The Swarm: Sessilee Lopez

My journey into modeling started as a child. I was born and raised in Philadelphia, but I’m from a divorced family, so I grew up between Philly, where my dad lives and Florida, where my mom lives. My father is of Portuguese decent and my mom is of Dominican decent. But I look at myself as just Sessilee, an American girl from Philly. I absolutely adore my parents. My father, who works as a police officer, is incredible. I can say the same about my mom. It was while staying with her that I caught the modeling bug. As a young girl, I’d organize my own test shoots by wearing pretty outfits and posing behind palm trees. I look at them now and laugh because it looks like “America’s Next Top Model” gone wrong! I was trying to pose how I thought a high fashion model would.