“YOU DON’T BELONG” - the Pressure of Pretty and Prejudice

He was told to his face:
“We already have a Black model.”

That moment could have ended Broderick Hunter’s career before it started. But instead, it became fuel for his journey in fashion and in life.

In this episode, I sat down with Broderick to unpack the real pressure behind the glamour. From the heartbreak of losing his D1 basketball future to navigating the brutal biases of the modeling industry, Broderick opens up about what it really takes to stay grounded when the world only cares about your outside appearance.

We covered:

• The mental fallout of injury, rejection, and starting over
• The racism most people never see in fashion
• Why modeling isn’t just about looks
• And how Broderick rebuilt his identity from scratch

If you’ve ever had to prove yourself in an industry that doesn’t make space for you, this one’s for you.

Connect with Broderick:
📸 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/broderickhunter/
🎥 YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@BroderickHunterJr
👥 Official Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/Broderickhunter/

Follow Paddy for more:
🌐 Website: www.toughness.com
📸 Instagram: @paddysgram
💼 LinkedIn: Paddy Steinfort
✖️ X (Twitter): @paddysx

 TRANSCRIPT:

[00:00:00] Broderick Hunter: Hey, we already have a black boy booked on this shoot. We really wanna have use for you. Thank you for coming. That's how blunt it was. This no is not a reflection of your career going forward. You can't let a no stop you from getting that. Next. Yes, do the self-work first, and then it'll reflect in your outer work.

[00:00:25] Paddy Steinfort: Welcome to the Toughness podcast. My name's Paddy Steinford, your host, and we have a very special guest on today. A very unique background. He has been featured in Cosmopolitan, Italian GQ, Italian Vogue, French Vogue, Spanish Vogue. Name the Vogue. He's been in it. He's one of the world's top models. He has been the face of Ralph Lauren.

He's walked in fashion shows in Milan and New York. He also side hustles in movies, TV series on HBO and NBC music videos. A fascinating life and we're gonna, we're gonna peel back the layers of that. Welcome to the show, Broderick Hunter. 

[00:01:01] Broderick Hunter: Yo, what's up you guys? Thank you, man, Paddy. What an intro, bro. Thank you for that. 

[00:01:05] Paddy Steinfort: Hey, I'm just reading what your agent gave me, and I was like, damn, where, where do I stop? Because I actually left some stuff out there, hopefully.

[00:01:12] Broderick Hunter: Oh, man. Uh, I'm very grateful, very grateful for the, uh, the accomplishments and stuff. It hasn't come easy, but I'm, I'm, every time it's, it's funny like now and days when I'm like doing another interview or a podcast and they kind of just name little things that I forgot about. Right. And I'm just like, shees, bro. That's crazy. 

[00:01:30] Paddy Steinfort: Right? And, and we'll, we'll circle back. There's, there's more to get to there, but it's, of course, it's an incredibly unique story. And like you said, it hasn't come easy. It's even just that list, which I left off some things, and we'll dig on. But even just that list, it's pretty impressive for a kid who grew up in Rancho Cucamonga, California, right?

[00:01:50] Broderick Hunter: Yeah. Yes, sir. 

[00:01:51] Paddy Steinfort: Back in the day, if I was to ask, you know, your family or the people you grew up around in that community. Whether they saw Broderick Hunter as a future woe level model, what would the response have been? 

[00:02:03] Broderick Hunter: Hell no. A hard pass. I was so focused on basketball back then, and people saw me more going to a Division One basketball to play Division One basketball over being anywhere on TV or in a magazine or even doing what anything I'm doing right now. So it definitely became a surprise to me as I started dancing and doing more in the realm of entertainment. Yeah. 

[00:02:28] Paddy Steinfort: And, and that did actually like unfold for you a little bit. Like you had a dream of Division One basketball planning college, if I'm not wrong. You got yourself a scholarship, but it didn't quite go as planned.

[00:02:39] Broderick Hunter: Yeah, I got hurt. Lost it. I got hurt twice in my career actually. That kind of just put a hole in the balloon. Just going back to that time, I've, I've never, I haven't really mentally been back during a while. Like, just going back to that time was just. It's just so crazy. 2009, I was in Florida. I was having a great camp because I wasn't recruited at a high level in my high school career, so I had to go to camp to get re-recruit and went to the camp.

