Marley Tipper’s Journey to Get Behind the Camera

Current model, stylist, and newfound director known for her bold fashion sense and outgoing personality, Marley Tipper’s Vermont upbringing and temporary return was crucial to her current success in the Los Angeles creative scene.

Starting out in Burlington, Vermont, Tipper’s move out to LA proved to be difficult at first. She initially made the leap across the country to study psychology in a local university, but was ushered back home two years into her studies due to the pandemic. “It was my first time dipping my toe in the water,” she said, reminiscing on her early experiences. “It was like my catalyst.” 

Craving the hustle of LA, she came back as soon as she could, dropping out to pursue a creative career instead.  “I was staying in Santa Ana,” she explained, “and that’s when I really took what I had made from the two years, (...) all my connections, and I just started modeling all the time.”

In her small hometown, she was known for her eccentric fashion sense and outgoing personality, but it’s harder to set yourself apart in a city as big as Los Angeles. Still, Tipper quickly gained a huge following on TikTok, around 650,000 followers at its peak. “I was just really gung-ho, really into the social media side of LA at first. I lived with two of my best friends, and was a total cliche of all of us living in a shitty apartment, and then going out and doing crazy shit.”

However, things are never as glamorous as they seem on the surface, as Tipper recalls. Despite her success, she rarely relished in it because it never felt authentic to her true self. “I feel like for so long, I was really trying to be someone that people can palette. The whole TikTok thing, the California girl thing. I didn’t have tattoos, I had long blonde hair, I was only doing bikini shoots. And that was my claim to fame and everyone loved it, and I was like, ‘Hm, I actually don’t like that at all.’ That’s not me. While it’s a fun side of me that I’m capable of doing really well, it doesn’t feel like the end of it. It feels like the first step on a huge ladder of possibility.”

Being a part of a scene that Tipper didn’t feel she was made for led to a quick burnout and overwhelming desire for a break. “We were too young to really understand the depths of the emotional baggage that would bring. It was really awesome short-term money, connections, ability to do things without short-term consequence. And then it just got a little bit too big. It started seeping in and I thought, okay, this is actually really toxic. This is worsening our growth as people.” 

After one year, Tipper made the difficult decision that most creatives don’t have the guts to: she got rid of it all. She deactivated her social media accounts, shaved her head, and moved back to Vermont without a plan, unsure if she’d ever return to Los Angeles. “Everything was gone,” she said. “I went MIA on Instagram, I was like, ‘Fuck everyone.’ I don’t want to be perceived anymore.”

Tipper decided to decompress for a while, lay low and get to know herself before making any other moves. It required introspection and discipline, two things that weren’t often embraced in the scene she had been a part of. “It was burnout mixed with, ‘Oh my gosh, I’ve been building this persona based on every person’s perception of me since I was a child.’”

In Vermont, she took a step back from this persona to meet the current identity she claimed and the one she wanted to become. She came face-to-face with her childhood and teen selves, and explored what it meant to be those people. In doing so, she was completely transformed, and her creative journey began to shift in a different direction.

When she felt ready to get back on her feet in June of 2022, Tipper reached out to a friend she went to college with and was set up with a job as a nanny in LA, a family that she continues to work with to this day. Initially living with a roommate, she soon got her own studio, which she currently calls home. Eager to get back into the scene on her own terms, Tipper went to work right away. “I was dabbling in doing photoshoots, but I wasn’t doing anything with any creative control, just what I was doing before. In October or November [of 2023], I started getting more into wanting my photos — and what I do generally — to go really hard. I wanted you to be able to look at the photos and feel something.”

Slowly but surely, Tipper shifted from being the model in front of the camera to also being the creative mastermind behind it. She was beginning to finally feel like herself, and was therefore able to better express her art. But this, too, came with its own set of obstacles. 

Tipper found herself working with people who didn’t have her best intentions at heart, from being ghosted by crewmembers to discovering that she was only invited to a shoot because they were wrongfully under the impression she had an OnlyFans. She found herself at another breaking point. “I got invited to do a photoshoot I was really excited about, but the photographer never ended up sending the photos. He just went completely MIA,” she recounts. “It was such a cool idea, and I thought, fuck that dude. I need to start doing these. I need to make my own teams.

