TWELV DIARY #18: Andrea Cronberg
NAME: ANDREA CRONBERG
OCCUPATION: MODEL
AGENCY: Red NYC, Elite Miami, Galatea Chicago
Between Miami and NYC my life has changed drastically since graduating high school in 2012. Growing up playing basketball and cheerleading I always thought I would go to college and play sports. I always had long blonde hair and after signing with a local agency in Chicago I thought this modeling thing could only be a hobby, however, after I cut my hair short and my career started becoming more and more of a full time gig. I was featured in Italian vogue and on billboards in time square and decided to travel to Miami as my first trip from home. I never thought I'd be traveling so far from home and actually enjoy it. I booked and opened the Wildfox Swim show in Miami my first swim week and they got me really excited the future. Shortly after I modeled overseas in Milan, it was a great experience but I was very homesick. Me and my mom came to NYC where I met agencies, got signed and a week later I was living in NYC. A friend set me up with a place to live so I didn’t have to do a model apartment. It was probably the best way to live, I met great friends who have become my family and really got to learn the city from true New Yorkers. My plan was to stay only two months, and now I’m coming up on my one year anniversary of living in NYC. TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN! Now back and forth, Miami has become a second home. Each time is a different experience but it just keeps getting better. I feel like I have family in many places after being on a volleyball team with the same team mates for 2 years now, we’ve really bonded and it feels good to be a part of something.
Growing up a “lake girl” from the Midwest I wasn’t the biggest fan of the ocean. But after learning to surf and paddle board, I’m such a little kid when it comes to playing in the waves. I hate sitting inside, no matter where I am the beach or a city street I love to walk around drinking a diet coke, listening to my country music. I will always be a Chicago girl at heart and I need to visit home and see my family who I'm very close with! We have a great support system and they come visit me all over the world too. My mom is my best friend! When I’m at home not modeling, I help my mom with her cleaning business. Sure cleaning houses isn’t the most glamorous of jobs but I wouldn’t trade it for anything, so many memories and laughs have been shared with me and my mom and it definitely keeps me grounded.
I have fell in love with my job, it's a great adventure I never complain about living in a shoebox apartment with 3 people or traveling it's what makes the experience. I collect a hat for myself and a magnet for my grandma every place I go. I still live the same life just with a different spin to the way I used to do it. I still go to church on Sundays it's just a little different everywhere you go. I still play sports to stay active and meet new people, and not to mention I still drive around and go fishing with my brother in my 1994 Honda Accord that my grandma gave to me when I was 16. Although I am only 19 and who knows what the future may hold, I will always go back to Chicago to see my brother’s baseball games and visit family. I'm a Midwestern girl to the core and no matter where I go and who I meet I enjoy it all!
WRITTEN BY: ANDREA CRONBERG
INSTAGRAM: @andreacronberg
