how i went from dish washer to SUPERMODEL

0:00This is a photo of me in uniform at my

0:02old dishwashing job. A uniform, by the

0:05way, that said, "Ugly, never looked so

0:08good." on the back. 5 years later, I won

0:12male model of the year. And today, I'll

0:14be going over the story of exactly how

0:16that happened. I'll be breaking down the

0:18complete timeline of my career into six

0:20different sections. First, getting

0:22scouted. first runway show, new face

0:25era, the fall off, the NYC comeup, and

0:29the Top Model era. Okay, so here's the

0:32story of how I got scouted. Rewind

0:34everything back to 2016. Along with

0:36being the best summer ever, it was also

0:38the summer I got scouted. I was at a

0:40music festival with a bunch of my

0:41friends. We're all 15 years old. It's

0:45all of our first festival. It's my first

0:47rave. Everyone was going apeshit.

0:52We were walking from one stage to the

0:54next and I feel this heavy strong hand

0:58grab me on my shoulder and spin me

1:00around. And in front of me is this super

1:02jacked, taller than me guy. And he's

1:05talking to me and he says this. Are you

1:07represented by anyone? Uh, what do you

1:10mean? I'm a modeling agent. Take my

1:13card. I feel like you should be one of

1:14my models. Okay. And so I take his card

1:18and I throw it away. I literally threw

1:20it right in the trash like 10 steps

1:22after he left. And it's because I

1:24thought it was a scam. I was like,

1:26there's no way a real agency is looking

1:28for kids at this runchy music festival.

1:31Like, everyone's in raving outfits. So,

1:34I threw away all the chances I had at

1:36becoming a model right then and there.

1:38Good thing the same guy found me on day

1:40two of the festival. out of 60,000

1:43people, he found me again, spun me

1:46around again, and said, "Hey, I I

1:48noticed you didn't reach out." And I was

1:50like, "Ooh, yeah, like I lost the card."

1:53He gave me a more detailed speech about

1:55why he thought I should become a model.

1:57And it was really convincing. And then

1:59the other thing he did was he made sure

2:01to communicate that he didn't want any

2:03money. So, I thought to myself, okay,

2:06you know, if if it's free, then what's

2:08the harm? and that is still my mother

2:10agent to this day. So, it didn't take

2:14long for my career to get off the

2:15ground. A few months after I signed with

2:18my agent, I got a text while I was in

2:20class and it said, "Can you take some

2:22selfies and send them to me ASAP,

2:24please?" I'm in class. What's it for?

2:26Calvin Klein needs them ASAP. Okay, give

2:29me a sec. So, I raised my hand. I asked

2:31to go to the bathroom. I was in French

2:33class. I was like,

2:36So, I went out into the hallway. I had

2:38to hide my phone from the teachers cuz

2:40you can't be on your phone in school.

2:41Blank gray lockers as my background. And

2:45I took the selfies and I don't hear

2:47anything for weeks. For weeks, I just go

2:50by. I'm working my dishwashing job,

2:52taking out the trash, doing my homework,

2:54going to sports practice, all that. And

2:56then out of the blue, I get a text and

2:58it says, "Calvin Klein is flying you to

3:01New York City for a fitting for their

3:04runway show in February." That was crazy

3:07news. It was about a month out from the

3:09show, so I had some time before it, but

3:12I was like, "Oh my god." But my agent

3:14made sure to communicate to me, "Hey,

3:16this is just a fitting. It doesn't mean

3:18you're going to walk the show. You need

3:19to do well at the fitting and then

3:22you'll be confirmed for the show." So,

3:24side note, this is actually how I know I

3:27have curly hair because I had super

3:30short like kind of soccer player haircut

3:33and I didn't know that I my hair was

3:35curly at all. like it clearly is now.

3:38The show was a month away. I had to go a

3:41month without cutting my hair. Cuz he's

3:43like, "Hey, listen. Like, your hair can

3:45be long cuz they can always cut it, but

3:47if you cut it, they can't magically on

3:50the spot make it grow longer." So, I was

3:52like, "Okay." I let my hair grow out.

