A 16-year-old Barna girl who has harboured dreams of becoming a fashion designer since she small has been signed to one of the biggest modelling agencies in Ireland.
Serena O’Connell has already done fashion shoots for the buyers of Tommy Hilfiger and Calvin Klein, taken part in a makeover segment for TV3’s Xposé and been chosen to do a makeup campaign for the cosmetics company Urban Decay. 
The Transition Year student at Dominican College (Taylor’s Hill) only signed up to the Andrea Roche Model Agency in October after auditioning at an open day. She was invited to do training at a boot camp which paved the way for paid work.
She decided to give it a go after people were always suggested she was cut out for the industry.
“People always noticed my height and said I’d be good at modelling. I’m just under 5’11”. A lot of people say I’m like Kendall Jenner or Selena Gomez.”
Insisting that she’s “not super-skinny like the New York models” – her profile page lists her as size 8 – she says her height does make her stand out in the Irish industry.
So far the experience has proved very positive.
“I’ve only just started out but everyone’s so nice, everyone’s so energetic. I’ve love to do it while I’m at school and college.”
Models that she admires includes Gigi Hadid, Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn.
Despite her auspicious start in the game, modelling would not be her first love.
Rather, she wants to become a fashion designer, a desire she nurtured as a child when she would design dresses for her dolls. 
When she was eight, her mother, Maura O’Connell, organised for her to meet designer John Rocha, who was in Fallers Jewellers to launch his collection of Waterford Crystal.
“He said I had to learn to draw really well. When it came to organising work experience I wrote to him and sent him a picture of us from that day and sent a portrait I drew of him as well as a few of my designs and he invited me to work in his studio for a week.”
She got advice from the team about building up her portfolio to apply for fashion design courses in Dublin or Limerick. Ideally she would love to study and then get experience in the fashion hot bed of London.
Modelling could well be the perfect way to get on the inside track to a notoriously competitive industry.
“You get loads of contacts through modelling so I hope it will be really helpful. I’d love to work with big designers.” 
Her favourite shop in town is Top Shop but she also loves to browse in Brown Thomas. Her school friends think her newfound career is “really cool”.
“They’re not really into that stuff – it’s just something that I do.”
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