Daybreak Montgomery was an aspiring mannequin from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, who attended school in Atlanta and later grew to become an instance of black magnificence.
In 2004, she launched into her modeling profession, showing in vogue and hair campaigns and even touchdown photographs and spreads in magazines, together with the long-lasting Jet Journal.
Montgomery says the setup was higher than she anticipated, as she landed the Jets’ Fantastic thing about the Week unfold simply 4 years later.
Earlier than Instagram and Myspace, Jet journal helped outline Black magnificence. Its “Fantastic thing about the Week” function showcased Black girls from all walks of life, and it meant far more than likes or reposts.
Montgomery, who appeared within the June 30, 2008, difficulty, instructed Atlanta Black Star why Jet journal celebrates Black magnificence in a approach social media nonetheless doesn’t.
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The Jet “Fantastic thing about the Week” function ran from 1951 to 2014, spotlighting on a regular basis Black girls — from nurses and college students to professionals — in swimsuits.
It celebrated Black magnificence and confidence and have become a cultural phenomenon, with many readers skipping the duvet and flipping straight to the centerfold.
Montgomery picked up modeling across the age of 20 and shortly grew to become a often booked mannequin for what some firms name “city modeling” between the early 2000s, and 2010s.
Stand up former JET Journal “Fantastic thing about the Week” this story is for us!!! #throwback #page43 @JET pic.twitter.com/77qupGNVZh
— Daybreak (@_dawnmontgomery) June 25, 2024
“Throughout that little 10-year hole, there was this shift in the kind of modeling we have been doing was city modeling, like the vast majority of us have been both doing music movies or hair campaigns and commercials,” Montgomery says.
She added, “That was the one time that we actually might like sort of principally cross over into extra industrial work versus simply being strictly city, and simply doing like movies and like journal options and spreads.”
Montgomery went on to do marketing campaign adverts for T.I.’s Akoo clothes, PZI Denims, Seagram’s Gin, and music movies for Ludacris and Bow Wow, to call a couple of.
However she’s most happy with being named Jet “Fantastic thing about the Week” in 2008 — a gig she booked after getting a name from photographer Raquel Riley Thomas.
“You assume it’s such a grueling course of or what have you ever,” Montgomery started. “But it surely was actually a type of issues the place you get a name and somebody says, ‘Hey, I could wish to shoot you for Jet ‘Fantastic thing about the Week.’ And I don’t know in the event that they’ll take my submission or not.”
At a time when mainstream magazines largely excluded Black girls, the function supplied a uncommon, seen celebration of Black femininity and wonder in all shades and shapes.
After showing in 2008 difficulty, Montgomery’s mom proudly carried the journal to church and confirmed it off.
She laughed whereas recalling how significantly individuals took Jet’s “Fantastic thing about the Week” honor, joking that her household “took their Jets to church.” Members and even pastors would ask for signed copies of the journal.
Wanting again, the mannequin mentioned Jet ‘Fantastic thing about the Week represented “the head of Black magnificence” and confirmed how deeply the Black group rallies behind its personal: “When our group helps you, they help you it doesn’t matter what.”
In contrast to on social media, she mentioned the workforce behind Jet and the photographers who submitted their photographs weren’t chasing a specific look or aesthetic.
“I believe they have been simply in search of extra Black girls. I believe the great thing about Jet Fantastic thing about the Week and simply that course of as a complete is that you simply noticed quite a lot of Black girls, and I believe that’s the place we are actually in 2026,” she defined.
“We’re nonetheless in search of illustration. We’re trying to see us in numerous varieties. Completely different careers, totally different areas,” Montgomery continued, including, “Jet Fantastic thing about the Week was actually displaying you magnificence, like that is us.
The now-mom and spouse of three mentioned she was hesitant on the time of her shoot, given she nonetheless had a “mommy stomach” and “stretch marks” from giving beginning to her son, who was 4 on the time.
Nonetheless photographer Thomas thought the mannequin appeared much more stunning in a lime-green two-piece bathing swimsuit, which she ended up altering for a spicier look.
“In that second, when she did the crisscross, I used to be like, OK, that is going to be iconic. That is my second, like that is for me,” Montgomery recollects.
Her preliminary Jet journal look led to a different function years later, this time highlighting her marriage to her then-husband, Reginald Greene.
“I believe that’s what was so necessary about them not having specs or something that they might like, sort of put parameters on. Like you possibly can be married, you possibly can be divorced, you might be single, you be a single mom, you possibly can be this, that, and the third. You might be all of this stuff and nonetheless be a Jet Fantastic thing about the week,” Montgomery added.
Montgomery presently works as an award-winning journalist, tradition critic, media strategist, and storyteller whose work explores the intersections of tradition, leisure, sports activities, social impression, and Black id.
