Maurisa Selene Coleman – Model, Mogul, Mentor…

She Does it All 

Gorgeous of face, fabulous figure…one might think that Trinidadian native; Maurisa Selene Coleman just might be a little bit difficult to deal with. One could not be further from the truth. Do not get me wrong. Maurisa has every right to be a stone cold diva. There is no doubt that she is “Thee Total Package,” and my late mother’s comment (cliché though it is), “If you got it, flaunt it,” would certainly apply to Maurisa. But, no.

In the UK, Maurisa Selene Coleman is a huge… I am going to say household name. She has taken the modeling world by storm, but that’s not all. The five foot seven beauty is a high fashion model, an actress, a choreographer, a beauty queen, an entrepreneur, and a philanthropist. Maurisa, married to handsome and debonair actor and writer, Doug Coleman, is sought after not only for her gorgeous face and fabulous figure, but also for her grace, her class, and her humility. I had the privilege of talking to Maurisa for about an hour and I came away with a glimpse of her heart. She is elegance. She worked hard for everything she has achieved. She is appreciative of those who supported and encouraged her and instead of riding off into her “happily ever after,” Maurisa has a huge burden for young women and a great desire to give back. It doesn’t get any better than that folks.

Maurisa chuckles when she tells me that she did not embark on her modeling career until she was 24. Most young women are told to start pursuing modeling early while they are in their teens, and Maurisa certainly could have. Clearly she must have been a gorgeous teen. Right?

 

Maurisa and her mother moved to London from Trinidad when she was four, but she spent many of her formative years in both countries.  She makes it very clear, “I love both my countries, immensely. Both have made me who I am. I love my Trini accent and flair for drama, and I love my British sense of never settling.” She says Agents would follow her around London as a teen. They would literally chase her on the street, but her mom was having none of it.  “My mother,” she says, “was a hard working single mom. She wanted me to get a degree. The goal was for me to be a doctor, a lawyer, or an accountant; anything that would generate a steady income. She wanted what she thought was best for me.  Something stable.”

Maurisa took her first job as a receptionist at a major hotel, but she was blessed with brains as well as beauty. Sharp, hardworking and eager to learn, she progressed quickly. She became the manager of a 274-bed hotel in East London at a very young age; no small feat for a young woman.  I hear pride and a little bit of incredulity as if she cannot herself believe how she did it, but she moves easily into teaching mode as she describes those early challenges and how she persevered.

“I had a great mentor,” she says. My manager, more like a close friend, or even a brother, taught me a lot. He had faith in me. At the time, customer service at this particular hotel was failing. The numbers were awful, but I had a plan. When I started there were over 92 employees.  Before it ended, most of them were gone. It wasn’t easy,” she says, “and it certainly wasn’t because I just wanted to let people go. They didn’t want to follow the rules. It may have been because they didn’t want to follow such a young woman. In any case, I had three team leaders that stuck with me, and when I tell you… we worked, we worked, and then we worked some more.”

Maurisa tells a story of hard work. She and her team worked around the clock. We had to cleanse the hotel staff,” she says, “and I had to get new staff in.” If anyone wasn’t on board with providing exceptional customer service, they had to go, and I was determined that new hires had to be on board too.”

She was personally involved in every hiring decision and most of the training too. Triumph. “And we did it! We were the dream team. We were killing it!” You can hear the pride in her voice. “We won awards, but the best reward was having a part in the development of other leaders. That pride that you feel when you know that you were a block for others to stand on. It’s ridiculous-you can’t wait to do it again.”

Maurisa gets a little quieter as she recounts the next part of the story. It seems that people wanted to question her abilities. Rumors. Because she was a young female, people wanted to know how she got the job. “I worked my ass off!” she says. I can feel the anger-mixed with pain and hurt. We all know the story; haters are going to hate. Maurisa ended up leaving her hotel, leaving her team. She took the first job offer she received, a management position with Hilton Hotels, but she wasn’t happy. It wasn’t fair.

