‘All you need is confidence’
Peyton Kiley Saige balances modeling, waitressing and college as she pursues her dream
It is a busy Saturday night at Babytuna in the Santa Clarita Valley and 20-year-old Peyton Kiley Saige is in the middle of her night shift and taking orders at a table of two.
“May I please have two orders of shumai, a California roll, and some extra soy sauce on the side?” the customer asks. Saige hurriedly writes the order and smiles.
“Anything else?”
“No, that’ll be it.”
Saige smiles once more. “Ok then, I will have that right out for you.”
She brings the order to the sushi chef and watches as he pins it to the line of orders. She can already tell that she will be getting out late tonight, which doesn’t help that tomorrow she has to wake up bright and early for her morning modeling shoot or that she still has homework to complete. As she continues to help and serve customers with a smile, none of the restaurant patrons are aware that the smile they see is one that will probably be plastered up on billboards one day.
Although Saige works at the sushi restaurant to make ends meet, her dream is to model for a major makeup company and get the exposure she needs to one day open up her very own Asian makeup line.
Saige began her modeling journey in late September of 2018 and has been in love with it ever since. Her modeling influences include Rihanna, Ashley Graham, Winnie Harlow, and Nyakim Gatwech.
“All of these models or model figures have something very unique and different about them,” Saige said. “They challenge the idea of a ‘perfect model’ in the eyes of society and help advance the term ‘model’ and who and what can be a model into a more developed and open-minded standpoint.”
In the short span of two and a half years, Saige has managed to work with big brand names such as Smashbox Cosmetics, American Apparel, Xbox series X, Otterbox, Tweezerman, and Sketchers, and she continues to book more and more gigs.
However, just seeing her face in those advertisements does not fully represent all the work and long hours she has put into achieving those final products.
Typically, Saige wakes up anywhere between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. and begins getting ready for her call time. After a quick breakfast and throwing on some clothes, she is out the door and in her car to drive from her home in Santa Clarita to the shoot location. Most of the time, this is in downtown Los Angeles. Of course, though, her morning isn’t complete without a little coffee from Starbucks.
Once she arrives at the shoot location a quick COVID-19 test is done, so that she can go in and do her job while remaining safe. She greets everyone with a sweet “hello” and a smile as she makes her way to the hair and makeup chair. This alone can take up to three hours.
After all that, it is lights, camera, and pose for this model. Pose after pose can end up taking anywhere from three hours to 10 hours. Still, these long hours do not compete with a swim shoot that she once did, where she was hopping back and forth from an ice cold pool to a heat lamp from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. in the middle of winter.
Once the job wraps, she is back in her car to slowly push through the traffic of the 5 Freeway.
Her car slowly rolls into her driveway and she can see on her iPhone that it is now 8 p.m. She gets situated in her bedroom and then begins to work on her homework.
Unlike most established models, Saige is balancing every aspect that comes with being a young adult.
“I have so many different things going on in my life,” she said. “I have school, modeling, collaborations, waitressing, a kitten, family, friends, and a boyfriend, myself, and social media, which takes so much time and energy out of me.
“I try to excel in every aspect of my life and make sure I am being the best for everyone in my life, which can be emotionally draining and hard, but always worth it,” Saige continued. “I am a very ambitious person and will always give my all in everything I do to succeed and be the best I can personally be in that thing, whatever it may be.”
Despite working with all these big names, at the end of the day, Saige is just a normal girl who is navigating herself through life.
With all of these new responsibilities falling onto her plate, so did an extraneous need for money in order to live the life she wants to live.
“Modeling is not a secure thing unless you are Bella Hadid or Kendall Jenner,” she said. “Some models are able to move to LA and do it full-time, while others are not. In my case I choose to waitress as a backup plan just in case I don’t book a job for some reason, I still have money to pay my bills and do what I want.”
This kind of hard work and hustle explains why those close to her believe she will make it onto billboards one day.
“Peyton is probably the hardest worker I have seen besides my mother,” says Daniel Bennett, Saige’s boyfriend. “She is going to LA probably five days a week for a shoot or audition. Besides going out to model, she also makes videos at home for her TikTok to get more views on Instagram. She is always striving to reach her end goal, which is greatness. I am beyond proud of everything she is doing and did in the past.”
As of now, Saige is in contact with an agency in Japan to be signed over there and spend some time modeling internationally.
In response to Saige’s newfound success, Saige’s friend of three years, Annette Robles says: “She’s one of the most hardworking people I’ve met. She does a lot and always stays busy. Even if she’s tired she is always doing something to have a better future. Everyday she is one step closer to succeeding and pursuing her dreams.”
To this new and upcoming generation of models, all Saige had to say was this:
“I tell this to anyone who wants to model, anyone can model, all you need is confidence. Especially in today’s world now that models are so diverse, there is no right from wrong, if you are confident in yourself and you can read that through the camera you’re set.”