3:53And I was like, "What the is happening,

3:56bro?" Like, it started coiling and

3:58curling and I was like, "Oh, gez. Okay,

4:01I guess I have curly hair." Funny

4:02enough, that ended up being like a big

4:05part of my career. Like a big part of my

4:07identity was, hey, this is this clearly

4:10Asian guy that has naturally curly hair.

4:13So I fly to New York City with my mom,

4:15of course, because she had to chaperone

4:17me because I was underage. I get to the

4:19hotel. I have no idea what's going on.

4:22My agent takes me into the hallway.

4:24We're walking up and down the carpeted

4:26hotel hallway and he's teaching me how

4:29to do a runway walk. Trust me, it is a

4:31lot better now, but we got it to a point

4:34where it was going to be at least

4:36passable. I go to the fitting. I'm in

4:38the waiting room and that's when I start

4:41really getting nervous. I'm like, "Oh my

4:43god, I really have no idea what I'm

4:45doing here." I look around me and all

4:47the other models, they seem to know

4:49exactly what they're doing. They're

4:50talking about other jobs, other castings

4:53they're having to do. this fitting is

4:55one of like five things they have to do

4:57today, whereas it's my only thing and my

4:59first thing. And they're all older than

5:01me. At the time, I think, yo, all these

5:04guys are better looking than me. I'm

5:06like, oh no. I get into the fitting. I

5:09do my walk. It's fine. The clothes look

5:12great on me. And I actually ended up

5:14having a chat with Raph Simmons, who was

5:16the creative director of Calvin Klein at

5:18the time, because he noticed my name was

5:19French. He's like, "Uh, meio simono,

5:22like this is you have to speak French.

5:25There's no other explanation." And we

5:27have this lovely conversation in French.

5:29And that really it warmed me up a little

5:31bit for the fitting. And so when I

5:32walked, I did my absolute best. And the

5:35casting director, she was watching

5:37closely cuz she's like, "Hey, I flew in

5:39this guy that's that's never done

5:41modeling in his life." And she saw my

5:43walk and I think she thought, "Fine,

5:47just just good enough to make it." Then

5:48I sleep and the next day I wake up for

5:51the show. And to this day, even after

5:54walking hundreds of runways, that first

5:57show was still one of the craziest shows

6:00I've ever walked in my life. They

6:02basically took so many 18-wheelers,

6:05trucks full of popcorn, and laid it all

6:09over the ground so that it simulated

6:11walking in snow. We were walking and we

6:14were kicking up popcorn and it was it

6:16was like you were walking through snow

6:17in New York City. I thought after that

6:20all runway shows were going to be that

6:22unique, that creative, that much

6:24production design. And it turns out that

6:26only certain shows achieve that level of

6:29production design. But anyways, I get to

6:31the venue. It's my first time doing

6:34everything. I'm I'm freaking out. I

6:36didn't really understand the magnitude

6:39of what I was about to achieve. Debuting

6:42for Calvin Klein by Raph Simmons is

6:45extremely strong start to your career.

6:48And I had no idea. I was just like, "Oh,

6:50like this is kind of cool." I guess I

6:53didn't know anything about fashion or

6:54modeling. So, I was I was pretty like

6:57unaware. They were telling me all these

6:58celebs that were going to be there. ASAP

7:01Rocky, Millie Bobby Brown, fresh off the

7:04first season of Stranger Things. I was

7:06hyped for that. I was like, "Oh god,

7:08like both of those people are gonna

7:09watch me walk. That's sick." So, I do my

7:12walk. I don't slip and fall. I get good

7:14picture, good images. I think I did very

7:17well for my very first walk. And right

7:20after I got off the runway, you get this

7:22wave of relief and adrenaline that

7:25flushes your body. And I didn't know it

7:28at the time, but that's a feeling that

7:30all models chase for the rest of their

7:32career. Actually, the funniest part

7:35about that show is the week before I was

7:38telling everyone, "Hey, I'm going to be

7:40away cuz I'm going to New York to walk

7:42the runway show for Calvin Klein." All

7:44the people at school were like, "Yeah,

7:46sure, buddy." Like, "Oh, no, for sure.

