Jacqui de Jong - Transcending Realms
Ever since I was a little girl, I loved reading, creating Barbie doll outfits and doing the opposite of what was expected of me. So many years later I can’t say that much has changed. I am a Cambridge University educated New York State Bar qualified lawyer who has walked in three seasons of New York Fashion Week as a runway model, who is now delving into the world of acting.
Growing up on a farm in rural Australia, I always have had this bubbling excitement to embrace the sparkle of life. So, I left home at 13 years old to pursue my dreams. Accepted into a prestigious boarding school, a strong work ethic—combined with a clear vision that life held something bigger, greater and more illustrious than my immediate circumstances—compelled me to devote myself to my studies. Fast forward so many years, and I won a scholarship to study law at Cambridge University in the United Kingdom and then moved to New York City to work as a corporate lawyer.
In New York City, a city founded on spontaneity and creativity, my desire to create and push boundaries only blossomed further. One day, I decided to attend some New York Fashion Week castings and ended up getting cast in ten shows, despite no prior modeling experience. Since that moment, a groundswell of opportunities emerged, resulting in new friendships, collaborations and opportunities to create. I am now working with David Gideon, founder of the Acting Class, Inc., to learn how to express myself through Method Acting and am currently working on some short film projects. Through these creative projects, I have really learned to understand who I am, both from within and without.
Adopting a broader lens, I define myself through my maximalist fashion style, which blends vintage glamour with modern sophistication. I love quirky ruffled collars from the 1970s, big pearl buttons and embroidered flowers mixed with dramatic thigh-high boots and oversized hats. In terms of my inner world, I identify more with the playful, spontaneous and carefree aspects of my personality: I like to roll with the waves of life. In essence, I see life as a beautiful canvas of spontaneous lived experience, rather than a trajectory of planned “successes”. Align yourself with what truly makes you happy, and you will start to find that the brushstrokes of your existence will take on a form and vibrancy so rich and inspiring that you will start to cherish the masterpiece that is your life. Pushing boundaries, to me, is more of a process of understanding the “real you”, and what would bring you an ultimate sense of fulfillment and joy, and then taking positive inspired action to bring about that happiness, despite externally imposed standards and expectations.
Oftentimes, such inspired action can bring about a strong degree of friction, and so having the fortitude to tolerate that friction, and not revert to the familiarity of known boundaries is a triumph in and of itself. Small steps every day culminate in rolling avalanches of opportunity, and being “fearless in pursuit of what sets your soul on fire”* results in a life truly lived.