We recently connected with Amanda Booth and have shared our conversation below.
Amanda, thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights and lessons with us today. We’re particularly interested in hearing about how you became such a resilient person. Where do you get your resilience from?
I believe that I owe my resilience to my family. I grew up in the North East and come from a long line of coal miners and factory workers. I grew up watching my mom hold three jobs to try and make ends meet (and even that wasn’t enough). My dad was a factory worker and after an illness could no longer withstand the twelve hour shifts on his feet so he got his commercial truck driving license. My grandmother worked in a candy factory until the day she passed away. We had a lot of adversity, nothing was ever easy, and I never saw anyone give up.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
Hi! I’m Amanda and I’ve been modeling and acting for twenty years. I had a very usual career…started in New York doing fashion and eventually made my way to sunny California for more commercial opportunities. I traveled the world for print work, walked fashion week, was featured on television series and never thought much beyond my own personal journey and what goals I had for my career. Ten years ago my son was born with Down syndrome and that changed everything for me. I began to realize the lack of inclusion for people with disabilities in the media and I took to advocating for that change. I started to show up for casting calls where clients were looking for moms and babies and even though no one mentioned seeing babies like mine I went anyway. After a while we started to book work and everything snowballed from there. I shared our story and our images on social media and other platforms started to notice what we were doing. We were featured on Yahoo! Parents and Micah was on the anniversary issue of Parents magazine. He’s appeared in three national network commercials. He was in a short film that was on amazon prime. He’s the first person with Down syndrome to be on the cover of a Vogue magazine. He’s been in countless ads for companies like Lululemon, Old Navy, River Island and so many more! Now I produce inclusive projects to be sure that our mission goes beyond what we are able to do personally. 🙂
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
Perseverance. You simply must never give up on something that is good or has value to your life no matter how impossible it may feel at times.
Resilience. You must be able to put one foot in front of the other over and over again.
Community. Find people that support and love you and surround yourself with them. It’s a lot harder to do hard things without encouragement and a good foundation for what is actually important in life.
Before we go, maybe you can tell us a bit about your parents and what you feel was the most impactful thing they did for you?
Honestly, I think it’s what they did not do for me that has been the most impactful. They (although I’m sure they wish they could have been) were never a fall back option for me. When I moved to the “big city” to make it I didn’t have anyone to help pay rent, or buy groceries. I had to figure it out… I think that instills a certain level of grit in a person, and it allows you to try different things out too. Making mistakes and having the space to do so is important for anyone I think? It’s sort of like using a GPS I guess… do you ever really pay attention to where you’re going if someone tells you how to get there step by step? Will you remember how to arrive without that voice again? Probably not…
Contact Info:
- Instagram: @Amanda_booth @lifewithmicah
- Other: https://www.lifewithmicah.com
Image Credits
Milk – Landon McMahon
Vogue – Coliena Rentmeester
so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
