Iris Arellano Roldan
Iris Arellano Roldan is an 18-year-old second-year, first-generation student at the University of Minnesota studying pre-interior design. Arellano Roldan is the oldest sibling in her family, so she felt pressure to strive to be the perfect role model for her younger sister. Now, Iris is a model with aspirations to grow her own interior design company.
“I am very proud of myself. But I also feel a lot of pressure because I am the oldest daughter, so I’m literally like the first one. So it’s a little bit of a pressure. But I’m proud of myself and of my parents because they got me here.
I started modeling almost two years ago, a year and a half ago. And I started because since I was little, I’ve seen like — I don’t know if you know — the Nuestra Belleza Latina. It was a Hispanic pageant, and I would watch it on TV. It was like my dream when I was little, I was like ‘I’m gonna be on that show; I want to do that; I will be an actress; I want to do that.’
But then I started looking into modeling agencies and I got into one of them. The first one was called Privileged because I found that by myself. I did internships where they would teach you how to make portfolios. So I think that really helped me, like, be more consistent with stuff. And also my agency creates cards for me. So I don’t have to show my portfolio all the time. So I kind of know what I have to have.
It’s a little bit of an eye-opening experience [to be in my program], because everyone in my major was born here, and their parents were born here, and their parents went to college, and they know more than I do. There’s literally a girl in my class, her mom is an interior designer. So, she has every single step, and she knows what we’re doing. And I have to figure it out. I don’t live on campus. I am still at home. And with interior design, I noticed I kind of have to live here because you’re at the studio like 24/7 working on your projects. And I can’t do that, so I fall behind.
I think last semester, my big project for interior design was a lot of work. But I was really proud of myself because I finished it, I turned it in and I got a decent grade on it. So I was really proud of myself. I really thought I wasn’t gonna pass, but I did.
I want to continue modeling, that’s like, my main priority, but I also want to open my own interior design firm and just grow an interior design company. Yeah, I want to have my own thing.”
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
By Gabriel Castilho