While taking his modeling career to a new level, Julez Smith spoke recently about being a “nepo baby.”
The son of Solange Knowles and Daniel Smith Sr. has walked in several shows, including Paris Fashion Week. In addition to his parents, the 20-year-old has a notable extended family comprised of his aunt, Beyoncé; uncle, JAY-Z; grandmother, Tina Knowles; grandfather, Mathew Knowles; and cousins, Blue Ivy, Rumi and Sir Carter.
Despite his famous family connections, Smith admitted to going through the same audition process as his peers.
“I want to do everything organic,” Smith told Teen Vogue. “So I’m not the type of person where I’m like, “All right, cool,” just because the name is what the name is, I’m not going to go fishing for stuff I know I can go get. I’m going to do the same castings that other models [are] doing. I’m waiting in the same lines. It’s going to be the same process and it feels better doing it organically. It’s real life.”
When asked whether his name makes the journey easier or more difficult, he responded, “I’m not going to say more difficult.” Smith continued, “I’m going to say it does open a lot of doors when it comes to brands reaching out and stuff like that, but I do think from a model standpoint, like other models, it causes a little static because they see [me] like, ‘All right, cool, who is this new kid on the block?’ You feel me?
“So I think it plays both sides. I don’t think it’s a negative or a positive. There’s more doors open for sure, but there’s also like, “Oh, this is just a nepo baby. This is a nepo kid.” When in reality I am going to do the same exact process that everybody else is doing, but people don’t know that. They don’t see behind the scenes, they only see what it is.”
Being the eldest grandchild, Smith discussed his close relationship with his cousins.
“My baby cousin Rumi, I seen her not too long ago, before I went to Paris actually, and I was packing my bag and she was like, ‘Where are you going?’ I was like, ‘I’m going to Paris.’ She was like, ‘Oh, you’re going to work.’ And that was my first time where any of my cousins or siblings was like, ‘Okay, yeah, he got a job now. My cousin’s going to work.'”
Smith shared, “I’m really close to my family, so being the oldest is like, I got to set the tone, set the standard for them, make sure I’m in the same direction that I would want them to go,” adding, “Just trying to be a positive role model as they get older. I think that’s been my main goal. And it’s cool, they know their cousin is a model now, so it’s like, all right, that might rub off on one of the kids…”
