Escaping the Hood A Profile in Succeeding and Giving Back

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Brian E. Sibley, 24, a former King College Prep High Student competed and won the first-ever, Face of Men’s Fashion Week, LA.
Brian E. Sibley, 24, a former King College Prep High Student competed and won the first-ever, Face of Men’s Fashion Week, LA.

Chicago Native son, Brian Sibley, 24, also known as "Kells,'' is not your typical male model. The former King College Prep High School student stands out because he says, he's not in the business just for fame and fortune, but because the opportunities he's afforded as a model, might allow him to positively impact Chicagoland youth.

Sibley was saddened he said, to hear about the death of Hadiya Pendleton and other children who lost their lives to gun violence.

"I could easily continue to live my life in California and act as if Chicago (and the state of it) didn't exist but I won't do that," Sibley said adding that he'd specifically like to work with Little Black Pearl Workshop and Cease Fire and the organization's Executive Director, Tio Hardiman.

Sibley realized early on, his keen sense for fashion, but couldn't afford to keep up with the trends. However, a girlfriend at his church that encouraged him to pursue modeling.

"She was already a model and asked me to consider it," Sibley said. "All I knew about was Tyson Beckford; he was the most famous African American male at that time."

Sibley found his way to his current home in Los Angeles by way of Detroit.

"I had a cousin who told me that Detroit was the fashion capital of the U.S.," Sibley said. "I talked to my mom (Karen Wilson). We had family there so we moved there at the end of my freshman year in 2008 but my mother hated it."

A family friend recognized Sibley was a good kid and he took him to Silver Fox Furs in Detroit.

"I met the owner and he said if you want to model we have a commercial shoot coming up. I showed up for the commercial and still photography shoot," Sibley said.

Fast forward three or four months, the photo-shoot no longer on his mind, Sibley while playing basketball one day received a frantic telephone call from his mother. She was hysterically telling him about photographs she saw of him in a well-known Detroit magazine.

"My mom was at the beauty shop flipping through a magazine and she didn't know about the still shots and came across them," Sibley said. "I see my phone and it was ten missed calls from her. She was yelling in the beauty shop. I told her this is the start of it. When I got back to school, the girls were reacting to seeing me in the "Native Detroiter" magazine."

Sibley eventually moved to California to join the Navy and continue his pursuit of a modeling career. Recently he competed and won the first-ever, Face of Men's Fashion Week, LA. As such, he'll serve as the official brand ambassador for the event in Oct. His duties will include hosting a red carpet event, networking, increasing brand awareness in the menswear community, media interviews and press meetings.

"After competing, I found out May 6 that I won," Sibley said. "I am enjoying the status. We haven't done any press as yet. I'm going to judge a men's wear designer competition June 15 in Hollywood, California. I'm looking forward to everything this ambassadorship entails. On Jan. 1, 2014, I will have my first major modeling contract with Slater Model Management.

Sibley's mother, referred to her son leaving Chicago and making a name for himself, as "escaping."

"I wouldn't call it escaping," Sibley explained. "I was used to my environment. I will just say I was blessed to see that there was more outside of Chicago. I was going through a lot when I was 17. My mom worked in Milwaukee, Wis. and I was in Chicago and had that big house to myself. I turned to a life of things that I never want to turn back to."

Sibley said the people with guns don't know what they're doing when they destroy lives.

"That's why I'm in this, so that I can uplift Chicago," he said. "I want to team up with Mr. Derrick Rose (Chicago Bulls), to do outreach. I think he has the influence power and motivation that people want to see. But he's quiet and soft spoken."

Sibley said he's not looking to make a bunch of money and just spend it.

"I want to build full gymnasium for John Smith School, Elementary School in Hyde Park. If it wasn't for basketball, I wouldn't have gotten through it. If you don't learn to buckle down you won't succeed."

By Deborah Bayliss

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