“Women of Ole Miss” is a four-part interview series documenting the voices of women attending the University of Mississippi. Each part focuses on a different student, exploring their unique life experiences and accomplishments and what it means to them to be a woman.
Every little girl dreams of one day having a pony.
For Ellis Ross, a senior integrated marketing communications major here at the University of Mississippi, her mom made that a reality.
“My mom got me into it because she always wanted to ride growing up,” Ross said. “She bought herself a horse and me a pony, and ever since then, I’ve ridden horses.”
While much of Ross’ life has been spent competing in horseback riding competitions, racking up awards and tossing hay bales at the barn, she has also made time for new endeavors.
Now, Ross splits her time between the stables in her hometown of St. Simons Island, the Phi Mu house in Oxford and the runway in New York City.
One of the largest endeavors that Ross has taken on is that of modeling, but until she was scouted, Ross said it wasn’t something on her radar.
“I did some test shoots, sent them to agencies and then got signed to an agency,” she said. “Over the past six months, I’ve gotten to book some cool jobs and work with four or five super cool designers.”
Among the jobs that Ross has booked is the infamous New York Fashion Week, a series of runway shows that allow established and upcoming designers to showcase collections for the forthcoming season.
Ross has walked New York Fashion Week twice, with her first time in September of 2021 and her second time in February 2022.
Ross said that being in the modeling industry and walking in high profile shows has both its challenges and pleasant surprises.
She also said that while the challenges mainly lie in the pressure of upholding the traditional standards for modeling, the industry also values being unique.
“There’s always the pressure of your skin breaking out or that girl looking thinner than you and if they’re going to book the job, and that’s stressful,” Ross said. “But overall, I feel more normal being there than I do here a lot of the time. A lot of the girls are different looking in a way, like maybe they have a unique feature about themselves, or maybe they have short hair like me, so it almost makes me feel like I fit in more.”
In addition to this, designers are trying to tackle these beauty standards by employing diverse body types according to Ross.
“There’s a lot of girls that I’ve met that are maybe not the typical beauty standard for modeling,” she said. “It’s really interesting and fun to see designers branching out and making clothes for the runway for girls of all different sizes.”
One of the pleasant surprises is the sense of sisterhood that modeling provides. This sisterhood is something Ross discovered at her first runway show at the Southampton Arts Center.
“At first, I was so nervous because these girls, I didn’t know if they were going to be nice or if they’re going to be standoffish,” Ross said. “It was the best experience. Everyone was so nice, and they were helping coach me through it.”
But modeling is not the only place where Ross feels a sense of sisterhood. Not only does Ross have two little sisters at home, but she has hundreds of sisters here at the university as a member of Phi Mu.
Phi Mu was founded in 1852 at Wesleyan College in Macon, Georgia, and is the second oldest female fraternity organization in the United States. Phi Mu currently has over 200,000 total members.
Being a part of Phi Mu has played a critical role in Ross’ experience at the university.
“I’m from a place that’s 10 hours away,” she said. “So coming here and meeting a group of girls that made me feel like home when I’m so far away from my real home is amazing.”
In addition to making Oxford feel like home, her sisters at Phi Mu have also acted as a crowd of support for Ross’s modeling endeavors.
“Sometimes I get embarrassed talking about it because I don’t want to sound like I’m being pretentious or anything,” Ross said. “But no, they’re always really proud of me, and they cheer me along.”
After graduating, Ross plans to move to New York to continue her career in modeling and further explore the world of fashion. She also hopes to use her integrated marketing communications degree to work for a fashion magazine or newspaper.
Ross’ experiences have led her to hope that she leaves behind a message of self-love and acceptance as she moves on from the university.
“You have to always love yourself first because if you can’t love yourself, then you can’t reciprocate love to anybody else,” Ross said. “You’re beautiful for more than what you look like. That’s what really matters.”