7:49You're you're for sure walking for

7:50Calvin Klein." And the only way I could

7:52prove it to them was actually walking

7:54the show and then showing them the

7:56photo. So, me getting my Vogue runway

7:58photo and posting that on the gram. Ooh,

8:02that was the sweetest feeling of I told

8:04you so ever in my life. I was like,

8:06"Yeah, for Calvin Klein." Another thing

8:09about my first show was that it actually

8:11helped me get into college because I

8:14wrote my college essay about the real

8:18diversity that I saw at that Calvin

8:21Klein runway show. I had grown up with

8:23what I thought were all different types

8:25of people and they were right but they

8:28were all Canadian or all American like

8:31if they were Asian they would be

8:32KoreanAmerican

8:34right whereas at this show for the first

8:37time I met Koreans from Korea and I met

8:41Indians from India that were not

8:43Indian-American or Indian Canadian. So

8:46that's really the difference and I wrote

8:48about the beauty of that in my college

8:50essay. I truly believe that that essay

8:53is really the best part of my

8:54application. Then we enter the new face

8:56era, which is the time period where I

8:58dropped out of high school to pursue my

9:00education online to move to New York to

9:03become a model. I actually almost got

9:06kicked out of my regular school because

9:08they told me, "Hey, if you keep missing

9:10school to go do modeling in New York,

9:12we're just going to expel you." So, I

9:14was like, "All right, I'll drop out

9:17then." And so, I did. I moved to New

9:19York and I had a killer first season.

9:22After my first show, I signed with

9:25agencies in Paris, Milan, London, and

9:28New York. And I was ripping up the

9:30runways. My first season, I did Prada in

9:33Milan. I did Louis Vuitton and Balain in

9:36Paris. I was killing it out there. But

9:39that's the thing, the runways don't pay.

9:42Lookbooks and campaigns are what pays.

9:45Typically, the shows are dominated by

9:47the younger models and the lookbooks and

9:49the campaigns are dominated by the older

9:51models. I was essentially only booking

9:54runway shows and editorials, which are

9:56free. By the way, all magazines do not

9:59pay. They are all free. So, let's just

10:02say I wasn't very impressed with the

10:05money I was making. Especially after all

10:08my flights to Milan and Paris for

10:10fashion week and then paying for my

10:12apartment in New York, I was only left

10:14with a couple thousand, which isn't bad,

10:17which I'm not saying is bad for a te,

10:20especially for a teenager. Trust me,

10:22buying all of my Jordans and all my

10:25Supreme, I was flexing or I thought I

10:27was flexing when I was younger, but it

10:30really didn't amount to that much money.

10:32The dichotomy between working for all

10:35these high fashion brands but also being

10:38broke as at the same time is really

10:41really hilarious. I remember one time I

10:44was working for this super luxurious

10:46brand and I was coming from my New York

10:48apartment which was disgusting, had rats

10:51and roaches in it and that's all I could

10:53afford. But the brand I was working for

10:56was super preppy and like sllicked back

10:58my hair and everyone was super proper

11:01and I was like, "This is just so weird

11:03that after all this, I'm going to go

11:05home to the most disgusting apartment on

11:08earth and roll around in filth." Seeing

11:10this made me realize, hey, maybe this

11:13isn't a long-term career option for me.

11:16That's the truth for most models. I

11:18would say only maybe less than 5% of

11:21male models get to make this their

11:23full-time career. And if you expand that

11:27to full-time career for the rest of

11:29their lives, it's less than 1%. I

11:32understood that even when I was younger,

11:34and I thought I'm just one of those

11:36models that's going to work for a couple

11:38years, save up my money, and then use it

11:41to go to college. And that's exactly

11:43what I did. So, another reason I decided

11:46to go to college was because I actually

11:48got into my number one choice for

11:49schools. The best university with the

11:52best business program in Canada is

11:55University of Toronto Rottman Commerce.

11:57And that's the program I got into. I

11:59genuinely thought this was the end of my

12:01modeling career. I told my agent,

12:03listen, I'm going to focus on school.