Did great. Got a few other offers, and I finally got, I got attention from the school. I wanted University of Central Florida, and then went to practice and got hurt again, and they was like, you know what, sorry, but. We don't have the budget to keep you here, so we're gonna have to send you home like this sucks.

So that's kind of how that the basketball story went. And then, you know, attempting to go to junior college and do all that kind of stuff. But then that's kind of how I got segued into modeling. So. 

[00:03:34] Paddy Steinfort: I mean, not, not many of us can say there's, there's plenty of people who've been injured trying to get in college ball, right? Many of them can say, I was trying, I scratch around doing juco, and then all of a sudden I fell into modeling. And that's literally what happened for you. Right? 

[00:03:47] Broderick Hunter: Somehow, I did a photo shoot. I don't know how I ended up on camera. 

[00:03:52] Paddy Steinfort: How did that happen? Like, I'm curious, you're a, you're a better-looking man than me, objectively. I was, thankfully this is, hopefully most people are just gonna be watching the audio of this, so it's, they don't, they can believe you if you say that, but I was injured when I was about that age. It didn't end up in me being a model. So how does that happen for you? 

[00:04:11] Broderick Hunter: Well, when I was in junior college, I was in, I was going to a junior college in my hometown, and then what really happened was during my time in being in practice, a photographer by the name of Tyran Shaw, thne Tyran had dmed me and said, Hey man, you have a good look.

I think you should get into fashion. And was like, nah, I'm good. Then he was like, no, no, I really think you should actually try this. I gave her like two weeks to kind of think about it. I'm like, okay, maybe I should do a photo. Maybe I shouldn't talk to my girlfriend at the time about it. And she said it could be an another segue 'cause right now be, I mean, you're trying to play basketball, you're trying to do this, you're really trying to recover. It might be a good way to, you know, just try something different. Distraction even. Yeah, exactly. So I was like, okay. So I did the photo shoot. With Tyran and I got the pictures back and they were, I, they blew my mind.

I was like, dang, that, that what I, that what I look like? Like she was like this old edited photo. So the pictures were really, really lovely pictures. So I was like, well, cool. I, you know, I decided to share them on Facebook just as a joke because I was not. Mind you, people knew me from being this elite basketball player.

I was throwing, I was dunking on six 10 people. I was over here, cross, you know, I was a ball player. So for me to come up outta nowhere. And some orange shorts on a beach. Smiling is not necessarily the trajectory where I was like, wait, hold on. That's not something I was expecting. We gotta, we 

[00:05:41] Paddy Steinfort: gotta, we gotta, I gotta get my producers, I gotta get the people behind the scenes to track that photo 

[00:05:45] Broderick Hunter: I'll send it to you personally. Perfect. I'll send it to, I'll send it to you personally. So this photo, the photo drops.

Bro, when I tell you it was like a wildfire, like blogs and, and all kinds of stuff just started popping up, you know, a few lower-end agents were kind of reaching out and stuff like that. Hey, do you have representation? Do you, we can get you on this magazine, that magazine, blah, blah, blah. And I wasn't really believing all of it just because I was like, okay, look, this is all happening way too fast.

Like, I gotta like pump the brakes. So about a year later. I actually started, well, six months later, I started taking it serious more seriously. Okay I'll, I'll do more photo shoots. And then by that next year was when I started actually looking for representation. And then that's a whole completely different story because then that gets into understanding the racial biasness of the industry.

And knowing that black people in that industry weren't necessarily at, at that time, it was like almost like not even a thing. Mm-hmm. Like getting signed as a black male model was like finding a hundred dollars bill at a bus stop. 

[00:06:51] Paddy Steinfort: So, and I, I haven't done that yet. I don't know if any of the listeners have, but that seems, I haven't found a hundred builder, I haven't build 

[00:06:58] Broderick Hunter: Must stop

[00:07:00] Paddy Steinfort: yet, yet. We'll circle back to that. 'Cause that's a, that's a very interesting and, and very unique part and particularly relevant to the topic of the show of like some of the shit that you particularly have had to go through. That's even over and above what most models deal with getting into the industry and making a head.

I wanted to actually grab that bit because let's park the individual stuff that you had to deal with. Even just the concept of being a model, right? Mm-hmm. There would be plenty of people, as I say that out loud, who are like, what a life, right? What a life. You just turn up, you smile. Maybe you don't even smile.

