Surely we see super celebs pass by our notice almost daily, men and women who enjoy the ubiquitous Andy Warhol 15-minutes online never to be heard from again. Plenty of others carve out a long lasting mark in the ‘pop’ end of their chosen field, retaining/milking celebrity through what amounts to confectionary workings of Instagram and the like. Lastly, there are others who stay in the spotlight, gaining mythic status from the controversy they court or tragically seeing their end. Rain Dove will meet none of these fates.

As a leader in androgynous modeling (the 6’2 Rain literally walked into a casting call after losing a bet, only to find out the powers-that-be assumed she had come on the ‘wrong’ day-as the call for male models was the very next day-but Rain indeed auditioned for and got the male modeling job and from there her career has taken off) the stunning rain employs her unique looks to as much appearing as a man as she does a woman in ads for all kinds of fashion and products. The firefighter-turned-fashion model/writer/actress/activist and all around positive comet-like light force exudes humor and an infectious passion for her life and work. Living and working between San Francisco and NYC, we caught-up with this busy lady when she was out our way and was kind enough to sit down and let us pick her brain.

First and foremost, I’d like to address one of the most publicized aspects of what you do-at least in the fashion world-modeling as both a man and a woman. How do you reconcile this unusual approach to modeling?

Well, early on I thought I was an ugly woman, I didn’t exactly feel all that comfortable at an early age. I am a big person and certainly not the sorority girl type, but I am in touch with my femininity, and I have always been interested in expressing the big differences between women and men. I have modeled as a man in lots of street wear ads and as a woman in high couture fashion and yes, it seems to have worked out for me.

But your life was and certainly is now more than about just your modeling.

Yes, I was actually a wilderness firefighter for some time in Colorado. In fact, I have a bald spot/scar on the side of my head I got while firefighting and it can be clearly seen even since I cut my hair, it’s something I do not hide; I like the backstory (she laughs). And yes, through my writing, acting, work as an activist, presently I do much more then modeling.

Can we talk about what almost seems you raison d’être, if you will allow me, your fight against social dysmorphia.

The problem of social dysmorphia is indeed something very dear to my heart. Living as we do, especially now in a climate of “need-it-now,” I find people get stuck in what I call a macro climate of not feeling loved, of not having their specific needs met presently. They feel they won’t be loved, they won’t be able to get what they want; that they can’t fit in with the larger 7 billion population of the future simply because they don’t fit in with the current constructed social paradigm of our present photo-shopped image of beauty. We see the result of this all the time with people attempting to change how they look with copious amounts of plastic surgery, various ways that people hurt themselves to look perfect. We have yet to see the huge side effects from all of this I feel and I know this feeling of not feeling like you belong truly causes some tragedies in our society, with our young people especially.

And you personally battle this by…

When I first started out, small club fashion shows were nothing more than a cheap strip show. Now I can be and am pickier in my work, I don’t take every single job that comes along and what I am giving permission to. The work I do now has to always send a positive message to the kids following what I do. I want to as much have fun with my life as to promote products or anything only if it has a healthy lifestyle, promotes a sex positive attitude.

In talking to you I do feel lots of ‘good vibes,’ if you will, a super fun positive worldview. I’d be remiss not having you relate that wonderfully funny anecdote you were telling me, about the time you were asked to cater that swinger’s party.

Oh yes, that’s very funny. I was twenty one working as a caterer and someone came in and said they’d like to hire me for a swinger party, at six hundred bucks for the night, so I said, sure, let’s do it! So I show up in my fedora, jacket, suspenders, thinking I am going to a party where people are going to be swing dancing. I’m serving classic cocktails, etc. but I am suddenly confronted with this naked guy who comes in to where I am asking if I want to ‘play’, and when I step into another room a bit later I basically come upon all these people having sex on the dance floor! Of course I go to the supervisor to report all this, I come from a very conservative background so you can guess I was initially very upset by what I came upon, but the man who hired me simply said: ‘Oh that’s unusual, they usually start all that a bit late’ So I suddenly got initiated into what a ‘swinger’s party’ really was. That was certainly an experience!

That’s a fantastic story, it really sets the tone for how you simply seem take to things with such aplomb.

Thank you. I do take to things with a positive view on things. Really, in the end, my goal is to get people to feel great about themselves, and love who they are.

For more information on Rain Dove, please visit https://www.facebook.com/raindovemodel