Beautiful: BeautifulMag Cover Story

THE MI’KMAQ, A FIRST NATIONS PEOPLE, WERE THE FIRST TO INHABIT A GROUP OF ISLANDS ON THE EAST COAST OF CANADA. THE MAIN ISLAND HAD A CRESCENT SHAPE AND WAS DARK RED COLORED. THIS THEY NAMED EPEKWITK, WHICH MEANS CRADLE ON THE WAVES. EPEKWITK WAS ONE OF THE SEVEN MI’KMAQ DISTRICTS AND HERE THEY LIVED ALONE AND IN PEACE, WITHOUT EVER SEEING ANOTHER HUMAN BEING, UNTIL THE YEAR 1534.

Jacques Cartier was born in 1491 in the French province of Brittany. It was an exciting time to live, in which people started to sail west and discovered the American continent. At the age of 43, Jacques made his own first voyage under a commission from the king, hoping to discover a western passage to the wealthy markets of Asia. In the words of the commission, he was to "discover certain islands and lands where it is said that a great quantity of gold and other precious things are to be found". 20 days after he set sail Jacques Cartier arrived at what we now know to be the northern tip of New Foundland and the Gulf of St Lawrence. He entered the bay and did indeed reach some islands, though there was no gold to be found. What he did find was the Mi’kmaq people on a crescent shaped island, which he baptised in the name of Île Saint-Jean.

It would take another 200 years before the first French settlement was built on Île Saint-Jean, but eventually, in 1720, the French colony of Île Royale landed on the island. The French lived in harmony with the original inhabitants, but the French occupation of Epekwitk would only last for 25 years. In 1745 the New Englanders arrived and, as part of King George’s War, claimed ownership of the island which they renamed to St Johns Island and later, in 1798, to Prince Edward Island in honor of the King’s son and, later, father of Queen Victoria.

Brodie Gallant was born and raised on Prince Edward Island, west of Cape Breton Island and north of the Nova Scotia peninsula. With not much to do in his young life, Brodie turned to practicing sports at very young age. And not just any sport. When Brodie was 12 years old, he began training for junior level competitive kickboxing, and he had his first official fight at age 16. In order to built even greater strength he began boxing training as supplement to his kickboxing. And through his high school years he also played soccer and rugby. It was during these years that Brodie also began to work out really hard to build his physique, resulting is a hard muscled and dry body and the proof that there is indeed gold to be found on Prince Edward Island.

Even though living so far north, it was almost inevitable for Brodie to not be discovered by a model scout. I mean, look at the man. He is practically a scout magnet. His first assignments allowed him to travel and it wasn’t for long before he got offered a contract with CREW Models International, owned by Lamont Pinckney. One of the CREW Models regular photographers is Travers Dow, a photographer based in Seattle. Born in 1975, Travers grew up to be a creative and dynamic kid, drawn to photography at young age. His work involves pretty much all disciplines, from fashion and event to studio photography, both men and women. Working with Travers has given Brodie great experience in editorial, print fashion and even runway modeling and the portraits Travers made of Brodie will certainly open more doors for the 20 years old Canadian. Now, mostly residing in Los Angeles and New York City, Brodie Gallant has his mind set upon more modeling and eventually an acting career. We wouldn’t mind seeing more of Brodie and I’m sure you agree. Brodie is here to stay. –BM-