Maybe you just look grumpy for a day and you get paid, and that's great. Maybe, probably not. There's a little bit more that goes on behind the things. And, I'm curious how much, like, I often will ask, one of the questions that we ask all of our guests is, what does toughness mean in your industry, in your experience?

And particularly because you went into high-level college sport and unfortunately it didn't work for you. Or, fortunately, probably if you, if you let it play out, right? 

[00:08:00] Broderick Hunter: More fortunate than not.

[00:08:00] Paddy Steinfort: Fortunate. So what you would see as in that. Like you said, the basketball bubble where people have a specific definition of toughness, and then what does toughness mean in the world of being a professional model? Like how is that, how some people would be like, how is that even tough? Like what, what's toughness look like in that, in that world? 

[00:08:21] Broderick Hunter: Honestly, just the same way it is with sports. You, there's a mental toughness component that is always added to this industry and in life. You know, there's a physicality, toughness where you're lifting weights, you're, you're preparing your body physically to endure something.

Same thing in life and in career. There's a mental aspect to it. So in modeling, especially the mental aspect is the hardest thing outside of the physical aspect because you have to be in shape, you have to like, and they're not just casting guys just to like, you know, okay, it looks okay. Like they want guys cut, you want guys in shape.

So there's two sides to it to, for me, the mental aspect of it was the hardest part was because it was trying to understand my self worth. Understand where I could fit into an industry that was not accepting of me, and that did not want anybody that looks like me, acts like me or talks like me. But they wanted to a very small degree.

So trying to fit, uh, is trying to like, trying to fit a basketball into a damn freaking, like, almost like a, not a basketball set. It's almost try, try to fit a circle into a square, basically. Right? It's just, you just don't fit in. So, I really had to hone in on having to find myself confidence in terms of being mentally ready to endure what these people are about to tell me and going to these casting offices.

At that time, it was very blunt, like, Hey, we already have a black boy booked on this shoot. Please come again some other time. Or I'd go into agencies and they'd be like, Hey, we already have a black boy signed. We really won't have use for you. Thank you for coming. They'll literally tell you this to your face back there.

So imagine you're going into a year in your realm, Paddy. Imagine you're going somewhere where you're just trying to like look for a new opportunity. And they say, well, we already kind of have somebody that looks like you, talks like you, and is in your profession. We don't find use of you here. I don't really think you'll find use of anywhere here.

You should try somewhere else. Because that's another thing that I got. Oh, you don't, you won't find what you're looking for here in LA. You should probably go to South Africa. Mm-hmm. Or you should probably go down to this place. We don't want you here. That's how blunt it was. So, for me, being new in the industry.

Understanding that, hey, I was in the gym, getting my body right, getting the looking the very best I possibly could. There was another component that I completely wasn't familiar with, and that was the mental battle of having to block out the bullshit and having to block out these words and put love back into myself.

[00:11:02] Paddy Steinfort: Wow. That's like, that's an incredible hard to imagine experience for anyone who hasn't faced it to that degree. And I wanna try and put some numbers or some like crystallize what you're talking about. Firstly, I wanna bookmark. Tag the, let's come back to what it means to put love back into yourself.

Yeah. I wanna, if I forget it, tell me about it, but, right. I will. Now, while we're still on that story and on that journey of discovery, almost for you of like, that's actually what toughness means here. It's not just physically preparing. Yeah. Which we'll also put numbers on, but how many times were you rejected in that way, where it was like.

I imagine that if I went and tried modeling and I would be unsuccessful, but there would be some responses where you are not what we're looking for, but not as specific as you are. Six foot six and white. We already have one of them. Mm-hmm. Right. How many times estimate did you hear those words of we already have a black guy. See you later 

[00:12:00] Broderick Hunter: Over 30. In the beginning of March because I went into, I sent emails to certain agencies and I, and I've sent emails to certain managers and I've certain clients, 'cause I, at that time I was freelancing before I got represented. So I was just reaching out as broader con to these people. And a large part of the responses were, Oh, we're already using a black guy.

Oh, we already have a black guy on our board. Oh, sorry, this isn't really your market. So yeah, I would say it was at least 30 because you can imagine how many emails I sent. Oh God. Yeah. And, this 30 in the space of like how long, and these are just responses. We're not even counting the, these, we're not even counting polite enough.

