Winning Top Model of the Year Was Never the Finish Line
*Photo credits below
Now is the time, it seems, for you and I to meet and connect a little deeper on this page. Whether it's for a brief moment or much longer than either of us intended, I'm grateful you're here.
Our worlds have become much smaller. Within seconds we can discover one another from countries away, quickly scanning someone's life through a screen. Whether we agree with each other or not, I simply want to offer you my story, my experience, and the vision I'd like to spend my time building. If it resonates with you, I'd love for you to join me.
The inspiration behind writing another article after more than a year is because of Tricee Thomas and her beautiful organization, House of Patterns. Tricee and I have crossed paths through nonprofit work over the last few years thanks to one of my favorite influences in life, Dorina Bustamante.
This season of my life has brought together several roads I never expected to meet. My modeling career, the honor of being named Top Model of the Year for Phoenix Swim Week, the anti-human trafficking work I've done with Red Rover SOS, and the opportunity to build something alongside Tricee all seemed to arrive at the same moment.
I've come to believe that every platform eventually asks the same question: What will you do with what you've been entrusted with?
This platform is my opportunity to answer that question.
When I look back at some of the hardest moments of my life, one truth has remained: love and community are always bigger. They were the hands that helped pull me out of some of the darkest places I have known.
Part of my story includes living in a children's home for nearly four years after my mother's cancer returned and generational trauma fractured my family. That experience shaped the way I see people, community, and the responsibility we have to one another.
Helping others is woven into who I am because I would not be here without my village.
It's also why I recognize Tricee for who she is and why I believe so deeply in what she's building.
Some people teach you how to pose. Others teach you how to carry yourself long after the cameras are gone. I believe the greatest gift a creative community can give isn't just opportunity, it's discernment, confidence, and people who care enough to tell you when something doesn't feel right.
That is why House of Patterns matters.
In an industry where young people are often navigating ambition, rejection, travel, and opportunity all at once, community matters just as much as talent. Parents deserve to know their children are learning from people who care about who they become, not only what they accomplish.
When modeling continued finding its way back into my life, I began paying closer attention.
While building my portfolio in Arizona and traveling to Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Greece, and Dubai, I met extraordinary creative professionals who encouraged me, challenged me, and remain dear friends today.
Industries built on opportunity, relationships, travel, and visibility can attract people with very different intentions.
Both realities can exist at the same time.
Acknowledging that doesn't diminish the incredible professionals who make this industry beautiful. It gives us an opportunity to strengthen it.
Accepting the title of Top Model of the Year means more to me than receiving recognition. It gives me an opportunity to use this platform for something that reaches beyond myself.
instagram @heatherleih
This article isn't written to criticize the fashion industry.
It's written because I believe we owe the next generation something better than silence.
One of the first steps is a partnership between Red Rover SOS and House of Patterns to create proactive education for the fashion community around grooming, professional boundaries, predatory behavior, and healthy industry standards.
Our hope is to equip models, parents, photographers, designers, stylists, agencies, and creative professionals with practical tools that help them recognize healthy mentorship, establish clear boundaries, and identify warning signs before someone gets hurt.
Earlier this year I had the privilege of helping finalize a curriculum for caregivers working with children vulnerable to sexual exploitation and trafficking. That experience reinforced something I already believed:
Education is one of the greatest forms of prevention.
People are far better equipped to protect themselves when they have language for what they're experiencing before they find themselves isolated inside it.
This curriculum is built on that same belief.
The goal isn't to create fear. It's to create discernment, to help people recognize the difference between mentorship and manipulation, opportunity and exploitation, professionalism and inappropriate behavior.
None of us are responsible for another person's decision to exploit someone.
But each of us has the opportunity to shape a culture where professionalism, respect, accountability, and courage become the standard instead of the exception.
House of Patterns is more than a fashion and creative organization to me.
It's a community investing in people before they ever work their first set.
That's the kind of leadership I want to champion.
I built much of my world myself.
Some people still have my whole heart.
Others broke it.
Even so, I will never stop believing life is worth living.
This title simply gives me another opportunity to leave something better than I found it.
My hope is that we continue building a creative community where excellence and character are never separated.
Where parents feel confident.
Where young models know their worth.
Where creative professionals understand the influence they carry.
And where the next generation enters an industry that's healthier because we chose to have the conversations others avoided.
If that vision resonates with you, I hope you'll get to know Tricee Thomas and House of Patterns.
Support the people who invest in character as much as talent.
Follow the work we're building through Red Rover SOS.
Ask difficult questions.
Mentor generously.
And help us leave this industry better than we found it.
*Photo credits
Photographer: William Almendarez
H&MUA: Chantel Hardison
Location: Moontower Phoenix
Color Design: Veronique Munro,Infinity Sun
Production & Creative Direction: House of Patterns , Phoenix Swim Week