Sloane M. Perron

Photographer: Matt Wright

Summer is here! Along with all the sun and fun comes bathing suit fashion.

For this year’s Swimsuit Issue, Pulse Magazine wanted to pay homage to the past style of the 50s while also showing how times have changed. These models demonstrate the best of beauty and brains.

Rahsaan K. Akbar, Jr., 21 – Recent Assumption Graduate & Construction Analyst for Lockton Company

Q: How do you define beauty? Do you think you are beautiful/handsome?
A: For me, beauty is any characteristic in something that makes it attractive and this doesn’t have to be just how you look because beauty is deeper than that. In terms of looks though, I would say I’m handsome due to the good looks of my parents.

Q: How do you define success? Would you call yourself successful?
A: From my experience, success is completing the important life goals that you have set for yourself. I think there is much more success for me to earn, but up to this point I have been pretty successful for achieving some of my main goals to date, like getting a scholarship to play soccer in college, and graduating Assumption College with a major in International Business and a minor in Spanish.

Q: What do you love about your job?
A: I don’t start my new job until August but based on my previous internship with the same company last summer the main thing that stuck out to me was the inviting company culture, along with the plethora of opportunity there is within the company.

Q: How does your work impact the community around you?
A: Well with me focusing in construction insurance at the job I’m starting there’s a good possibility I will have influence on some of the projects that might affect the daily lives of many people living in Worcester, like highways, roads or new buildings. From living in Worcester for four years I know how difficult it can be to drive on some of the roads and highways so we want to make sure construction companies are properly insured to do the best job they can to repair these roads and highways. Same goes for buildings as I am starting to see first-hand Worcester’s transition to a more relevant and advanced city in Massachusetts.

Q: What would you say to people who believe that men or women cannot be attractive and smart at the same time?
A: I would say that’s a pretty pessimistic, elementary way to look at it because the way you look doesn’t attribute to how smart you are. I think that some people believe that since you may be attractive you don’t have to work as hard for things but that really isn’t true, especially depending on the goals that you have for yourself in life. I also think in general being smart carries much more value than being attractive, so the only question should be are you smart and looks are just a plus.

Q: What advice would you give to other young professionals in Worcester?
A: I would say never to limit yourself from any opportunity, even if it may not look that important on the surface. You never know going into different things how important they may eventually be, so you should take every opportunity you can get and make sure you put your best foot forward to get the best out of it.

Dia Valentine, 27, – Registered Nurse

Q: How do you define beauty? Do you think you are beautiful/handsome?
A: To me, beauty is finding peace with your imperfections and being confident. I am beautiful and I love myself. I have learned to live with and embrace my imperfections. This has empowered me and given me the confidence needed, to take on challenges and chase my dreams.

Q: How do you define success? Would you call yourself successful?
A: Success is when you set a goal and then you achieve it. I think its odd when people compare levels of success because everyone’s success is different since everyone has different goals. For example, one might say that a homeowner is more successful than a non-homeowner, however, if the non-homeowner never had the goal of buying a home than that should not define their success.

I would describe myself as successful because I have either already met a lot of my personal achievement goals or I am actively working towards them. Becoming a nurse was something that I wanted to do for a very long time and when I finally became a Registered Nurse, I was very proud of myself.

Q: What do you love about your job?
A: I genuinely love to nurse people back to health. My favorite part is watching my patients progress towards health throughout their hospital stay and knowing that I had a positive impact on their life.

Q: How does your work impact the community around you?
A: A lot of the patients that I care for have had major life changing health incidents such as stokes or major traumas. They are often left with life long disabilities that they have to learn to live with. One of the biggest roles that I have is to teach them how to manage their health conditions when they go back home so that they can be as independent as possible so that they can enjoy a better quality of life.

Q: What would you say to people who believe that men or women cannot be attractive and smart at the same time?
A: It’s crazy that people think this way, that beauty and intellect cannot coexist. Everyone is beautiful in their own ways and intellect is something that you can work on. It may not be easy to educate yourself but anyone can do it. There is a plenty of knowledge out there. You just have to put in the effort to learn something new everyday.

Q: What advice would you give to other young professionals in Worcester?
A: Figure out what you want in life, in your career, or whatever it is and just go after it. You have to be actively working towards your goals at all times. Just saying that you want something is not enough.

Victoria Schlegel, 27 – Patient Care Coordinator & U.S. Air Force Reserves

Q: How do you define beauty? Do you think you are beautiful/handsome?
A: Beauty, to me, is defined as the level of self-love and confidence a person withholds.
On most days, I do believe I am beautiful. It has been a long journey of self-love for the past year or so, and I have tried to focus more on letting my beauty within be the most important to me and carry that confidently. I am learning to accept my physical attributes for what they are and love my outer beauty a little more each day.

Q: How do you define success? Would you call yourself successful?
A: Personally, I do not feel as though the word “success” can quite be defined. It is a word that holds many different meanings to each individual. As for myself, I view success as it equates to your happiness in life; I feel that if you are living your fullest and happiest life, you are successful beyond comparison to any monetary valued successes. This being said, I am underway to living a successful life each and every day, taking time for myself by doing things I love, and surrounding myself with people that positively feed my soul.

