I first became aware of Elise when seeing her in Loewe's 2021 Spring/Summer campaign.
After following her on Instagram I approached her asking if she would be open to speaking within my documentary and as the topic was something that interested her, she agreed to it.
We DM'ed back and forth about the subject matter and her personal experience so I could gain a deeper understanding of what she would be happy to speak about.
On Thursday 26th November we spoke over Skype for several hours for an informal interview.
Elise spoke about how her financial situation massively affects the way she works as a model.
"I think my experience working has been different to others because I am working class. I’m quite dependent on money.
"I have to know when my money is coming in or out and working in fashion means things can be last minute a lot of the time.
I worry quite a bit about money and then I worry that they’re gonna think I’m only doing it for the money.
If you come from a background where money isn’t an issue than obviously it doesn’t matter to you. I have to work out what money i’ll need for rent, what money i’ll need for food.
I haven’t got mummy or daddy to cover me so I can have fun with it."
Elise is unable to pursue modelling full time for a number of reasons. Financially she would not be able support herself on the income she earns from modelling alone.
"If I didn’t work full time as a chef I wouldn’t be able to depend of what I earn from modelling."
She spoke to me about how the area she lives in also affects her working chances.
"Maybe if I lived in London it would be different because I could go to 10 castings a day without having to spend upwards of 40 quid on travel every time."
Elise recognised quite early on that her behaviour stood out when working on jobs. She put this down to her upbringing.
"I think I act differently on jobs to other people there because of where I’ve come from and how I was brought up.
I just speak to people like they’re human beings which surprisingly is quite rare. I think I actually stand out for that though and it is a benefit to me.
I don’t treat people differently because of their status. I don’t go into a job and treat someone with a huge instagram following differently.
I think that comes from my class background though I think where I’m from we treat everyone equally and like family because a lot of us come from nothing."
Elise has big plans for the future. Although 2020 has affected everyones plans, she wants to continue working next year and grow her portfolio.
To hear more about the working class creatives working in the fashion industry look out for our radio documentary coming January 2021.