fascinated by the beautiful, leggy 17-year-old with more than 174,000 followers and a Wilhelmina Models contract, too. For the legions of aspiring Cool Teens™, D’Alessio, who has been modeling full-time for the last year, is living the dream — though her Cinderella story has been anything but conventional.
At Coachella in 2015, pictures of D’Alessio (above, right) and her friend, 18-year-old model Josie Canseco (left), flooded the Internet, winding up on places like the festival’s official Twitter and The Cobra Snake’s Instagram, among others. BuzzFeed spoke to D’Alessio soon after, resulting in a viral article that has since garnered 1,479,600 views. Wilhelmina reached out to D’Alessio from there, and the rest is history. In the 12 months since D’Alessio was discovered, the Canada native has landed a slew of commercial campaigns, left Beverly Hills High School to pursue homeschooling and launched a YouTube channel with her friend and fellow model, Abby Champion. And with a secret project in the works for this summer, I imagine that D’Alessio’s stake in the California modeling pantheon will only deepen.
On the eve of Coachella 2016’s first weekend, I hopped on the phone with D’Alessio to get caught up on the last year of her life, from her social media strategy to her dream campaign.
You obviously gained a lot of attention at Coachella last year. What can you tell me about your experience there?
I went with my friend Josie — it was my first year going — and we barely took photos. I think we took 10 photos, but people really responded to them. They ended up everywhere. I saw them on Facebook, and not just [from] friends, but random people posting them. And then The Weeknd and the Coachella Twitter reposted [one of their photos]. It was so surreal because I was just a normal girl from Canada who was going to Coachella. I had, like, 16,000 [Instagram] followers, and now it’s [174,000].
Coachella really got me started in modeling. Wilhelmina reached out to me from the [BuzzFeed] article — that’s how they saw me.
Fragrance is great, but it’s hard to write or read about because your computer screen isn’t scratch and sniff—also because I can’t talk about base notes or top notes without feeling like a fancy sommelier. I prefer to think of fragrance in terms of anthropology, which is much more fun. Have you ever thought about your personal fragrance history? Well, here’s mine.
And when Wilhelmina reached out to you, how did you feel about going forward with the process?
Basically every single one of my friends in L.A. is a model, with Next or Wilhelmina or whatever it is. I was the non-model in the friend group because I wanted to go to UCLA. I didn’t have that much of an interest — well, I had an interest, but I didn’t think I would be successful so I didn’t really pursue it.
When they asked me to come in, I went with my dad because I was 16. I almost didn’t sign because I was so scared. But I’m happy I ended up signing with them, because they’ve been a really great agency. I had the contract in my room for two days — like, I was scared they were going to tell me to cut my hair or lose weight or something like that, but they’ve been so supportive. They never told me to change anything.
Fifth Grade: Tommy Boy
I’m not kidding, I won Tommy Boy after I aced a quiz contest in Sunday School. The ultimate bounty. If you find yourself deep in the attic of my parent’s house, and you pay close attention, you might be able to smell it.
Puberty: Abercrombie and Fitch Fierce
Don’t even pretend like you didn’t.
College: Kenzo Homme Sport
My college years were timed with the heyday of the Kenzo sweatshirt, so this was a very fancy scent to own. You can now buy it for $30 on Amazon.
I can look back at them like a tiny museum of me that smells really good—literally, because I still have them all. But enough about me and how (great) I smell. I want to know your fragrance history—tell me what scents you love and why you love them. Tell me when you wear them, and how you apply them, and why they’re special to you. Tell me everything.
—Brennan Kilbane
Photo via ITG.
There are many elements of Charlotte D’Alessio’s life that read like a teenager’s fairy tale. Instagram didn’t exist when I was in high school, but I imagine I’d be pretty fascinated by the beautiful, leggy 17-year-old with more than 174,000 followers and a Wilhelmina Models contract, too. For the legions of aspiring Cool Teens™, D’Alessio, who has been modeling full-time for the last year, is living the dream — though her Cinderella story has been anything but conventional.
At Coachella in 2015, pictures of D’Alessio (above, right) and her friend, 18-year-old model Josie Canseco (left), flooded the Internet, winding up on places like the festival’s official Twitter and The Cobra Snake’s Instagram, among others. BuzzFeed spoke to D’Alessio soon after, resulting in a viral article that has since garnered 1,479,600 views. Wilhelmina reached out to D’Alessio from there, and the rest is history. In the 12 months since D’Alessio was discovered, the Canada native has landed a slew of commercial campaigns, left Beverly Hills High School to pursue homeschooling and launched a YouTube channel with her friend and fellow model, Abby Champion. And with a secret project in the works for this summer, I imagine that D’Alessio’s stake in the California modeling pantheon will only deepen.
