Suana Callum is more than just a pretty face
Published:Friday | May 17, 2024 | 12:05 AMShanel Lemmie/Staff Reporter
While the public may catch a glimpse of her captivating visage on the Le Champ Cosmetics billboard at the intersection of Constant Spring Road and Dunrobin Avenue, Suana Callum is more than just a pretty face. Seeking to embody the adage ‘a Jill of many trades’, Callum is not only a model, but also a pageant and etiquette coach, a race car driver, the face of a cosmetics brand and perfume line, and an aspiring medical doctor.
From as early as she can remember, she wanted to help people. Building on that desire, she quickly came to the conclusion that she wanted to be a doctor.
Always a fan of TV medical dramas, Callum was nine years old when she saved her first life. In her hometown of Montego Bay, Callum witnessed a car crash and, according to her, performed CPR on a distressed man using techniques she had learned from TV.
Recalling the moment, she said: “There was a car accident, and he couldn’t breathe. Everybody was just staring, and I saved the guy’s life.”
From that moment onward, her path seemed clear - until a few years later, when another of her great loves, high heels, led her to pursue a career in modelling.
“I started modelling at 13 [years old]. It really began with the heels. That pretty much pushed it. Heels, I will forever love, loved it since I was a baby. So I wanted to know how I could use my [high] heels and turn it into a career or monetise it. Then my mom [suggested] modelling, beauty pageantry, stuff like that. So that’s what I did.”
Taking the plunge immediately, Callum says her early years were filled with rejection.
“Some of them were like ‘You’re too short’. I’m, like, 5’ 6 and a half, bear in mind,” she told Living, referring to the industry officials who denied her entry early on.
“So they were saying they can’t accept me and then it was ‘Oh your boobs are too big, so you have to do a breast-reduction surgery. Mind you, I was 13 years old, and they were telling me those things, so instantly, I was flabbergasted. I obviously felt like it’s probably not for me, and maybe I should do ‘a normal job’, but I didn’t. I actually did some research and I realised freelancing was actually a good way to go, so that’s what I did, and from 13 to now, 22 years old, I’ve been doing that. And, it’s been going extremely well.”
While most of her time outside of school was dedicated to modelling, Callum’s parents, who both have an affinity for cars, began exposing her to the world of racing.
“It was my mom again. She raced back in the day. My dad’s a mechanical engineer back in the UK, so it kind of just started from them. Seeing it as a kid you’re easily influenced but then you lose interest. For me, I never lost interest. So really and truly, it started from my parents, I just decided to take it more seriously than they did. I fell in love with the speed. I love the adrenaline. Just going fast and breaking records. I love that.”
Now a proud member of the Jamaica Karting Association, in some circles, Callum is known as the ‘Queen of Speed’.
Having her hands in several proverbial cookie jars at once, Callum explains that her ambitions have always been fuelled by deep passion.
“Initially, it was only modelling, and then I fell in love with pageantry, and I found out that it was a totally different thing. The way you carry yourself, the way you walk, the way you dress. Then I fell in love with racing, and I decided that I’m not going to do 50,000 things and not do any of them properly. Everything that I’m doing I craft it in a way that makes sense.”
In hopes of guiding other women through the myriad choices available to them, Callum launched the ‘Suana Callum School of Modeling and Etiquette’ last November.
“I know the struggle when it comes to height, size, weight, and all that stuff. At the time, there were no other schools like this in Jamaica, and people were always asking me for training. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do and been doing, but I wanted it on a bigger platform.
She continued: “The end goal is really to guide aspiring models the right way. What you need, what you don’t need, what you do and what you don’t do. Just the experience before you get inside the actual modelling world.”