It’s been a while since I did a post on a Jersey City “Stylish peep” which is essentially what ChicpeaJC was initially going to be centered around…fashioniable people. Massiel, a Jersey City native is an actress and plus size model….Massiel and I have been Facebook friends for a while, and the first thing I thought whenever I saw her pictures is how stunning and confident she is. I had to meet her.
Massiel invited me over to her apartment in the Journal Square area. I thought this would be your normal run of the mill “What are you wearing?” post, but it actually turned out to also be a valuable lesson in self-esteem… Massiel is a vision, she is a natural beauty and so down to earth. Massiel is the first female I interviewed that didn’t have any makeup on and didn’t need it quite frankly…her personality makes her even more of a babe. I’ve never met a chick so self-aware, comfortable, and confident with themselves like Massiel.
What’s your name? Massiel Hernandez.
What do you do? I’m an actress, producer, and plus-size model.
And you were born and raised in Jersey City? Yes – I was born in Margaret Hayes hospital which is now closed, it’s now The Beacon. I lived in Greenville till I was 4, then I moved downtown and lived on Wayne & Brunswick street near Ferris high school, so most of my life I was there then I kind of moved around and when I came back I was like what the hell happened to Jersey City, in 2005 I came back and I was like where am I?
How do you feel its changed? It’s changed for the better, when I grew up here it was like I say no one would come to Jersey City… when I came back I was like wow, its nice, and I was proud to say I’m from Jersey City.
That’s awesome. It’s a different vibe but I love it, it’s a little bit more expensive but its nice, now people know where Jersey City is.
You have a positive outlook on that which I love! I think that the fact that it’s so expensive downtown, and the gentrification of course, but it’s the same with Brooklyn, Bushwick we used to not go there or Park Slope those places were dangerous…Even Williamsburg you just wouldn’t go there! It was dangerous – my funny story is Newport. You didn’t go down there it was just docks, and now its like ‘Newport’ (fancy voice)….
Do you have a favorite JC hangout spot? Oh… when I came back it was Taqueria, but I don’t think I have a favorite, I love LITM, I like going to Beechwood, I like everything that’s going on. Van Vorst park I like.
Anything around your home? (in Journal Square) There’s a Cuban bakery around the corner they have pretty decent food, it’s on Bergen avenue, it’s the only Cuban bakery on Bergen avenue.
What are you wearing? This is a heart dress from Forever 21, they have a plus size line that’s great… And Payless boots. Cheap and fun.
I love it – anything else you want people to know? I love life! I think there’s still this negative connotation about people who grew up here in Jersey City but there’s so many people and artist here and its amazing, and I still love my home town…. I also have a lot of big projects going on – I’m headed to LA in a few weeks.
What are you doing out there? Auditioning and producing, getting some funding for some projects I have coming up.
Any project that you can talk about? I’m doing a great short film from Canada called the Night Runner, that I’m supposed to be producing which I’m very excited about. It’s about a man who suffers from insomnia and he decides to help fight the insomnia he starts running at night, but certain things happen to him on this run… it’s a really interesting script. I’m also working on a documentary called “My Friend Greta” about this wonderful amazing movie star from the 50s… I’m doing a podcast with a friend of mine Karen Davis about working class artists. I am also executive producing a short film called “The Kids Menu” starring Vincent Pastore from the Sopranos.
Tell me more about what you do in modeling…I do plus size editorial work, fit modeling… in fashion production, before the clothing goes to the store, they have it tried on actual woman, so I work for one particular costume company and I try on costumes… the sexy cop, the bumble bee (that was my favorite one) I did some print stuff for a hospital and other things. It pays well, so it helps supplement the acting and producing.
How did you get into plus size modeling? I met another plus size actress model and she was like “you should try to do this!” And the first person I took pictures with is a well-known plus size publisher, his name is Lucas Jones, and from there I just kind of ran with it, and the same with acting too.
How do you feel about being a plus size model? I love it!! I mean right now is the best time in the industry, it’s totally revolutionizing what people think, were getting away from this sort of mentality that you have to be this tiny little woman to be healthy. I’m pretty healthy you can check my refrigerator and I eat a lot of healthy stuff, I work out, I just happen to have this body. It’s a great time right now, we’ve got great role models, helping us not to worry about our size and shape. I worked as a fashion producer and the things I would hear, like cotton ball diets where the girls would eat cotton balls to fill themselves.
I’ve never heard of that!!! Yeah it’s to fill themselves up so they don’t eat…. It’s really crazy the things you hear or just girls not eating its like just eat what you want, be you, if you’re not a size 2 it’s not the end of the world you know, you don’t have to be 6 ft tall and a size 2 and look like a gazelle, you are beautiful the way you are. There’s so many great plus size role models now like Tess Munster, she’s amazing and in LA – just people recognizing it more and more. I’ve always been plus size, from an early age, and at first I was embarrassed, luckily I grew up in the 90s so lots of flannel baggy tom boy clothes were popular but now I can go get a dress in my size and not worry about it and not feel like ugh…. I used to just buy accessories a lot when I was younger, there weren’t many clothes in my size I’d have to go to sears… who wants to ever go to Sears.
You have a great outlook I love that – you’re so confident. What else am I gonna do – you put up or you shut up that’s all I say – its definitely one of those things where I think you know there’s nothing wrong with you – if you feel like you need to improve that’s great but improve your outlook and your mentality first before anything else. The problem nowadays with young women is the are so busy trying to fix this (looks) to fit into something, to have someone love them, to fill that hole… instead of thinking what do I need, I need to make myself whole before I go out there in the world. I feel the same thing with relationships; I’m not looking for anyone until im good and solid.
Its true – if you truly don’t fully love yourself, you can’t expect people to truly love you. And if you don’t love yourself you’re going to attract some ugly things. If you think of yourself as ugly you will attract that. So just work on you, I tell people to work on themselves and not gravitate to things, things are not going to help you. I’m a minimalist too, I don’t like to buy things to make me happy – I used to love to shop until my credit cards maxed out, but it wasn’t actually making me happy – it was making me happy for a second, and then its done. So its like what do I need to work on? I need to work on me and myself and loving myself and then go out in the world.
A lesson in self-esteem. I love it!
Love, love, love this article!!