Maryse Selit Interview
Maryse Selit is a rare presence at the intersection of intellect, resilience, and artistic expression. An American entertainment lawyer and fashion model based in New York City, she has represented celebrities and C-suite executives in complex media and corporate transactions, negotiating multimillion-dollar deals at globally recognized firms including Proskauer Rose, Hogan Lovells, and Reed Smith.
Alongside her legal career, Maryse has cultivated a modeling practice grounded in editorial and conceptual storytelling. Her work explores visibility, authorship, embodiment, and emotional truth — shaped by lived experience, personal loss, illness, recovery, and spiritual and artistic practice. Rather than chasing surface aesthetics, she brings narrative gravity and psychological nuance to every frame, creating imagery that feels intentional, layered, and deeply human.
Interview with Maryse Selit
1. How did you first enter the world of modeling, and what motivated you to pursue it seriously?
I entered modeling shortly before and during law school, initially as an act of pragmatism—to fund my education. But within that necessity, something else surfaced. Modeling became a counter-narrative to the intellectual austerity of legal training. It offered a space where the body was not incidental, but central—where meaning was conveyed through presence rather than oral argument or the written word. When I entered Big Law and began working eighty-hour weeks as an associate attorney, that space collapsed and modeling, like many other forms of my self-expression, was suspended in service of duty and expectation.
2. How would you describe your personal style, both on and off camera?
On camera, my style leans toward restraint—clean lines, shadow, and a certain emotional austerity. I’m drawn to fashion as structure, as architecture for the body. Off camera, that rigidity dissolves. My private aesthetic is playful, almost childlike. I paint, design, and rearrange interiors, experimenting with abstract color and texture without attachment to outcome. Even while working as a lawyer, those practices were a form of quiet resistance—ways to preserve imagination inside a profession defined by precision and control. That contrast between discipline and playfulness continues to inform how I move through both life and fashion.
3. What does modeling mean to you beyond posing for the camera?
Modeling is a form of embodied authorship—an act of reconnecting with self through movement, stillness, and expression. It is not about decoration, but interpretation—translating concept into corporeal language. Beyond posing, it is attentiveness to space, breath, and presence. It allows vulnerability without spectacle and emotion without explanation.
4. Which type of shoots make you feel most confident or creatively fulfilled, and why?
Editorial and conceptual shoots fulfill me most—particularly projects that embrace darkness, ambiguity, and psychological tension. Fashion is most powerful when it resists easy clarity. As someone who has explored Abstract Expressionist painting, I’m drawn to narratives that live between control and collapse, elegance and discomfort. Those spaces feel honest.
5. How do you prepare mentally and physically for a shoot or runway show?
Preparation begins with grounding—rest, hydration, and mental clarity. I take time to understand the concept and remove distractions so I arrive fully present. After experiencing serious illness and loss, my relationship with my body changed profoundly. It became a mode of survival. My focus shifted toward strength, health, breath, and consciousness rather than external markers of success.
6. Have you faced challenges or misconceptions in the industry, and how have they shaped you?
There are always assumptions—about age, intention, appearance, and trajectory. I’ve learned not to fight them directly but to move through them quietly. My life has included extremes: poverty, scholarship, elite legal education, global law firms, entrepreneurship, deep loss, serious illness, and rebuilding. That breadth removes the need for external validation. It has shaped my work around discernment and authorship rather than approval.
7. What role does collaboration play for you when working with photographers, designers, and other creatives?
Collaboration is foundational. Fashion is collective construction. The strongest images emerge when ego recedes and intention aligns. I see each project as a dialogue where meaning is developed together, not imposed.
8. Is there a particular shoot or project that marked a turning point in your career?
The turning point was not a single shoot but a return. After devastating personal events and illness, much of what I had built fell away. During recovery, modeling re-emerged not as ambition but as lifeline—a source of renewed presence and creative identity.
9. What message or emotion do you hope viewers feel when they see your work?
I hope viewers feel something unresolved—strength alongside fragility. I want the work to suggest endurance rather than perfection. Discomfort, stillness, or recognition are enough. I’m more interested in opening emotional space than providing answers.
10. What are your current goals, and how do you envision the next chapter of your modeling journey?
My goal is to continue working with publications and creatives who value storytelling and artistic risk. The next chapter is about intention and depth. After being diagnosed with severe diabetes unexpectedly, my priorities shifted decisively toward health, fitness, and meaning. Modeling became part of that reclamation—a reminder of life, agency, and creative voice.
Maryse Selit brings uncommon depth to the modeling space — a presence shaped by intellect, survival, discipline, and creative courage. Her work stands apart for its emotional weight and conceptual clarity, reminding us that fashion imagery can be more than visual — it can be reflective, interpretive, and transformative. As she continues to align with projects that honor narrative and artistic risk, her trajectory points not just toward visibility, but toward lasting impact.
Female Model: MARYSE SELIT
@msn_straight_talk_
Photographer: Larry Ulesson Alves
@msn_straight_talk_
Hair Stylist: Kuki Alrawi
@kukiny
Makeup Artist: Rachel Skincare
@rachelskincarenj