[00:12:42] Paddy Steinfort: They were polite enough to come back and tell you to you face something that you didn't wanna do. 

[00:12:45] Broderick Hunter: So they were polite enough to come back and tell me that they could have just said, Oh, you know, thank you, but we're not interested. Right. But no, they had to give me the whole, the whole spiel of that. And that was, I wish I had my old email address.

[00:12:57] Paddy Steinfort: What's this period? Yeah. I wish I had my, what's this fascinating man? What's this period of time that we're talking about? 

[00:13:02] Broderick Hunter: Like 30.

[00:13:02] Paddy Steinfort: 30 times in how long? 

[00:13:05] Broderick Hunter: 30 times in a matter of eight to nine months. 

[00:13:09] Paddy Steinfort: So this has happened, and like you said, this is just the flat-out race-based rejections versus the other rejections and the non-replies. Right. So, mm-hmm. There's a tidal wave of nos. And at what point during all of this, are you like, no, I'm gonna keep doing this. How do you stomach that and just keep going when you don't have to? 

[00:13:29] Broderick Hunter: You, I mean, the thing about it's Paddy, when I was in basketball, there's a certain level of a mental toughness that comes to playing sports, especially when you're not on a winning team or not in favor of winning a championship and stuff like that. There's always going to be critics that are gonna tell you, yeah, this team isn't really equipped to handle these people, or this team can't do this, or this player can't handle this player.

And every single time when I stepped on a court, I was always out to prove anybody and everybody wrong. So, going into my fashion career. I was always persevered that there's never a point in time where somebody can tell me something that I don't know about myself, and that nobody could tell me something that they see the potential in me or they see something in me that I don't see myself.

So if somebody could tell me, oh, you don't have a look. You can't do this. But I know within myself, I'm like, no, I think I got something here. I'm, I'm just gonna keep on, just kind of figure it out because I was just trying to figure it out. I didn't have access to the right photographers yet, nor did I have access to agents, and trying to, you know, I was still learning.

So there was no reason for me to dq myself so early if I knew that I was still in my premature stages of learning this industry. So once I figured it out, once I knew I was gonna figure it out, I knew it was gonna be a done deal. It's just a matter of time. 

[00:14:50] Paddy Steinfort: And is there a moment where you say, once I knew I was gonna figure it out, is there a moment you're like, no, I knew like, screw you, James Smith. Sending me that one, like this, is rejection number 29. I'm doubling down. Or was it just like gradually you just like, no, I'm, I'm just sticking with it. 

[00:15:07] Broderick Hunter: I would say it was more gradually, but I really started to know that I had something when I moved to Miami to, I was based in Miami as a young model back then, and I did not book a single job, but.

I was out there working at Eight Ounce Burger and Catering. It's no longer called Eight Ounce Burger. Now, if you've ever been to Miami back in 2010, you remember Eight Ounce Burger by right by the Mondrian. I used to be a bar back there, and I also used to be a buser and a waiter, and I was also a janitor.

This is, it's a whole story, bro. It's crazy. When I was living in Miami as a model, so I started seeing the models that were getting booked for certain things, and I was like, dang. I've, I know I, not, not to say I had something better than them, or I was better, but I knew I had something more to offer than what these guys were bringing to the table.

So when I started seeing these guys getting on these castings and all these jobs, all I, I just knew that I was like, okay, when my time comes, I'm gonna blow this out. The water, all I need is one. And sure enough, my one came. When I started, I had shot from Vogue Magazine with Bruce Weber. Bruce Weber at that time was one of the top photographers ever.

He shot Tyson Beckford or Polo. He shot Abercrombie and Fitch, you name it. Back then, Bruce Weber was the absolute key to like getting somewhere, and he said yes. He's like, yo, I want him in Vogue and I was like, okay, here's my moment. So I got my Vogue shot in Miami. One of my only things that I did that time, and that with that, it was, it became more of a, a snowball effect into a few other things.

Still a little hiccups along the way, but it was a great co-sign for me to say, okay, I know I have something and I'm gonna, I'm gonna stick with it. 

[00:16:55] Paddy Steinfort: Yeah. So let me grab that. I'm, I'm, I keep delaying all the other things I wanna circle back to, but I'm gonna take that one moment because a lot of the people who come on this show as guests, and a lot of the people who listen are particularly there because they can handle a moment.

