About Iyanna

           Iyanna James-Stephenson, most widely known as Iyanna The Model, is an internationally published muse, performance artist, writer, and filmmaker. 

           She grew up in sunny Miami, FL, and spent her childhood visiting her maternal family in Philadelphia and her paternal family in Jamaica.

           Eventually she left home to pursue education in New England, and earned a Bachelor's of the Arts in Philosophy and a NEXUS minor in Law, Public Policy, and Human Rights, with a focus on race and women from Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. 

           Initially, Iyanna wanted to pursue a career in civil rights litigation, but pivoted into arts after becoming inspired during her year abroad, teaching in South Korea. 

           Over the years, Iyanna has refined her artist mission to: truth and authenticity; highlighting freedom, expression, and the freedom of expression, though the body. Her philosophy studies have informed the intention around her art, and her commitment to the sensual arts. As an aspiring somatic sexologist, much of her work also revolves around using the body for introspection, confidence development, the evocation of complex emotion and spiritual shifts, and mental liberation.

           Iyanna's sensual art expression has been showcased during LIVE body art shows and art gallery activations, music videos, and AfroBurlesque™: her own style of dance fusing Burlesque and West African Drumming, embodied by her alter ego, FELINE AGBARA.

           Her latest film, Sacred Energy Exchange (©2021), won 4 awards since it's release, including Best Erotic Story, and also Best Original Story at the Cannes Shorts™ Film Festival in France. 

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            She has lived in 3 countries, on 2 continents, and has visited over 15 different countries worldwide.

           She moved to New York City, summer of 2023 and signed with We Speak Models.

          Iyanna is currently based in Brooklyn.