12:05School took priority over everything.

12:07when I had exams, big projects, whatever

12:10you name it, I was saying no to all my

12:13modeling options, and I didn't really

12:15model that much. From 18 to 20 years

12:18old, I was in Toronto studying to be a

12:21marketer. This is probably the time

12:23period where I looked the worst in my

12:26life. I got the freshman 15. I was

12:28drinking all the time. I didn't look

12:31like a model for sure. I was not in

12:33model shape at all. So maybe that's also

12:36a reason I didn't really model that much

12:38during this period. Like all the booze

12:40and all the eating went directly to my

12:43face. It was my face was damn near like

12:46a perfect circle, which is definitely

12:48not the case today. So thank God. Like I

12:51really thought 100% this isn't really

12:54going to be my career. It's going to be

12:55a cool story I tell my kids like, "Hey,

12:58for like a year and a half when I was

13:00younger, I did all these runway shows."

13:01And they're going to be like, "Dad, shut

13:03up." up and I get to show them the photo

13:04book. But then, if you remember, this

13:06little world event called the pandemic

13:08happened. And during the pandemic, I got

13:11a little bit of my model shape back. And

13:14then I also started my Tik Tok account.

13:16I started my Tik Tok account because I

13:19was on a modeling job in Morocco. And

13:22part of the cast were influencers. We

13:25were just talking. They were from LA.

13:27They're like, "Wow, you're like only a

13:28model." And I'm like, "Only a model?"

13:30Yeah. everyone like in America is like a

13:34model and an influencer. And I was like,

13:35"Oh, okay. Interesting." And they were

13:37telling me social media post is really

13:39where all the money is. And I was like,

13:40"Oh, that's that's so interesting." And

13:42they they told me, "In fact, for this

13:44trip, we are getting paid more for our

13:47social media posts than we are for the

13:50modeling." I was like, "Fuck, I really

13:53need to get on this." And so, right

13:55after that trip is when I made my TikTok

13:57account. And I couldn't really

13:59understand how there were no other

14:01models on Tik Tok. There were models

14:04were with more impressive portfolios

14:07than I that could have made better

14:09videos than I, but chose not to just

14:11because they were too cool for it or

14:13they were like, I don't understand

14:14social media. I'm like, bro, there's

14:16nothing to understand. Make a make a

14:18good video. You know, I loved Tik Tok

14:20during the pandemic. It was so easy to

14:23get views, guys. It was like it was like

14:26unclaimed land. I got to set all the

14:28trends as like the first high fashion

14:30model on Tik Tok. People would follow.

14:33People love to follow back in the day.

14:34They were like, if they saw one good

14:36video from you, they wouldn't even go to

14:37your profile. They would just hit the

14:39plus sign off the for you page. It was

14:41crazy. It It was really a great time.

14:43And to be one of the first models on Tik

14:45Tok was definitely a huge advantage for

14:48me. When I was making all my Tik Tok

14:51videos, I started really getting my name

14:52out there and I started to get booked

14:55for more jobs because of my social

14:57media. They thought, "Oh, hey, if we

14:59book Matthew for this job, not only are

15:02we getting him, his amazing face, and

15:04his body, but we're also getting a free

15:07social media post out of it as well." It

15:09was this rise of my social media and

15:12modeling bookings that actually

15:14convinced me, hey, maybe it's time to

15:16move to New York. So, I moved to New

15:19York with absolutely nothing. A realtor

15:22sent me an iPhone video of my apartment

15:25and I signed the lease online and moved

15:28there with nothing but one checkedin

15:31suitcase. I remember buying my mattress

15:34at Mattress Firm and shoving it in the

15:37back of an Uber XL, putting that on my

15:39bare ground and sleeping like that for

15:42weeks. I had absolutely nothing. It was

15:44definitely a grind, but I loved it.