Q: What do you love about your job?
A: The thing I love most about my “civilian” job as a patient care coordinator, would be interacting with the patients and giving them a warm, pleasant experience in their not so ideal situations- as they are in pain and coming in for physical therapy, which is not always easy. I very much enjoy getting to know them and I learn a lot day in and day out, and spread kindness like wildfire.

As a member of the military, what I love most is the feeling of self-sacrifice. Of course no one desires giving up their weekend plans for the once a month drill commitment or to be sent out to extreme measures if it were to happen, but knowing that I have enlisted to help protect the country and do my part if need be is an empowering feeling.

Q: What would you say to people who believe that men or women cannot be attractive and smart at the same time?
A: There is this wild theory many believe, that a person cannot be attractive and smart all in one package. This is such mad talk! Several friends on my dance team alone are Harvard graduates, and gorgeous to boot. I firmly believe it is all about confidence- that goes a very long way.

Q: What advice would you give to other young professionals in Worcester?
A: Advice I would give to other young professionals would be to find what it is that speaks to you, and work hard at it. Every being is truly capable of doing anything they zone their sights in on. “If you want something bad enough, you’ll find a way…if not, you’ll find an excuse.”- Jim Rohn

Joy Rachelle Murrieta, 32 – Executive Director, Main IDEA, Worcester

Q: How do you define beauty? Do you think you are beautiful/handsome?
A: I think that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I remember realizing when I was younger that many people consider lots of freckles, like mine, to be “ugly,” rather than beautiful; this felt confusing to me because I really liked my freckles (and still do!). There are so many different standards all over the world for beauty, and defined differently for so many different cultures. I feel like I am generally confident in my own beauty, because, like art, beauty is very subjective.

Q: How do you define success? Would you call yourself successful?
A: I actually think about this question a lot. I’ve always held a very high standard for myself and can often put a lot of pressure on myself to “be successful,” as an entrepreneur; however, I also have come to realize that, perhaps like beauty and art, success can also be very subjective. I think that being successful doesn’t have to look one definitive way, because everyone has different goals; it doesn’t matter if meeting your goals looks different than someone else meeting their own goals. Perhaps there are certain indicators that I subconsciously use and that society uses to define someone as “being successful,” but I find it best to try to focus on if I am successful in meeting my own personal and professional goals. Sometimes I am successful in accomplishing these goals, sometimes I am successful in progressing toward my goals, and sometimes I am not successful in either. I do my best to accomplish my own goals, and am always setting new goals for myself; I think success is not so much a standard as it is a process.

Q: What do you love about your job?
A: So many things. I love that I get the opportunity to dream up and run with my ideas, and create something new from the ground up. I love that I get the opportunity to work with and empower youth through a medium that I love (the arts). And I love that my job provides me with the opportunity to make a positive impact in and with our city.

Q: How does your work impact the community around you?
A: Main IDEA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit youth and arts organization in Worcester, MA, whose mission is to empower youth by providing quality, accessible arts programming to under-resourced communities. We started as a 1-week summer project serving 50 youth ages 8-12 and an annual budget of $2,500, into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with nine programs and dozens of events throughout the year, serving over 1,500 youth ages 6-17, with an annual budget of $75,000. We provide arts programming throughout the year to underserved youth in Worcester, ages 6-17, free of cost to participants, with a priority given to residents of the Main South neighborhood. These programs include not only visual art but also music, dance, drama, and creative writing, and place emphasis on empowerment and leadership development. This accessibility to art works to reduce youth risk factors, increase protective factors, and engage students in their local communities, allowing Worcester’s youth to have a stronger foundation and opportunity to become tomorrow’s most influential artists, mentors, teachers, and leaders.

Q: What would you say to people who believe that men or women cannot be attractive and smart at the same time?
A: Perhaps that belief stems from one’s own insecurities.

Q: What advice would you give to other young professionals in Worcester?
A: Anyone can start something–those types of entrepreneurs are a dime a dozen; it takes moxy to FINISH a project you were bold enough to start. I think it’s difficult to do this in New England, because people tend to stick to who and what they already know. I think it’s especially difficult to do this in Worcester, because we’re still developing so much as a city, and experiencing the growing pains that come with that; it takes time to accumulate interest and momentum in a new project, and the turnout can be sparse at first. Be the type of entrepreneur that sees your project through, despite set backs and discouragement.

Ryan Brodin, 20 – Busboy/Student

Q: How do you define beauty? Do you think you are beautiful/handsome?
A: If I had to define beauty I would say that it is anything that you feel attracted to or if it creates an emotional response but I believe that everyone’s perception of beauty is different and it can vary greatly. I also think self-confidence is a key in today’s world so whether I am or not, I like to think I am a handsome person

Q: How do you define success? Would you call yourself successful?
A: Success to me is not solely based on finances, it is based on the quality of life you maintain and how well you pursue your dreams. With that being said I do feel like I’m on a good path to success. However, being so young I know that my idea of success will change as the years go by.

