Karrie Brown has all the makings of a model: energy, enthusiasm and a smile that could melt stains off your sleeves.
But it wasn't just those qualities that won the 17-year-old with Down
syndrome a modeling gig with girls' fashion label Wet Seal. It was
actually Karrie's mother, Sue, who posted photos of her daughter wearing
the label's Plus line on a
Facebook page she set up that helped make Karrie's modeling dream come true.
Every day Sue would post a picture of Karrie in her favorite Wet Seal
outfits -- pieces that Karrie said make her "fit in while standing out"
-- hoping that they would attract the company's eye.
It wasn't long before they did. The company first noticed the Facebook
page after receiving a handful of requests via social media telling them
about Karrie's desire to model for the company.
"She immediately caught our attention," Wet Seal's Yasmin Ezaby told ABC
News. "We then asked our fans to get Karrie's Facebook page to 10k
likes and we would give her the trip of a lifetime. She exceeded this
goal in two days."
In fact, as of Saturday, the page is now up to nearly double that number of "likes."
Wet Seal honored its pledge and flew Karrie and Sue on an all-expenses
paid trip from their home in Collinsville, Ill., to Los Angeles,
throwing in a trip to Disneyland along the way.
Although Wet Seal runs an annual model search competition, it was the
first time the company had done a special challenge focused on one
individual.
Throughout the shoot on Aug. 30, Karrie was "full of energy," Ezaby said.
"She asked for Justin Bieber so she could sing and dance while
shooting," she said. "It was loads of fun. She was a natural in front
of the camera."
It came as a wonderful shock to Karrie's mother.
"She was really excited," Sue Brown said. "She was excited about getting
her picture taken at Wet Seal and really excited about Disneyland but I
think one of the most exciting things for her was getting to see her
sister in LA, too.
"She was so funny during the photo shoot because she said, 'Can I have a
little Justin Bieber music please?' and they played it and she started
dancing and laughing," she said. "Everyone said, 'How did she learn to
move like that?'"
Sue is now helping her daughter reach her new goal: to dance on television with Ellen DeGeneres.