15:46During this time in New York, I didn't

15:48have the prestige to my name that I do

15:51now. So, my rate was a lot lower, and it

15:54was definitely a grind. It's the most

15:57amount of days I've ever worked in my

15:59career. I feel like I really built a

16:01solid foundation though with some of my

16:04favorite clients. And I was doing a lot

16:07of ecom, runway, editorials, stuff like

16:10that. I learned how to become a good

16:12model and how to become the model I am

16:14today. I learned specifically that

16:17posing is a skill. It's something you

16:19work at and the more that you work at

16:21it, the better you get at it. Whereas

16:23before I thought, hey, like I'll just

16:25show up the way I am is the way I am. My

16:28agent also gave me this piece of advice.

16:30He told me, "If you want to stay in the

16:32game as a long-term male model, you have

16:36to look better every season. look better

16:39and better and better and better until

16:42you look so good that people have no

16:44choice but to book you. And I took that

16:46advice to heart. I feel like every

16:49single season, you can see it in my

16:51digitals, I look better and better and

16:53better. And there's always something I'm

16:55working on, right? Whether it was at

16:57first fixing my skin to getting a cut

17:01jawline to now where I'm really focused

17:04on working on the physical part of my

17:06body. So, I'm always working on

17:08something. Not I try not to do it in a

17:11toxic way, right? It's just hey, like

17:13how can I become a better model? How can

17:15I look better in front of the camera?

17:17And during this era, you can see some

17:19from the beginning to the end of it, you

17:21can see some stark improvements for

17:24sure. So, the foundation I built during

17:26the come-up era really ushered in the

17:29top model era. This era is defined for

17:32me as the covers and campaigns era

17:35because I feel like the marker of a top

17:37model for me is a model that

17:39consistently has covers and campaigns

17:41out. Essentially what happened was the

17:44editorials that I used to do regular

17:47stories started booking me for the cover

17:50and the clients that would book me for

17:52the runway shows started booking me for

17:54the campaigns. Thus, I had this flurry

17:57of covers and campaigns releasing,

17:59making me a top model. This era has

18:02continued for a very long time from 2023

18:05to present day. And it's funny because

18:08the higher status you achieve as a male

18:11model, as a top model, the less days you

18:13work, right? So, I used to work 3 4 days

18:16a week. Now, I work 3 to 4 days a month.

18:20But it's because those 3 to 4 days a

18:22month are always covers or campaigns.

18:25They're jobs that hold so much weight.

18:28I've worked really hard to establish my

18:31place in this industry. And I don't

18:33think it would be crazy for me to say

18:35that I'm the top Asian male model on

18:38Earth right now. Honestly, I wish I

18:40could go back and show my Instagram or

18:43my portfolio to my 18-year-old self who

18:46felt like he was a failure as a model

18:48because he couldn't get any covers,

18:50couldn't get any campaigns, sometimes

18:52couldn't really even pay the bills. I

18:54wish I could tell him that we did make

18:56an impact in this industry and we did

18:58succeed and tell him that you became the

19:02Asian male model that younger kids can

19:04look up to. Without a doubt, the best

19:07meeting I've had with a fan or someone

19:09that recognized me was this kid that

19:11came up to me and he was like, "Yo,

19:13you're Matthew S. You're Matthew. You're

19:15Matthew Simino." When I was taking a

19:17flick with him, he was just like, "Man,

19:18it's just so cool to see like an Asian

19:20model really killing it right now." And

19:22I understood him to his core because

19:26growing up in the 2010s, early 2010s,

19:282010 to 2014, it was One Direction, it

19:32was Justin Bieber, it was Magcon, it was

19:35Logan and Jake Paul. There weren't many

19:37good-looking Asian people that were

19:41reflected in the media that I was

19:42consuming. So, I thought, man, like, am

19:46I not good-looking just because I'm an

19:48Asian? And so even just participating

19:50and succeeding in this industry has been

19:52really important to me because it shows

19:54the younger generation that hey there's

19:57good-looking Asian people and they are

19:59successful in this industry as well.

20:01Thank you guys for watching. That is the

20:03complete dishwasher to top model story.

20:06If you want to see my work, please check

20:08out my Instagram and this YouTube

20:10channel will actually contain so many

20:12more videos diving into the modeling

20:14industry and how I keep looking my best.

20:18So, if you're curious about that,

20:20subscribe.