“I was in this rut, I was getting pissed off at people. They’re not doing what they say they wanna do, so I may as well start doing what I wish other people would.”

Her hope was renewed when a stylist from a former shoot reached out to ask her to model for a flash mob fashion show being held on Dover Street Market. The small independent brand known as Seasons initially did a quick pop-up fashion show at The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, and went on to produce the event that Tipper became a part of. “It was the first thing I did here that I felt really great about. Like, this is a good reminder that LA really isn’t just surface-level.” 

As a birthday present to herself, Tipper attended the Coco Rocha Model Camp in early January of 2024, with the goal of improving her skills and getting more involved in the modeling scene. Joining a group of around 30 women in an intense bootcamp-like experience for three days, Tipper had to relearn how to find her voice. “I need to start being intentional and invest in myself so I can bring the results I so desperately want,” she said on the experience, explaining that she embraced true leadership and confidence at the camp. But even without this investment, Tipper was garnering major attention, and received invites to participate in various photoshoots while in attendance. “It was a good reminder that people are looking and watching, even if I decline a job to be authentic to myself.”

Tipper’s goal for 2024 was to expand her creative horizons. Interested in delving into directing, the perfect opportunity arose when her hometown friend and current LA artist, Eva Rawlings, reached out to Tipper about directing music videos for her upcoming EP. To Tipper, this was a full-circle moment after witnessing Rawlings’ growth firsthand, which reassured her that she was on the right path for what she wanted to do. “That kind of sent me into taking on more roles like that. (...) A lot of people require such a steep price for their work, even when they know the client is a smaller artist, and I don’t believe in that. I think all you need to make a cool product is a good connection and strong work ethic.”

Practicing what she preaches, Tipper recently got involved with A Conversation Worldwide, a creative agency that provides resources for creatives to execute their ideas. “They embody every single thing that I support,” she stated. Initially starting out as a street interviewer as a personal challenge to get out of her comfort zone, Tipper is now a core part of their team and is styling on sets for various creatives through this agency. For her, having a sense of control over her work is a thing to celebrate; she’s regaining her autonomy in the industry. 

“I was so tired to being just a model,” she explained, “of being the source of other people’s creativity. It was very little control. People trust me now to make those decisions, which I adore. I love being trusted by people and being dependable in these types of scapes, because as artists in any realm, it’s so hard to feel like your voice matters. (...) There’s a good way to have a voice without treading on other people.”

Next up in her journey, Tipper intends to continue directing and emphasizing areas that give her more creative control over her projects. “I don’t even have a clear vision, but just more,” she laughed. 

For creatives currently in the early stages of their careers, Tipper advises taking a step back. “Just learn about yourself. Figure out how you like to work. What makes your day easier for you? How can you prepare yourself to do your best work? How can you make sure you’re making a product you’re gonna be proud of with only you? Start with yourself first, because that’s what you can control.”

As a detail-oriented person, she advises getting as intimate as possible with yourself, down to the habits you may not even realize you have. “This is how much sleep I need, this is how much time I need to get ready, this is how many days I need to prepare for a project, these are the types of people that I can work with, this is the type of space that I can feel comfortable in, this is what I need to eat throughout the day,” she listed, counting on her fingers. “In my experience, every time I went above and beyond for someone else but disregarded all the needs I had, I wouldn’t produce a product I liked.

“I was doing a lot without knowing about myself and it was good, and people liked it, but I was feeling so terrible and it hurt me so much that I couldn’t continue to do that. It led to me burning out completely. If you’re a creative in this world, you need to allow yourself to have the time that you need.”

For Tipper, she emphasizes that none of this is about the money for her, but a passion for creativity and the arts. “I don’t get paid for any of this,” she said. Instead of focusing on the monetary, she places all her attention and efforts into making low-budget projects into the best version of itself it can possibly be.

With her bold endeavors and constant initiatives, Tipper is a true artist at heart who’ll overcome any obstacle, including herself, to pursue what she knows and loves best.