She was depressed. She and her mentor weren’t close any more (therumors prevented it). Not only had she lost her dream job, but she lost her friend and her brother too. The job at the Hilton was a piece of cake compared to her previous role, but Maurisa’d thrived on the challenge. This new position was too easy and she nearly lost it because her heart truly wasn’t in it. Finally her boss talked to her and let her know that she had hired her because she had a reputation. She said, “I hired you because you are brilliant.” Maurisa, never one to let anyone down, pulled it together. She was able to turn it around, but the hotel business had lost its luster.

 

She was stressed. She needed an outlet, and she needed to heal. She decided to try modeling. She continued to work and to deliver at the Hilton, but she began doing shoots on the weekends. Maurisa laughs (in a way that  says she can’t believe she did that) when she tells me that she Googled “How to be a model.” She sheepishly tells me how she lost 1500 pounds in a scam. She paid for photos but the photos were crap. She was out a lot of money and had no real prospects. Perseverance.

With tons of confidence, a lot of courage, and plenty of faith, Maurisa continued to pursue her dream of modeling. I asked Maurisa about faith. She immediately told me that she has a firm and unshakeable belief in God. Faith. “I’ve seen miracles,” she said, “anytime I have ever thought that I was going to drown (you know those times), He shows up. He always shows up to save me.”

Around this time, she tells me, she fell completely in love with Tyra Banks. She watched America’s Next Top Model religiously, not for the models though. “I watched the show to hear Tyra’s advice. Every piece of advice she gave those girls, I applied it to myself.” I learned to impress make-up artists, photographers, and stylists. I began to get callbacks.

A few months later, maybe six or seven months, she was working for the Hilton Monday through Friday, and working the catwalks on weekends. “I’m talking some really, really dinky little clubs, underground, and for free,” she laughs, “I paid my dues, but I learned from every single gig. I learned to network. I vowed to be the model that they wanted to work with. I wanted to be “The Model.”

Determination. “You see,” she says, “I had to be the best. I had to be number one. I was born that way. I studied and I paid attention to the things people hated. I didn’t do those things. I paid attention to the things they loved, and I didn’t do those things. I did them better!”

Around this time, Maurisa was still at the Hilton, and she was still unhappy. She was hitting her targets and her boss was pleased, but with working and trying to be true to herself, her marriage was suffering, and that needed attention too. “He sold his house and we got a brand new, beautiful apartment. I quit my job, and we started rebuilding again.”

“Alot of people thought I was mental at first” she says, “But I needed to save myself. I had done a whole lot, all my life, to please others. I wanted to make other people proud, but I hadn’t done anything for myself.” She says that Doug was fully supportive. “He figured it would make me happy,” she says. Love.

“I figured I’d give it a year.”

Within one month, it started to happen. “See,” she says, “God is real. I was all in. My portfolio was ready, and I was freaking out. I was impatient, but I hadn’t long to wait. McLaren Technologies found me!” Excitement.

She did not even have a professional email address. “No one else wanted to see me,” she moans and then I hear the most infectious laughter. Joy.

She got the role. The rest, as they say, is history. The campaign went everywhere. Maurisa Selene Coleman’s face became synonymous with McLaren Technology. In 2014, she represented Scotland and Wales in the Mrs. World Pageant, winning in November of the same year. She has been crowned Miss Arabbelles Americas and nominated for numerous awards including Best Female Model, Beauty Queen of the Year, and Role Model of the Year, just to name a few.

In addition to representing McLaren Technologies, she is also the face of designer brands such as Krisp women’s clothing, Lace and Beads in association with the House of Fraser and top UK mas band Bacchanalia. She has starred as the lead in several shorts including “Dirty Black Cab” and channel 4’s ‘Humans’ which took her face all the way to the cinema screens. Deemed professional, dynamic, easy to work with and creative in her own right, Maurisa is sought after by photographers and stylists alike.

Maurisa continues to expand her empire. At a very young age, she dreamed of running her own business. She quickly discovered that being a full time model was never going to be enough for her. She was full of energy, full of ideas and she knew she had the know how to make things happen. MaurisaColeman, Inc. was born.