Mm-hmm. Right? You are, you have the audition for this part. A comedy that actually ends up being one of the biggest comedy films of 10 years, and Ronnie Chang is able to be in the moment and nail that, that part, and you have a gold medal on the line as you're sitting at the top of a run and you're able to settle into the moment and do your thing.

To me, share with the audience what it's like. This is your one. Like this is Vogue, and it's the photographer who's like gonna show the best side of you to the world and mm-hmm. Begin that snowball. So, you know, walking in, there's a little bit riding on this, right? 

[00:17:43] Broderick Hunter: Yeah, of course. And back then, you know, with social media now, there's a lot more content being shared, like, you know, through platforms, through digital, there's more room.

The only way back then to get into Vogue was to be in the magazine. Mm-hmm. You had to make the cut. They took like. Hundreds upon hundreds, possibly close to thousands of photos, and it would have to go through a long period of approval because it wasn't just myself that was featured in the spread. It was a, it was a few of us.

I was just the only black boy that was featured. So out of all these photos, they had the decision to make, okay, who was gonna be involved in these shots? So to be featured into that at that time was. Like, yo God is good because it gave me that light that I was waiting for to say, okay, I hope I have this.

Because just booking the shoot was one thing, to be actually featured. That was definitely like, okay, we're getting somewhere here. So if Bruce Weber at that time saw something, then I was like, okay, I can definitely do some more, and sure enough, I did. 

[00:18:47] Paddy Steinfort: Right. And, as you go into that session, and you knew you were being featured before the shoot or after 

[00:18:52] Broderick Hunter: I knew I was being shot for it; I didn't know I was being featured.

[00:18:56] Paddy Steinfort: So, so you, okay. So in order to be featured, you wanna be as good as you can on camera and put you feature out there. Right now I'm, I'm pretty awkward when it comes to taking photos. I dunno about everyone else who's listening. And when that almost tells me to smile or stand a certain way, there's an innate like, ah, I can't, like, I, I can't do that.

I'm not good at pretending. If I don't feel like smiling, I'm not smiling, and if I feel happy, I'm not frowning. Like there, I can't do that. How do you get yourself in a place where you are not awkward in front of a camera? Or is this always been a thing for you? 

[00:19:25] Broderick Hunter: That's just a mental exercise. You get more comfortable over time, but with me, I was so determined and focused to nail everything because I was already studying so hard on the people that were being used, what was being shot? How are they being shot? I would always try to test myself in front of my camera. You know, I was very studious, I was very studious because I wasn't being shot. I wasn't booking jobs. 

So the only way I could prepare myself to book these jobs and to be on the set and kill these shots was to privately invest in the time to make sure my angles are right, working on different emotions, different things with my eyes, to just make sure every shot they took, it landed. Because, as a black boy back then, there was no margin for error. You could not even, you couldn't even, God forbid you spilt coffee on set, they probably never bring you back.

You know? It was a very tight rope. For black boys back then, and I'm, I'm very grateful that things have changed now to where there's more room for black models, but it was a very tight rope to walk. 

[00:20:30] Paddy Steinfort: And this wasn't, this wasn't the same for like, because you talked about being rejected by the, we already have a black boy. Yeah. But that it wasn't like they only had one Caucasian boy and one Asian boy. Like this was very specific  to you.

[00:20:46] Broderick Hunter: This was very specific to ethnic models, especially black models. Back then, I'm sure Asian models went through a degree of what I'm talking about. Limiting, yeah. Limited tthis, you know, discrimination, stuff like that.

It was very, it's, the industry was very, very fickle, and over the course of time since like 2018 with the Me Too movement, the door has opened up from for change, and I'm so happy to see that. But back then. Cool. You had no margin for error, no room for error.

[00:21:11] Paddy Steinfort: And so tell me, like scaling a little bit more or crystallizing that. It's really interesting to hear the attention to detail you put in behind the scenes. No one's watching, you're doing your own shoot, you're trying to teach yourself, right? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Purely through practice and I, and we talk occasionally on the show about the 10,000-hour rule of like, people get really good by just doing a shit load of what they do. Like how many hours would you have done of that while you're in Miami, not booking work? How much of your own shit did you do? 

[00:21:39] Broderick Hunter: Well to give you, okay, so can I, can I map out my day for you? 

[00:21:43] Paddy Steinfort: Go right ahead. 