Q: What do you love about your job?
A: I love the people. I’ve been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to work at the renowned Miss Worcester Diner for the past few years, and in my time there I have gotten to meet so many people and engage in many good conversations with people from all over.

Q: How does your work impact the community around you?
A: I would say that at my work we have a good atmosphere and we are able to create that sense of community in the diner, letting people know that Worcester is full of good people and things to do.

Q: What would you say to people who believe that men or women cannot be attractive and smart at the same time?
A: Why not? I mean it doesn’t make all that much sense to me, everyone is different.

Q: What advice would you give to other young professionals in Worcester?
A: Worcester’s on the come up! Keep grinding because Worcester is improving left and right, and pretty soon it will be us calling the shots.

Zydric-Elijah Guarin, 21 – Landscape Designer

Q: How do you define beauty? Do you think you are beautiful/handsome?
A: To me, beauty is defined as how each person sees themselves. Whether it is their personality or the way they look, true beauty is seen by an individual to themselves or to others. There is no specific image of beauty because everyone is beautiful in different ways. Many people see beauty differently, as for me, I see beauty in different forms such as beauty in their personality and beauty in their looks. I believe that I am handsome.

Q: How do you define success? Would you call yourself successful?
A: Success is defined as the accomplishment of goals in life. To be able to achieve what a person has set for him/herself. Just like beauty, success is different for everyone. I believe that there are different levels of success. Many people see success as just being happy in life. Which is why I believe I am successful. Because I am happy with my life. I have accomplished goals I have set for myself in the past and continue to pursue future goals as well.

Q: What do you love about your job?
A: As a landscape designer, I love the people in the job. The positivity that each crew member possesses. I love how I learn life lessons in this job from the people in it. My job makes me a better person in different ways. Lessons that I didn’t imagine I would learn as a landscape designer. The advice I get from the people in my job has also made me a better person and worker.

Q: How does your work impact the community around you?
A: My work has impacted the community around by providing beauty in many peoples’ homes. Home is a sanctuary to many people. It is where they look forward to going at the end of a long day, to relax and let loose. The image of a person’s house in their head should be the way they see it. By designing a space where they feel like home is important. Whether it is building a pond, or planting flowers and trees, the importance of beauty in someone’s home is one of the keys to happiness. My work focuses on keeping the customers happy and satisfied. Leaving a smile on there face is what we focus on.

Q: What would you say to people who believe that men or women cannot be attractive and smart at the same time?
A: I would say that it is more than possible for a man or woman to be smart and beautiful at the same time. Beauty and intelligence are seen differently by everyone. Believing that it isn’t possible is a mistake, because it is very possible.

Q: What advice would you give to other young professionals in Worcester?
A: A piece of advice I would give to other young professionals in Worcester is to never stop chasing their dreams. That their biggest motivator should be the people who don’t want them to succeed. Prove people wrong and set your dreams high. If people don’t laugh at your dreams and goals, then it isn’t big enough. There will be up and downs on their journey to success. But as long as they don’t give up and they keep going, their future is filled with endless possibilities.

Swimsuits provided by Auburn Macy’s and are available for purchase at macys.com.

Makeup done by Tiffany Federico – Brighteyes Beauty Bar – Tiffany@brighteyesbeautybar.com or 727-637-8824.

Hair styled by Brittany Danna, owner of Sage & Grace an Organic Salon. Assisted by Nikki Weidner.www.sageandgracesalon.com or 508-752-1727.

Dinky’s Blue Belle Dinner provided by Bruce Trotto

Special thanks to the Old Car Club Inc. of Shrewsbury
Bob Claflin – 1949 Chevy Convertible
John Peterson – 1947 Ford Four Door Sedan
Don Wiles – 1957 Ford Thunderbird

Product Listings
Joy Rachelle Murrieta modeling Ralph Lauren Beach Club High Neck Tummy Controlled One Piece, $108 and Nine West Black Hat Packable Super Floppy with Flower, $50. macys.com.

Dia Valentine modeling California Waves Juniors’ Flounce Bikini Bandeau Top, $19.99; California Waves Juniors’ Shirred Hipster Bikini Bottoms, $19.99; and INC International Concepts Beach Tote, $39.50. macys.com.

Victoria Schlegel modeling “California Waves Juniors’ Solid Smocked Bikini Top, $19.99; California Waves Solid Ruffle Side Cheeky Bottoms, $19.99 and INC Inertnational Concepts Kite Scarf, $18.50. macys.com.

Rahsaan K. Akbar, Jr. modeling Club Room Men’s Quick-Dry Performance Solid Swim Trunks, $39.50 and Club Room Men’s Sailboat Quick-Dry 7” Swim Trunks, $45. macys.com.

Ryan Brodin modeling INC International Concepts Deep Black Swim Trunks, $49.50 and “Tommy Hilfiger Men’s Hudson Surfer Graphic Swim Trunks $69.50. macys.com.

Zydric-Elijah Guarin modeling Tommy Hillfinger Swim Trunks, $69.50. macys.com.