“I am best at fixing,” she says, “I always knew that.” First, she designed her corporation to act as a management tool, to umbrella all of the talents that she herself was selling to the fashion and film industries, then MaurisaColeman, Inc. created Maurisa Selene Coleman (MSC) – Events, as a subsidiary branch to supply a high level of tailored events management. MSC Events supplies everything from the first meet to strategize, to the very last curtain call, with the meetings planned in accordance with each client’s needs.

“I refuse to sell packages,” she says, “My clients know best what they need. I am there to guide and supply.”  Within a year, other creatives came to Maurisa for advice and help with contracts and with the simple basics of running a business. MaurisaColeman – Management Services was created to afford other creatives a reliable source to go to for their every business need. “Currently, we manage several writers, providing them with full editing services and advising on book launches. We are also taking on board some designers to help them push their branding and sales worldwide.”  Filming soon followed suit, and Black Panther Productions was born as a sister company to create corporate and short films.

“Both my babies (the companies) will continue to expand. My reasoning? Why not? If it can be done then it will be done at MSC Incorporated. If we don’t have it in-house, then we’ll find it for you.”  And, that is exactly what she is doing. “I am building an Empire. It’s not a joke; I’ve never really been a playful kid. And my partner, in life and in business, is the best I could ever ask for. So yes, Douglas and Maurisa Coleman…are building an Empire.”

 

It seems as if everything changed in the blink of an eye, but beauty and talent, notwithstanding, our golden girl is making it happen, and she is still “Giving” to achieve her goals. She is a choreographer, an entrepreneur, and a role model. I asked her what advice she would give to young people wanting to follow in her footsteps.

“Go on social media,” she says, “Look for the absolute best photos, and then look at the comments. If you see stuff like “Stunning, awe-inspiring, or amazing,” you probably have a serious photographer who is serious about his craft.”

“On the other hand,” she says, “If you see comments like “Dude, she’s banging,” or “I know you’re hitting that,” you’re probably dealing with an amateur who has the wrong friends. Steer clear.”

“Collaborate with the best,” she advises, “No new photographers. And please don’t make my mistake. Don’t get scammed. Reputable agencies don’t charge you money. If you have it, use your money to pay a great make-up artist and a photographer. Invest in some brilliant photos and don’t be shy! Ask for advice!”

But the best advice she has for young folks? The gospel. “He is there,” she says, “He cares.”  She goes on to say that even when your heart is heavy, God is right there saying, “Every burden. I will bear every burden.” She tells me that whenever she feels like there is something that she can’t bear, when things get too heavy for her to handle, she asks God to hold it for her, and He does.” Strength.

Life changed for Maurisa. It’s a whole new world. Glamour. Luxury. Fame. Fortune. She credits God and she credits her mother and her husband. She notes the support, the encouragement, and the sacrifices that they have made for her to pursue her dreams. Beauty, brains, talent, faith… All the stuff that dreams are made of, and yet, Maurisa has a heart to serve others.

She tells me about her charity, Plan International, and why it means so much to her. “We all know that there is evil in the world,” she says, “and we’ll be saddened by some incident or other, but it doesn’t really touch us because it’s happening somewhere else. But it does touch us,” she says, “It impacts us.” Passion.

 

So apart from giving money, what do we do? “Awareness is key,” says Maurisa. While she is aware that there are many, many worthwhile causes to support, she has a special burden for young girls. “Imagine someone telling a young girl, “You’re never going to make it. You’re never going to be anything!  People said that to me, but I was also blessed to have people to raise me up. So, those of us in this position to stand on a platform…we must work together to clear the way for the others to not only follow…but to be better. Not everyone has a person to lift them up….that’s what I’m here for…that’s what we are here for.”

It is Maurisa’s heart to pour into young women; to help them see their beauty, their talent, their potential. She would like to see the young ladies that she touches to soar, to realize their dreams just like she has. She is very careful to say that it is not her desire to. “Create girls just like me.”

But I see a real life example of a compassionate and loving heart, a beautiful spirit wrapped in a gorgeous package, and I think to myself… well, why not?Author

You can reach Maurisa on FB Maurisa Colman | Maurisa Coleman Incorporated | Web | Email

CaribDomain Author & Sr Editor ~ Connie Spruill, CEO MyGirlfriendzPlace