Chess, choir, and modeling are only a few talents by junior Isabel Yearian. 

Yearian has been playing chess since she was 7 years old, singing since 5th grade, and modeling since she was 13.

Even though she started playing chess alone, she said her mother mentored her in the game.

“I started by myself, but she helped me learn,” Yearian said.

Yearian said chess holds an important place in her heart because of the people she plays with.

“The team because I was really lonely and a lot of good people joined and worked with me. We help each other get better at the things we care about. It’s a nice community,” Yearian said.

Yearian said the thing she loves most about chess is the intelligence of the game.

“Anyone can beat anyone at any time. You don’t have to be bigger and tougher than them, you just have to know more about the game,” Yearian said.

Yearian also described how she got into something vastly different such as modeling.

“I was getting food with my family and we happened to walk across another photoshoot and we were just trying to avoid it really because we didn’t want to cause any trouble. And the agent there chased after me and he gave me his card. It was pretty creepy at first, but it was good,” Yearian said.

She said modeling can be stressful for a young person, but she’s learned how to deal with it. 

“A lot for a young person, but they teach you really good lessons like you have to take care of yourself first. You can’t just do anything you want to be a model, there are things more important than that. You have to pay attention in school, keep your grades up, and you can’t just focus on being skinny, be what the model people want, be healthy first,” Yearian said.

Yearian said there are a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions of people who model.

“That it is one perspective; blonde hair and blue eyes. It’s definitely not like that, they actively seek out people who look different. Especially in 2022. And the other models are really nice. People always think the other models are mean, but I was there when I was 13 and I had 23-year-olds being very nice to me, very supportive,” Yearian said. 

Although she’s become an expert at chess and modeling, she said she’s not done yet trying new things.

“I want to try volleyball. I haven’t done sports in a long time and I want to get back into Taekwondo,” Yearian said.

Yearian compares and contrasts the differences between modeling and chess. 

“There aren’t really any similarities, except you need to show up and be ready to work in both. You can’t just have a bad attitude and show up. The models really hate that. I am more passionate about chess because I think I’m better at it than modeling, I just started that later. With chess, I have a team already. There’s no set team for modeling yet,” Yearian said.