Model to Watch | Corey Baptiste Exclusive

Fol­low­ing our offi­cial intro­duc­tion to VNY model Corey Bap­tiste, we fol­low up with an inter­view before his fall cam­paign cast­ings are revealed.

Do you recall your first shoot?

Corey Bap­tiste: Def­i­nitely! It was crazy, fun, new, and excit­ing all at once. It was so new and I had so much to learn but Sean Kilkenny was great to work with and kept me laugh­ing the whole time. I remem­ber tak­ing one shot in par­tic­u­lar, Sean kept say­ing “give me face” and in my head, I was like “huh”, but I quickly learned that it was just his way of say­ing more inten­sity in the eyes, so I gave him what he wanted and the shot ended up being on the front of my com­p­card when I signed with VNY. It was def­i­nitely a fun shoot.

How would your friends describe you?

Corey Bap­tiste: My friends would describe me as goofy, silly, funny, and def­i­nitely corny. Most would say that I’m the life of the party or maybe even the class clown. I like to crack jokes, that’s what I do. I just love to make peo­ple laugh.

Photo by Henry Hargreaves

What was it like work­ing on the Visual Tales shoot? What was your reac­tion when you found out the concept?

Corey Bap­tiste: It was fun and incred­i­ble to work on the Visual Tales shoot. It was my first shoot for a mag­a­zine and truth­fully, I didn’t really know what to expect. My reac­tion to the con­cept was bet­ter than you would think con­sid­er­ing what I had on (the sus­penders the boxer-​​briefs) but I was all for it because it gave me the oppor­tu­nity to be silly and goofy for the shoot, some­thing that I love to be.

How has your back­ground shaped you?

Corey Bap­tiste: Hon­estly, me being part Trinida­dian, part Grena­dian, and grow­ing up in NYC has molded me to be respectable, con­sid­er­ate, strong, and ambi­tious. My island back­ground gives me a cer­tain “swag­ger” or flow and con­fi­dence that helps me in my every­day life. I would like to think that you could see it just by talk­ing to me.

Where do you cur­rently live?

Corey Bap­tiste: I live in Asto­ria, NY with my two friends, Ryan and Harry.

Photo by Sean Kilkenny

How did you meet Sean?

Corey Bap­tiste: Again, I met Sean through my man­ager, Bran­don. It was some­time in mid to late Novem­ber, two weeks before my first shoot with him. He was very out­go­ing, talk­a­tive, and funny as hell. Sean is def­i­nitely a char­ac­ter but a gen­uine guy and fun to shoot with.

How often do you shoot with Sean? Does prac­tice make perfect?

Corey Bap­tiste: I shoot pretty often. In between jobs, I like to test with Sean to keep my game up and yes, I do believe that prac­tice makes per­fect, which is why I try to shoot often. I learn some­thing new after every shoot I do.

How has your life changed in the last year?

Corey Bap­tiste: Wow! My life has changed so much in the last year. This time last year I was fin­ish­ing up high school. I was attend­ing John Jay Col­lege in Man­hat­tan last semes­ter when Bran­don dis­cov­ered me and threw me into this world of fash­ion. Then as soon as I signed with VNY, my career just sky­rock­eted — from cam­paigns to edi­to­ri­als, to now an exclu­sive inter­view with Fash­ion­isto, yeah my life has def­i­nitely changed a bit, it has been a blessing.

Photo by William Lords

What song rep­re­sents your life right now?

Corey Bap­tiste: I think Jay Z’s, “Star is born”, because I believe, with all that is hap­pen­ing right now, that my star is rising.

Are you cur­rently doing any­thing besides modeling?

Corey Bap­tiste: When I’m not mod­el­ing, I’m going to school and play­ing sports with my friends. I try my best to keep my mind and body active.

Inter­ests?

Corey Bap­tiste: My inter­ests are sports, music, travel, fam­ily, and friends. If I can put all of those things together, I’m a pretty happy per­son. As far as activ­i­ties go, I like bas­ket­ball, base­ball, and foot­ball. I fol­low the Knicks, the Yan­kees, and the Jets!

What does the future hold? Out­side of modeling?

Corey Bap­tiste: Hope­fully, the future will hold me as one of the most suc­cess­ful male mod­els in the world and a col­lege grad­u­ate with a degree in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice. Out­side of mod­el­ing, I would some­day like to be an actor. I think I would like to be that guy on the big screen that makes every­body crack up.