[00:21:44] Broderick Hunter: Okay. So Monday morning I would wake up, it'd be 7:00 AM, and I'd have to walk, not cab, but walk to Eight Ounce Burger, because I couldn't afford a cab. I walked to Eight Ounce Burger is about a two two mile, two mile walk. Walk up there, I get it taken, like 45 minutes to get there. So we'd open at about eight o'cloc,k when, oh, the, the doors for, for us to open at eight o'clock because we had to prep. So we prepped for two and a half hours. Then my time would start there at around 10 o'clock.

So 10 o'clock comes in, I work from 10 to five. So from 10 to five I'd be working at Eight Ounce, stuff like that. Doing all, doing the bar backing, sweeping dishes, all kinds of stuff, just because I needed to make extra money. Five o'clock would end after five o'clock. I would go to the high school. I used a janitor at I janitor under the table under this guy that couldn't do it anymore because he was just a little older, and he kind of just needed some help.

So I had, he, I had a, a connection. I forgot how I connected with him, but. He was talking about, he just said, you know how to, he needed this, he needed for a side hustle, and it was janitor. So I said, okay, you know, I'll do the janitor work at the high school. So at the high school, under the table, I would clean up the classrooms, take out the trash, do all the stuff that he wasn't able to do to make a couple extra bucks after work.

So after five o'clock, I would be at the school from like six to about eight thirty. Eight thirty, I would go home. I'd go back to my apartment that I was at, the Miles apartment at that time was like right down the street. I'd go back to the apartment complex, and then I would just literally go through magazines.

Magazines, magazines, magazines. I would look at some of the runway shows that were taped for fashion week and stuff like that because that's, so that's back when they were still filming runway shows. So I was working on my walk. I was studying photographs. I was seeing who's been shooting what until about 12 o'clock at night, 12 midnight.

So from seven to 12 midnight, I'd fall back asleep. I'd then I'd wake back up at 7:00 AM again and do it all over again. And that was for four months. Four, four, or five months straight. Yeah. Until, and then on top of that, I, all that money I made from doing the Eight Ounce Burger work and the janitor work, I was able to save a little bit of money to buy my ticket to Milan, to do Milan Fashion Week.

[00:24:09] Broderick Hunter: And that's when I booked this D Squared fashion show. And then Ciara was at the, was saw the fashion show, and that's how I booked the Ciara video. Wow. 

[00:24:17] Paddy Steinfort: That is, I mean, that, that really accelerated towards the end there. That, that, that story. Well 

[00:24:22] Broderick Hunter: Just, yeah, just, well, and then Milan is a whole different story. Like Milan was a whole. So that's the thing, like when I got..

[00:24:28] Paddy Steinfort:  So you bought your own ticket, you weren't booked. When you went, you just turned up and said, Hey, someone who, who needs a model? 

[00:24:33] Broderick Hunter: I, no. Well, I had, I had a representation out there. They invited me to come out there, but they weren't covering my flights and stuff because I, 'cause I, they just said, Hey, yo guys, fashion week is here.

If you guys wanna come and go to castings, come go to castings. I went to seven different castings, all nos. I had got a yes from Versace, and then they dropped me for a white boy and then, and then I had crashed a D Squared casting, and then D Squared released me and said, Hey, we like him, but he is not right.

Then they put me back on option, and then they said, Hey, yo, actually we're gonna book him from the show. So I booked the show. It was Milan was a whole different story, like similar to Eight Ounce Burger in Miami, and janitor. Milan was a whole different, a whole similar thing, but, we'll, we'll say that for a later day. But yeah, everything's a turn, everything's a, a huge ball of craziness. 

[00:25:22] Paddy Steinfort: Yeah, it sounds like it, it sounds like it. I mean that, that even just that four or five months that you mentioned in Miami of doing it every night. I, I know that there was a, one of my favorite lines from a Kanye West song is where he says, doing five beats a day for three summers.

Like he literally just go to his basement every night and mix music and cut. And it's an undervalued part of him becoming a guy who basically shifted an entire music industry because he forced himself to do the work. He did the work. Mm-hmm. And, and you've even if you didn't get work, you did the work.