On the eve of Coachella 2016’s first weekend, I hopped on the phone with D’Alessio to get caught up on the last year of her life, from her social media strategy to her dream campaign.
You obviously gained a lot of attention at Coachella last year. What can you tell me about your experience there?
I went with my friend Josie — it was my first year going — and we barely took photos. I think we took 10 photos, but people really responded to them. They ended up everywhere. I saw them on Facebook, and not just [from] friends, but random people posting them. And then The Weeknd and the Coachella Twitter reposted [one of their photos]. It was so surreal because I was just a normal girl from Canada who was going to Coachella. I had, like, 16,000 [Instagram] followers, and now it’s [174,000].
Coachella really got me started in modeling. Wilhelmina reached out to me from the [BuzzFeed] article — that’s how they saw me.
Fragrance is great, but it’s hard to write or read about because your computer screen isn’t scratch and sniff—also because I can’t talk about base notes or top notes without feeling like a fancy sommelier. I prefer to think of fragrance in terms of anthropology, which is much more fun. Have you ever thought about your personal fragrance history? Well, here’s mine.
And when Wilhelmina reached out to you, how did you feel about going forward with the process?
Basically every single one of my friends in L.A. is a model, with Next or Wilhelmina or whatever it is. I was the non-model in the friend group because I wanted to go to UCLA. I didn’t have that much of an interest — well, I had an interest, but I didn’t think I would be successful so I didn’t really pursue it.
When they asked me to come in, I went with my dad because I was 16. I almost didn’t sign because I was so scared. But I’m happy I ended up signing with them, because they’ve been a really great agency. I had the contract in my room for two days — like, I was scared they were going to tell me to cut my hair or lose weight or something like that, but they’ve been so supportive. They never told me to change anything.
Fifth Grade: Tommy Boy
I’m not kidding, I won Tommy Boy after I aced a quiz contest in Sunday School. The ultimate bounty. If you find yourself deep in the attic of my parent’s house, and you pay close attention, you might be able to smell it.
Puberty: Abercrombie and Fitch Fierce
Don’t even pretend like you didn’t.
College: Kenzo Homme Sport
My college years were timed with the heyday of the Kenzo sweatshirt, so this was a very fancy scent to own. You can now buy it for $30 on Amazon.
I can look back at them like a tiny museum of me that smells really good—literally, because I still have them all. But enough about me and how (great) I smell. I want to know your fragrance history—tell me what scents you love and why you love them. Tell me when you wear them, and how you apply them, and why they’re special to you. Tell me everything.
—Brennan Kilbane
Photo via ITG.
PropertyShark just released its top ten most expensive neighborhoods in 2015 and although Riverdale is on the list, it isn’t the most expensive as many would think.
The top ten most expensive neighborhoods in our borough last year are as follows:
Yup, you read that correctly. Riverdale placed 9th and not at the top of the list.
Although, as someone who has been in real estate for 20 years, I wouldn’t take this list as the authoritative list of the most expensive neighborhoods in The Bronx simply because it is just for inventory that moved in 2015.
Riverdale and Fieldston by far exceed anything in the rest of The Bronx by more than twice what Morris Park’s median sales price is for 2015—there was just not enough sales in the area to indicate as such.
Check out what PropertyShark has to say about these neighborhoods in their list.
There are many elements of Charlotte D’Alessio’s life that read like a teenager’s fairy tale. Instagram didn’t exist when I was in high school, but I imagine I’d be pretty fascinated by the beautiful, leggy 17-year-old with more than 174,000 followers and a Wilhelmina Models contract, too. For the legions of aspiring Cool Teens™, D’Alessio, who has been modeling full-time for the last year, is living the dream — though her Cinderella story has been anything but conventional.
At Coachella in 2015, pictures of D’Alessio (above, right) and her friend, 18-year-old model Josie Canseco (left), flooded the Internet, winding up on places like the festival’s official Twitter and The Cobra Snake’s Instagram, among others. BuzzFeed spoke to D’Alessio soon after, resulting in a viral article that has since garnered 1,479,600 views. Wilhelmina reached out to D’Alessio from there, and the rest is history. In the 12 months since D’Alessio was discovered, the Canada native has landed a slew of commercial campaigns, left Beverly Hills High School to pursue homeschooling and launched a YouTube channel with her friend and fellow model, Abby Champion. And with a secret project in the works for this summer, I imagine that D’Alessio’s stake in the California modeling pantheon will only deepen.
On the eve of Coachella 2016’s first weekend, I hopped on the phone with D’Alessio to get caught up on the last year of her life, from her social media strategy to her dream campaign.
