Kamea Quetti-Hall
Kamea Quetti-Hall
Who:
Kamea Quetti-Hall -- @04kamea_ -- 5'9” -- from Massachusetts.
Where:
Los Angeles
Agencies:
Redefining Beauty with Confidence and Community
Kamea’s story moves with intention. She grew up in a small Massachusetts town, chose a one hundred percent need met college to avoid debt, worked three campus jobs, captained the volleyball team, and then built a modeling career on her terms. The same discipline that got her to California guides her now. She prizes clarity over noise, character over image, and service over herself. What follows is a portrait of a woman who speaks up, shows up, and stands out because she lives her values out loud.
The Origin: “Nobody’s gonna speak up for you, especially if you don’t speak up for yourself.”
Kamea traces her voice to instinct. “I have always been a little bit headstrong, a little bit stubborn, and a little bit protective of myself.” She is comfortable with having direct conversation. “I have never had an issue with confrontation. To me, it does not feel like an argument. It feels just like a conversation and me trying to understand the why.” That instinct sits beside family and heritage she names openly. Growing up surrounded by many strong women taught her independence, willpower and work ethic.“I am Jamaican. My dad always says, you are Jamaican, no one can mess with you. Jamaican people are very headstrong, but they also have an internal confidence and pride in themselves.” Her working mantra is practical. “Think about the facts and not the feelings,” especially in work and school. And her method is learned. “Write out a little script… the first draft could be angry… then refine, refine, refine until you are happy with what you are going to say.” This habit of clear voice is what positioned her to recognize real opportunity when it arrived.
The Discovery: “I am sixteen and out of the car comes Phil Sullivan from America's Next Top Model.”
Her break began on Main Street. “A car drives by me, screeched to a stop… out of the car comes Phil, "a contestant from the latest season of" AMNT from America's Next Top Model. He gets out and he is like, Who are you, you need to model.” Phil Sullivan became a mentor and mother agent, bringing her to New York and opening doors. The path was never blind compliance. At sixteen she decided to focus on school but kept in touch with Phil for the future. At eighteen she sat with an agency that said, “We love you, we want to sign you, but you have to lose twenty pounds and quit volleyball.” Her response was immediate. “I am not quitting volleyball. I am not counting calories. That is not me.” Years later in Los Angeles, when an agency asked for two thousand dollars “to add myself to their website and for comp cards,” she trusted her instincts, called Phil, and moved on to real partners at Other Peoples Children and Misfit Model Management. Kamea always had faith that modeling would align when the time was right, without having to give up her other passions or change her appearance drastically. It is a pattern she owns. Health over haste, substance over shortcuts, preparation before opportunity.
The Learnings: “Beauty is the least important thing about you.”
Kamea was raised to value substance over appearance which both humbled and challenged her. Her mom often said “yes, you are beautiful, but that is not who you are… that is the least important thing about you.” The message shaped her early wrestling with modeling and her current clarity. “I almost came to know my beauty through other people,” she admits, especially growing up tall and often one of the few Black girls in the room. She is actively rewriting the script. “Now I am trying to reverse this mindset and be like, wow, you are beautiful, and pick out little things I like about myself.” The upside of this upbringing: radical empathy. “It’s very hard for me to see someone as ugly—unless it’s in their spirit.” She reads character before face, brings discipline to the craft, and lets looks be a tool, not the headline. The work has depth because the person behind it does.
The Impact: “Showing up for the people that you love.”
Self care, for Kamea, begins in community. “I used to think self care was just light a candle and put a face mask on, and that is not really my jam. For me, self care has been finding community.” This year she stepped into faith and presence. “I joined a church in February… I got baptized in April,” and she chose “a no alcohol year” to meet social life with full attention. After a reclusive first year in Los Angeles she decided, “Something has got to change. This is not the way we are meant to live our lives.” Joy looks like small, specific love. “That makes me so happy… to be a listening ear, to remember the small details,” from surprise flowers to the exact chocolate a friend mentioned. She gains perspective on pickleball courts and on the pages of her writings. She plays weekly pickleball with elders and she writes constantly because “writing is very therapeutic… it helps me see the facts and reflect on how I was actually feeling.” Her book in progress, The Twenty Something Project, exists so readers “know you are not behind, you are not alone.”
Kamea’s arc is consistent. Voice became habit because she practiced it. Craft became career because preparation met serendipity. Beauty became background because character leads. And community became wellness because service supports her. For young creatives, her advice is straightforward. Develop yourself deeply, protect your boundaries, and show up for your people. The image, talents and work will speak, but the life underneath them is what lasts.