December of 2021 marked the end of our inaugural ‘Faces of LOVE’ competition, in which we called for submissions from all over the US to find the 2021 face of our brand. As part of the audition process, we asked participants to answer the question ‘What impact do you wish to leave on the world?’ and received a breadth of very inspiring submissions that gave us hope for the future and introduced us to an incredible group of people. Today we are delighted to introduce to you Maia Marchant - the winner of our 2021 Faces of LOVE competition. 

Maia is 15 years old and currently lives with her family in Nevada. Last week we caught up with Maia through a LOVE call to get to know her better. 

Ever since she was a little girl, Maia has loved movies which gave rise to her ambition to pursue acting as a career. However, Maia doesn’t plan to just be in front of the camera but is also interested in behind the scenes workings of movie sets, especially the roles of writers and directors. The pandemic caused seismic shifts in the lifestyles of everyone around the world, and Maia chose to channel her frustrations with her new reality by writing, shooting and acting in a short film that was well-received by her friends and family. 

“It was a one-woman show, I played 5 different characters and it was about how boredom is going to kill us, and it was just so fun to see everyone so happy and just get a good laugh from it,” shared Maia.

Although the immediate detrimental effects to health have been front and centre during the pandemic, it is also important to consider the wider impact on people’s mental health due to increased restrictions and isolation. Maia’s project for her family serves as a heartwarming reminder that even small gestures can make a big difference for those that matter most to us. 

We also got a sneak peek at Maia’s future writing plans and although we won’t spoil the exact details, we can reveal that it involves serial killers, a big family and a morally grey heroine which sounds exactly like something everyone loves to binge on Netflix during quiet cosy weekends. Her dream collaboration would be Timothy Chalamet, who has recently starred in major box-office successes like Dune and streaming sensation ‘Don’t Look Up’, which became Netflix’s second-most-watched movie of all time.  

Maia’s winning Faces of LOVE Competition entry spoke of the pressure she felt emanating from social media and how it made her want to be a better role model for young girls in a way that didn’t make them constantly compare themselves. 

“Social media is so hard because you go on there and everything is so impossible-looking, you know? People have the perfect body, perfect hair, perfect everything and it’s hard not to compare yourself and not to see your own faults in their perfection. You just have to get to the point with yourself where you realise that everything you see on there is fake. Chasing the impossible and setting those standards for yourself is only going to lead to disappointment. And it’s so hard to be disappointed so you just have to get to that realisation and acceptance of yourself.” 

Maia elaborated on her personal relationship with social media further, saying: “I notice when I am on social media more I feel down about myself so I definitely try to limit my time on it but it’s so easy to just keep scrolling. I would love to be able to delete it completely and that’s something that I am working on.”

LOVE is all about connecting people across distances and cultures, so we couldn’t leave the interview without asking Maia about her dream travel plans. New York is the place she would go to if she had 24 hours to do absolutely anything. “I would just take my favourite people, take a plane to New York City and live there for a day.” “I used to live in Buffalo, New York, and I remember driving to NYC as a little girl and just being so amazed by everything. We went a year ago as well and it’s so great to be able to walk down a street and see something new every time you walk down that street, so I love it.” More internationally, Maia hopes to be able to travel around Italy and visit London as well.
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We would also like to congratulate everyone who has been selected as a prize-winner in our Casting campaign, all of whom will be joining us as Brand Ambassadors: Elizabeth Reynolds, Elissa Carey, Logan Hooper, Priscilla Petty, Sarah Sutton, Ava Kastl, Faith Williams, Fatemeh Mehraban, Bekah Leeann, Dianne Fumero, Olivia Provost, Annelise Lopez, Laurie Winchenbaugh, Skyler Hoffman and Renee Vlacancic.

If you are interested in being our next Face of LOVE, look no further than our 2022 Casting Competition.