Saying that you want to be a model when you grow up is akin to saying that you want to win the Powerball when you grow up. It's out of your control and it's awesome — and it's not a career path.

Cameron Russell, an American fashion model and speaker, made this remark while discussing the modeling industry’s reliance on chance factors—genetics, timing, scouting, and market taste—rather than a predictable ladder of training and advancement. The line is associated with her public commentary critiquing how fashion sells “aspiration” while obscuring the role of luck and structural gatekeeping. In that setting, Russell contrasts modeling with conventional professions that have clearer pathways (education, apprenticeships, credentials), warning young people that “wanting to be a model” is less like choosing a vocation and more like hoping to be selected by an unpredictable system.

The quote argues that modeling is not a controllable, merit-based career choice in the way many jobs are. By comparing it to winning the Powerball, Russell emphasizes the dominance of luck and external selection—appearance, trends, and industry demand—over effort or planning. The point is not that modeling is worthless (“it’s awesome”), but that it is a precarious aspiration to treat as a primary life plan. Implicitly, the line critiques cultural narratives that frame glamour industries as universally attainable through desire and hard work, and it encourages readers to distinguish between dreams and dependable career pathways.