Solve Sundsbo

For a while I was thinking: I’m a twenty six year old professional errand-runner. Of course if anyone asked, “I’m an actress and writer!” However, the sinking economy had taken the boatload of my professions down with it. At twenty three I was a celebrity stylist assistant, often taking lead in photoshoots for television shows and magazines. By twenty four I was a consistently paid writer fashion editing a magazine and freelancing for Universal Music Group. By twenty five it was all gone, some by choice but most by the force of plummeting markets. Gigs that used to seek out SAG actresses begged for non-union and clothing lines who once threw money left and right offered pathetic pennies to get the job done.

Despite the troubling facts good fortune followed me and made it difficult to ever feel sorry for myself. While styling a promotional shoot for a TV show one of the lead actors approached me about personal assistant work for him and his wife. Four years later they are my enthusiastic cheerleaders, generous bosses, sources of grocery and rent, as well as genuine friends. Still, at the end of the day I could think, “I run errands… for a living.”

Well, what does that bring? They have freed me to never miss an audition, modeling gig, or opportunity. Not to mention these foundational years of my marriage were free of stressful jobs or distractions. It’s been me and Drew enjoying one another. Also to PA a successful actor made for a job where I never felt too many millions of miles from my desires.

Fast-forward to last week and Kim, my best friend and genius of Wildfox, offered me a job beyond our usual fun photoshoots. I adore her so much because although I’ve never asked for a job she’s always given them to me freely and with confidence. “Would you want to design store windows for us?” and later, “You want to help us style our shoots?” Well, hell yes.

So Kim and I played big time Barbies together. We dressed and placed nine mannequins for a store in Pasadena that wanted to feature Wildfox. I felt like a kid in a candy shop while we perused the place for cute pieces, dug through our bags of tights and jewels, and christened each girl with a wig of our choice. These Barbies are a hell of a lot more cumbersome than the ones we used to have but the sheer weight of them gave us a workout to boot- every twenty six year old fashion lover’s dream!

Next week I’ll be helping Kim, Emily, and Meredith dress our three gorgeous models for Wildfox’s next shoot. It will be a lot of errands and a handful of taking backseat and PA’ing but  I can call myself “actress, writer, PA, AND stylist” again, which I love.

Jason Ell