Jackson Free Press

This is a corrected version of the story. We spelled Muriel Hollins name wrong previously. We regret making this error.

Model Muriel Hollins initially thought she would become a professional basketball player.

"I was sort of a tomboy," Hollins says.

Hollins,19, is a Jackson native and graduated from Jim Hill High School. Now a junior at Mississippi State University, Hollins had a skin pigment disorder as a child. "It had a crippling effect on me," she says.

Luckily her skin cleared up without treatment, and she grew into a 5-foot-10 beauty. Hollins' modeling career began when Jim Hill counselor and Jodi Model agency co-founder Diane Singleton spotted her in the school hallway.

"I saw her in the hall, and I asked her to come to one of our rehearsals," Singleton says. "Initially, she wasn't interested, but she finally decided to come."

That's when Hollins fell in love with the idea of modeling.

Since 2006, Hollins has worked with Eye Model Management and the AMAX Talent Agency in Nashville, Tenn. She's already been featured on front covers and in spreads of fashion magazines. One of her biggest opportunities was working with the retail clothier American Eagle Outfitters campaign. She is the fourth Jodi Model to sign with a national campaign.

"It opens up more doors and it shows clients that I'm marketable," Hollins says.

As a junior in college, she has big dreams of making it in the fashion industry. Her major is fashion merchandising, and she wants to use modeling to get involved in other ventures. Some of Hollins' favorite designers include the late Alexander McQueen and Lisa Lee.

While in college she plans to continue to book jobs and hopes to sign a few endorsement deals. She also wants to one day walk during Fashion Week, which showcases some of the best models and clothing in the business.