Claudia Jordan, the actress, model, reality television and radio personality born in East Providence, RI, took to Instagram today to pay homage to Newport’s own Peter Mellekas, giving him credit for her start in the entertainment industry.
Claudia is known for appearing as a model on Deal or No Deal and The Price Is Right, and for competing on seasons 2 and 6 of Celebrity Apprentice. Jordan currently stars as one of six main series regulars on the Bravo reality television series The Real Housewives of Atlanta.
Peter Mellekas is the best photographer in all of Rhode Island, bar none. Simply, he is just an all-around terrific human being and Newport is lucky to have him.
Keep up the great work, Peter!
Via Instagram – Ok time to pay homage. When I was about 19 years old I met this photographer- Peter Mellekas. He was not only amazing with his camera but his personality was just sooooo fun! He gave me my first real model photos/ not like this Instagram stuff we see today. I mean no filters and photo shop and sorcery like we’re subject to today. And those same photos got me into 17 Magazines Cover Model contest where I was chosen out of 35,000 girls to grace the pages of that magazine and in the running for the cover. I was too stoked! He also took my pictures to a Boston modeling agency called The Models Group and they signed me and I started my career doing catalogs for Filenes, Macy’s and many many others. I remember my first check and I couldn’t believe I was getting $150/hour for 8 hours to take pictures! He believed in me and is the person I can credit for getting me started in this very tough industry. I don’t model anymore but this certainly got me in the door! And here we are 23 years later!! I just wanted to publicly acknowledge what this guy has done for me and give him his props because he deserves it! Peter M—- thank you so much! 💚💚💚💚📷📷
