Today we’d like to introduce you to Melodi Flack.
Melodi, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
Hi, I was born in Singapore and lived in Germany for two years as a young child because of my father’s work. Our family moved back to California in 2003, and San Diego became my hometown. Then, when I was eight years old, my father passed away, so my younger brother and I were raised by my Korean mother.
Growing up and until late high-school, I worked hard towards my dream of becoming a vet until I experienced a switch in passions. I discovered my love for teaching during my 1000+ hours of volunteer and tutor work with children, ranging from students in grades K-8th and special education.
I graduated high-school in 2015, then went on to attend UC Irvine as an Education Sciences major and Campuswide Honors Student. During my time there, I co-founded and was later president of Kappa Delta Pi (KDP), an international honors society dedicated to promoting excellence in education and teachers. I’m excited, hope to return in the future as an alumni and see how it has grown!
Outside of school, I worked for ELITE, an SAT and AP tutoring center, and during my study abroad in South Korea (summer of 2016), I interned for two well-known television broadcasting systems. I also began my journey with modeling towards the end of my first year of college. I signed with No Ties Model Management, an agency based in San Diego, but left the agency after a year and a half to focus on finishing school early. Hence, I was able to graduate in three years with my bachelors in June of 2018.
During my last year of college, after I had left my agency and finally got a car, I started shooting with photographers that reached out to me on Instagram. I attended some Instagram meet-ups, made more and more social media friends, and slowly over time, my network grew. By now, I have worked with various brands and talented photographers because of the incredible capacity Instagram has to connect creatives.
After graduating, I struggled a bit to decide what to do. It was especially hard to focus on what I wanted to do with a broken heart and recovering mental health. At the end of 2017, I was diagnosed with moderate depression and my first serious boyfriend broke up with me. Should I go back to school so soon? I definitely didn’t want to do that. I was at a complete loss for my immediate post-graduate plans.
So, I ended up going on a three-week soul-searching, heart-healing road trip through fourteen states the summer I graduated — I drove over 6000 miles by myself! — and when I got back home to San Diego, I had finalized my decision to sign with an international agency (Talent Model Management) and try working for a digital agency (Creative Digital Agency) that was working on launching a third-party ad platform.
In late November of last year, I decided to leave the social-media communications position I had because I realized marketing and advertising was not for me, at least not in my current wanderlust state-of-mind. After my road-trip and my visit to beautiful Dubai, which my agency had sent me to, I just couldn’t seem to stay in one place for very long, and now have this deep yearning to explore the world we live in.
Work and model experience aside, some of my hobbies include playing the piano (pianist of sixteen years), horseback riding, spending time with friends, and hanging out with my pet cat, Tobi. In my spare time these days, I have been studying Japanese and Mandarin because I really enjoy learning languages; I have basic spoken and written proficiency in Korean and Spanish and hope to try French, German, and Arabic someday! I’m also really excited for all my existing travel plans in 2019: Death Valley, New York Brazil, China, Japan, South Korea. I’m sure the list will keep growing.
My future dreams include getting a masters degree, moving to South Korea for at least a year to teach English and work on television, modeling internationally, and someday sharing my experiences as a motivational speaker with incoming generations to perhaps inspire and encourage them to try everything they’ve ever dreamed of. Ultimately, I want to settle back down in San Diego to become a happy elementary school teacher. My twenty-one years of life so far have been all over the place, and I can only lightly grasp how much more there is to experience! Hopefully, by the end of this year, after I get lost in all my worldwide adventures, I will better understand how to motivate others and continue learning about where I truly want to be.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Definitely not. But even though the road to where I am right now was not smooth, I am still aware that I am so blessed to have a comfortable roof over my head and good health. There are many with far worse predicaments that still maintain a positive attitude, and this always keeps me in check regarding my own self-pity and motivates me to try my hardest so that I can help others in the future.
As mentioned in the previous question, I lost my father too when I was eight, so I was raised by a Korean single mom, who was exceptionally (and understandably) protective of me. I no longer live at home in San Diego with her because I felt like a trapped bird my whole life until college (I couldn’t even use a phone at home until late senior year), but perhaps her tough parenting has molded me into someone responsibly disciplined and yet curious about people and the world.
Although this may be because I am still young and have much yet left to experience in life, my first heartbreak combined with clinical depression while trying to still graduate a year early has been the most difficult time for me to overcome. I nearly dropped out of UC Irvine because I couldn’t get out of bed every day for many months, and I was dangerously weak and thin, too. Luckily, with determinations, some medical assistance, and a changed lifestyle, I was able to still graduate early and am far healthier/happier now.
I think my struggles are relatable to many young people who are trying their best to simply succeed and find love. As we grow and enter our young adulthood, we all struggle with mental development, with all its insecurities and anxiety, while attempting to determine our career paths and distinguish life’s existential meaning. That within itself is a wholly individual and subjective understanding, but with the entire world shouting out different theories, it becomes so difficult to know what works for the individual. At the same time, we are vulnerable to raw emotions, not yet jaded from hardship, and give our trust and entirety to those we first fall in love with. It is never easy to grow up, despite all backgrounds.
I would advise young women who are trying to find their place in the world to listen to THEMSELVES most of all while being objectively mindful of others’ opinions. Again, it is so hard to decide for yourself what is the best choice, the best opportunity, the best way to live, when society tries to get you to live a certain way… BUT in listening to your own heart, when time has passed, there will be a greatly minimized chance of a life regrettably lived. Don’t let fear of the unknown and others’ experiences be what stops you from trying for yourself. A story gone wrong is someone ELSE’s story, not yours. Bad things will inevitably happen at or away from home, so… go encounter life! 🙂
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
Currently, I go under the Instagram self-branding @xxmelodi. The “xx” is my signature sign-off, “kiss, kiss.”
I model, and try to lightly inspire others to be themselves and do what their heart calls on my Instagram page. Most of my work on Instagram is pretty creative. Modeling to me is also a form of self-expression, and I channel a lot of emotion I don’t let myself feel sometimes into the moods I show in front of a camera. I try to express my emotion through the eyes, which I believe are the most captivating aspects to a person and are also the first unconscious focal points humans look at.
Again, I am proud of KDP, my contribution to UC Irvine.
I think what sets me apart from others is my willingness to go and do what I really want to do. If I want to experience global cultures on my own, I will go do that and learn what is necessary to do so. If I want to learn a bunch of languages in my lifetime, I will do that. I also genuinely love to help and try my best to empathize so that I can find the best way to support and teach others.
What’s the most important piece of advice you could give to a young woman just starting her career?
Listen to your heart. Cheesy, but it is what it is.
Contact Info:
- Website: Coming soon!
- Email: melodiouspeaches@gmail.com
- Instagram: @xxmelodi
Image Credit:
@nathan.lobato, @nickramsayphotography, @tomdewh, @calop_, @isnt.it.interesting, @ladybaguette, @micafoto, @apolloawakens
Getting in touch: SDVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
