She has to escape past to start enjoying life
“I think my background has a lot to do with developing a passion for helping kids. I went through a lot when I was growing up. I left home when I was 18, and I never wanted to go back. Twice in my life, I wanted to commit suicide.
“I got involved in modeling. I was trying to escape who I was, so that kind of allowed me to be somebody different, to get into character and become a different person. I worked at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, and was on this show called ‘Out of the Blue’ and another one called ‘SeaQuest.’ The acting part was a lot of early mornings and late nights. It was very draining. So I started working as a Marlboro girl, going to different places and handing out promotional items. Then I was a Hawaiian Tropic girl, so it was all the runway stuff.
“After that, I got into trade shows. I learned about different products and got to talk with a lot of people. I really enjoyed that. That’s when I had moved up to Ohio, where it was such a different culture than Florida. I got to know people on a different kind of level.
“After being very sheltered growing up, I became much more open. That experience helped open up a whole new world for me. I feel like that’s kind of when I really started living.”
— Cissy Clearo
Cissy helps lead a program at Old River Baptist Church called The Landing, where she provides guidance for teenage boys and girls.
(Photo by Olivia Garza/Liv’s Looking Glass)
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