You obviously gained a lot of attention at Coachella last year. What can you tell me about your experience there?
I went with my friend Josie — it was my first year going — and we barely took photos. I think we took 10 photos, but people really responded to them. They ended up everywhere. I saw them on Facebook, and not just [from] friends, but random people posting them. And then The Weeknd and the Coachella Twitter reposted [one of their photos]. It was so surreal because I was just a normal girl from Canada who was going to Coachella. I had, like, 16,000 [Instagram] followers, and now it’s [174,000].
Coachella really got me started in modeling. Wilhelmina reached out to me from the [BuzzFeed] article — that’s how they saw me.
Fragrance is great, but it’s hard to write or read about because your computer screen isn’t scratch and sniff—also because I can’t talk about base notes or top notes without feeling like a fancy sommelier. I prefer to think of fragrance in terms of anthropology, which is much more fun. Have you ever thought about your personal fragrance history? Well, here’s mine.
And when Wilhelmina reached out to you, how did you feel about going forward with the process?
Basically every single one of my friends in L.A. is a model, with Next or Wilhelmina or whatever it is. I was the non-model in the friend group because I wanted to go to UCLA. I didn’t have that much of an interest — well, I had an interest, but I didn’t think I would be successful so I didn’t really pursue it.
When they asked me to come in, I went with my dad because I was 16. I almost didn’t sign because I was so scared. But I’m happy I ended up signing with them, because they’ve been a really great agency. I had the contract in my room for two days — like, I was scared they were going to tell me to cut my hair or lose weight or something like that, but they’ve been so supportive. They never told me to change anything.
Fifth Grade: Tommy Boy
I’m not kidding, I won Tommy Boy after I aced a quiz contest in Sunday School. The ultimate bounty. If you find yourself deep in the attic of my parent’s house, and you pay close attention, you might be able to smell it.
Puberty: Abercrombie and Fitch Fierce
Don’t even pretend like you didn’t.
College: Kenzo Homme Sport
My college years were timed with the heyday of the Kenzo sweatshirt, so this was a very fancy scent to own. You can now buy it for $30 on Amazon.
I can look back at them like a tiny museum of me that smells really good—literally, because I still have them all. But enough about me and how (great) I smell. I want to know your fragrance history—tell me what scents you love and why you love them. Tell me when you wear them, and how you apply them, and why they’re special to you. Tell me everything.
—Brennan Kilbane
Photo via ITG.
New York City Housing Authority’s 178,000 units spanning The Bronx and all the 5 boroughs of our city are in deplorable conditions.
There is no doubt in anyone’s mind that having to live in such conditions has negative impacts on families who are simply trying to get by.
Now, United States Attorney Preet Bharara’s office is, “…conducting a sweeping investigation of environmental health and safety conditions, including cases of elevated blood lead levels, in public housing and homeless shelters and the possibility that the New York City housing and homeless agencies filed false claims to federal housing officials for payment related to the conditions.” according to the New York Times.
There is absolutely no reason that in the greatest city of our country and the world that our poorest residents have to be subjected to such environments in a developed nation such as ours.
It is absolutely criminal that this has gone on for long enough and it has deep systemic and racist parallels in what’s going on in Flint, Michigan with the deliberate contamination of their water supply and elevated lead levels in Newark.
These communities are disenfranchised and more often than not, simply do not have the resources or will to organize and fight the fight when so many odds are stacked against them.
Our US Attorney General Preet Bharara is to be commended for his actions for he is unafraid to tackle corruption and stand by the people’s side.
“The order, from Judge Deborah A. Batts, compels the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to produce information about the cases of elevated blood lead levels among residents and complaints of “unsafe, unsanitary or unhealthful conditions” in public housing and homeless shelters.
The documents said the health agency, in response to an earlier civil investigative demand from the prosecutors, had declined to provide the information without a judge’s order, to avoid violating the city and state health codes.
Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the city’s Law Department, said late Wednesday that the health department was “cooperating with the investigation.”
The Housing Authority, known as Nycha, has been struggling with deteriorating conditions in its aging complexes and is already under the supervision of a court-appointed special master to address issues of mold among the 178,000 apartments it manages.
The agency has blamed a lack of money to address maintenance needs and major capital projects because of deep cuts in federal funding over more than a decade.
But the court documents noted that Nycha is required to comply with federal requirements regarding lead-based paint and to maintain public housing “so that it is decent, safe, sanitary and in good repair.” The investigative demand said the investigation “concerns possible false claims” submitted by the city to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which is a major source of funds for the Housing Authority.” Read the full article at: U.S. Investigating Elevated Blood Lead Levels in New York’s Public Housing|NYTimes
Do you live in a NYCHA development? What are conditions like in your apartment and building?
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