Rachel Pizzolato pulled up to the Beverly Center an hour after the Victoria’s Secret casting had already started, no appointment, no callback, and a bed frame rattling around in her car because she was mid-move. What she did have was a full face of makeup, a spray tan, and the particular brand of resolve that comes from deciding the worst possible outcome is still a great afternoon. That combination, it turned out, was enough to make the whole thing worth watching.
Showing up without a callback and calling it a strategy
The casting was historic by any measure. Victoria’s Secret had never before held a public in-person open call quite like this one, which meant hundreds of women arriving at the Beverly Center with a genuine shot at the runway. Rachel had submitted but never received a confirmation, so she operated on what she described as pure confidence and the working theory that if you walk into a room like you belong there, people tend to believe you. ‘Act like you belong there and you belong there,’ she said flat-out, half laughing, somewhere on the freeway. ‘People will never know the difference.’
She made it to the chair. She sat in the line. She waited. Then came the answer: rejected. She took approximately four seconds to process it before pivoting to the 2 p.m. round as an enthusiastic front-row spectator.
Front row, friends, and a 62-year-old queen in the building
What followed was a genuine afternoon of watching women own a room. Rachel cheered on her friend Justice from the stands. She caught the introductions as contestants spelled out their names for the judges: Lelay Bless, Chelsea Sacarr, Jazmine C spelled with a Z. One woman in the lineup was 62 years old, and when her age was announced, Rachel’s reaction needed no editing. ‘My tall queens are in the building,’ she called out.
She also struck up a conversation with a woman sitting nearby who had been part of the whole pre-entry negotiation, and that woman turned out to be an actress, a former competitive swimmer, and a water polo player who said her runway mantra was simply: be you, be proud, be confident. Rachel relayed it like she had just received a personal gift.
The friend who is about to walk in
Somewhere in the Beverly Center, Justice was still waiting for her turn at the 2 p.m. round.
Rachel had already moved to the front row, directly in front of the judges, and was ready to be loud about it when Justice finally stepped onto that runway and did exactly what her friend had promised she would.
