Meet Sun Alarcon | Model & Merchandise Buyer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Sun Alarcon and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sun, can you tell us more about your background and the role it’s played in shaping who you are today?
I grew up in Walnut, California which is a small, quiet, suburban neighborhood located near West Covina and Pomona. I grew up around a large extended family who all lived within a mile radius. To this day, not a month goes by without being invited to a gathering to see over 50 relatives in one room. Over time I’ve realized how much a sense of family means to me.

In the most developmental teenage years being the queer, transgender, or femme presenting kid in a small town with conservative mindsets had led me in various creative routes. As I was still getting to know who I was and what I was feeling on the inside, I let it all show through different hobbies. This included dying and cutting my hair in all sorts of colors, drawing or making collages, sketching up fashion shows, taking photos and videos, customizing outfits, and going through all the internet beauty and makeup trends.

I realize now those were all acts of my inner child seeking a home where I felt accepted. Just because I had a large family never took away the fact that I was a minority. The same goes in other situations like school. All of those creative phases were my sense of comfort at that time since I wasn’t comfortable communicating how I really felt nor could it be defined.

In hindsight, I take all of that with me, I value it all so much. I apply the love that was not only surrounded by me in my primal years but the love I found within myself, that creative and expressive comfort, into all my endeavors. I love to feel a sense of creative community and I love to contribute to that as well. There’s a strength in family, whether it be your blood, your work life, your online community, your friends. There’s a strength in chosen family.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.

I pursued my modeling career technically a year ago but boy, did it take a lot to get here. I’ve spent about 6 years in the merchandise buying field and before that I attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising as well as interned for various emerging LA based brands. In many ways, I was always destined to be in this industry.

With that said though, I had some hiccups along the way. I have experienced some workplace toxicity which felt detrimental to my own growth and mental health. When the pandemic hit in 2020, just like a lot of us, I was unemployed for a while. At that point, it’s human to feel as if though I failed these dreams I had for myself or to be completely jaded.

However, given some time to reflect I was able to understand more not just about the industry but more importantly myself. I realized sometimes it’s not about trying to look for an invite to sit at the table. It’s about making your own table and your own chairs and the party is BYOB. Build Your Own Bricks. The more solid I feel on the inside with my own skill set the more you’ll see laid down into the foundation of my being.

Taking photos and making content was something I always enjoyed since I was teenager but I was conditioned to believe that I wasn’t bookable or the industry isn’t looking for me. But I don’t think like that anymore, in fact it’s less thought and more do.

I do so I can pursue. I believe so I can achieve. The moment I got out of my own head and said “I’m going to be a model,” and started to pursue it, within three months I was able to get signed with an agency. I model all while continuing to do more for myself in the buying and merchandising world by working for big brick and mortar retailers and online businesses.

What sets me apart is my story and I can’t wait to share with the world what this, 6-foot tall, transgender, Filipino, and fashionable individual can do in the modeling and merchandising world.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I guess in a week or so we can fit in some typical tourist attractions like a Hollywood Sign hike, or visiting Venice Beach, or Universal Studios, expensive Rodeo Drive shopping or fancy nightlife but I’d feel a lot happier to walk you through my favorite gems of Los Angeles.

We’ll start in Culver City where we will visit one of the most peculiar places, the Museum of Jurassic Technology. This hidden LA gem features various quirks and oddities with rooms eerily displaying some of the most unique exhibits. The museum is quiet and darkly lit with light paths leading you across the vintage halls. Going up the creaky stairs, you’re led into more awesome and absurd rooms. At the end of your walk, beams of sunlight lead to a Russian tea room where you’ll be offered some tea welcoming you to the gazebo garden area where a flock of pigeons live. My art teacher in college said this museum is a place to feel quite inspired and I truly agree. The maze of oddities leading you to a sunlit garden is quite an experience and honestly every visit feels just as weirdly beautiful as it did the first time.

Have you ever been to a place that was a restaurant, a bar, a clothing store, a bike shed, lounge and tattoo shop all in one? The Moto Bike Shop Co. in the Arts District of Downtown Los Angeles is a place where you can find good food, good drinks, park your motorcycle or shop around. This place is a 5 minute walking distance to the iconic 6th Street Bridge, this historically remodeled bridge celebrates the city with its swooping modernist arches connecting Downtown to Boyle Heights overlooking the movie famous LA River. This monument, although being driven over most of the time, has become a hub for local festivals and street parties. The bridge lights up with an array of neon colors at night making it quite a spectacle.

While being on the topic of Downtown Los Angeles, I’d love to take someone on a walking tour throughout the various neighborhoods that emulate LA’s melting pot of cultures and history. Nothing brings people together more than food. The Grand Central Market is just snippet of LA’s great fusion foods making it the “NowThat’s What I Call Music” album for local foodies. We can walk off the full stomachs by passing the historic theatre district off Broadway where you can find a lot of things to do. Other than embracing the century old art deco architecture and the old theater marquees, you can find some light shopping passing your favorite familiar stores and local jewelers. You could even make your way into the garment district for a good deal on locally designed apparel. There remains a nightlife as well as you can catch a show, go to a club or hit up the local hotel bars. If a Broadway stroll isn’t perhaps the vibe, hanging out at Grand Park where yet another historic art deco pillar, the City Hall building, erects into the sky as the sun slowly sets behind it. Food trucks galore can be perfectly placed throughout the city making it a great way to try new foods on a late night craving.

I can list so many more areas to be visited but since the city is so vast of culture, diversity, character, liveliness, and art, who even knows if a week can do it all justice. I just hope my short introduction to this beautiful city and some of the places I listed bring out that sense of comfort to someone in the same way it’s been brought to me.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’m truly blessed and grateful to all my friends and family for supporting and facilitating my growth. Thanks to all of them, I wouldn’t be able to feel comfortable within my own skin.

Instagram: https://instagram.com/suntheunicorn?igshid=MmIzYWVlNDQ5Yg==

Image Credits
Hector Becerril. Forrest Cornwell