That's really interesting. He did the work. Tell me a little more about, so while we're on work, a lot of. Listeners are probably more familiar with the work of doing, not modeling, but at least, at the very least, working out trying to keep fit. Mm-hmm. What does that work look like for you these days? How much time do you have to put in keeping your body in shape in, in the, not just in shape, but in the type of shape that will keep you on the contracts that you're on?

[00:26:16] Broderick Hunter: Oh well, I mean I definitely have a trainer now. I'm about to be 30 US. You, I used to when I, in my early twenties, mid twenties, you could eat bullshit. Still keep your figure. Nah, not anymore. So I have a very good trainer now and I just mainly focus on my upper body and abs. 'cause my legs get bigger. So in, in fashion.

Oh, right. They don't want, yeah, they don't want you to like, they don't want have flick legs. Yeah, they can't. They can't. I mean, my brand has changed where it's kind of like fluctuate now, and I'm more of a brand now, to where I'm not used as a model. I'm more so used as a brand and celebrity. So even within that, they still want things to look a certain way.

So I have to avoid playing basketball, and I have to avoid doing different little things that I would like to do. So I just mainly focus on like abs, like planks, pushups. My burpees are really good too. And mainly thing I focus on is my health, what I'm putting in my body. So I eat a lot of greens, drink a lot of water. I try to stay away from sodas and sugars, and stuff. And uh, cardio is always a main thing, even though I hate it, hate cardio, the passion. 

[00:27:25] Paddy Steinfort: I'm always worried about people who love cardio because it, it's definitely not one of my passions. 

[00:27:30] Broderick Hunter: Who actually like, I mean, I see people who actually go on online. There are people but who they I know and that's, I'm like, I look at 'em song like, how can you enjoy running?

[00:27:37] Paddy Steinfort: You know, the one time I enjoyed running is I had a knee injury and I was out for like 11 months, and I one someone, the doctor told me at one point I may not run ever again. Oh. So that first run was like,  they, I'm goin.

[00:27:49] Broderick Hunter: I would've done the same thing, man.

[00:27:54] Paddy Steinfort: But yeah, I think, I think everyone has their own flavors with, uh, exercise the same way with food. Right. That's the way I explain it to myself. Yeah. Talk a little more about, so you, you mentioned the, the trainer there, and we don't have to talk specifically about trainer, but. A lot of people who come on here, Olympic medalists doing their traders, you name it.

When they're working at the top end of their field, they often haven't gotten there by themselves. They might've started the journey by themselves, which you've described in great detail. But as you get along and you get representation as you start to find your way, but you have a mentor or are there people you look at and you're like, I wouldn't be where I am now without that person or those people.

[00:28:32] Broderick Hunter: Yes, there's a, there's a very, very prime group of lists of that, of people that have been in my life, in my career that I would not be where I'm at at all if it wasn't for them. And one of those people, he is no longer with us, his name is Michael Maddox. He was my first agent that got me signed into LA Agency, the Miami Agency.

So he was my very, very first person that. Stepped into my career that actually knew the industry, knew the ins and outs, and plugged me into these certain places. God rest his soul. But yeah, Michael Maddox was a great additive. My other, I had a great mentor in New York at the time. His name was Dallas J. Logan.

He was a photographer and he still is a photographer, so to this day, and he basically took me under his wing and gave me a roof over my head when I was in New York, grinding it out, and he became like my uncle. Back then, so Dallas' slogan was a huge part of my growth. And then also just the peers and and people that I've met along the way.

Like, you know, you know Christopher Holland, my current brand manager, you know, Chris is like my big brother, and he's always had my best interest. So I, I, my hat goes off to Chris always, because he came from the same type of background. I came from just trying to figure it out. And when we started working together, we started figuring it out together as well.

So now he's blowing up with Doug Holland, he's got other clients and stuff. And my parents, of course, man, my parents just, they, I, they invested all this time and money in me to play basketball. And then, and then all of a sudden like, Hey guys, I got a photo shoot. The dude you, you might. You mind sparing some change for a plane ticket?

How was that? How was that? Let's, let's talk about that. Ah, geez. Man, I never told the thing about it's, I never told my parents that I was going into fashion. I kind of just did it the whole time. I was Wait, 

[00:30:19] Paddy Steinfort: wait, time out, 

[00:30:20] Broderick Hunter: Time out. I know mom..

[00:30:22] Paddy Steinfort: Just mom's walking to aisle at the grocery store. She sees you in Vogue, and she's like, wait, that looks like my son.