Lumia Nocito Says You Can Be Everything At Once

For Issue 04: Hacking It, Byline teamed up with Urban Outfitters and Dickies to highlight individuals who have paved their own paths and unlocked new levels in their respective industries. These creators defy the system by making their own rules, and in other words, they're Hackers.

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Flat white New York light falls through the window in which Lumia Nocito sits, vaping. It’s early afternoon and we’re in her bedroom, which is also white. By the door, a white turntable. On the bed, nestled amongst fluffy white linens is a teddy bear. The only color in the room comes from his tawny fur, the bright pink vape in Nocito’s hand, and a blue chessboard in the corner. I’ve asked what she says when someone at a cocktail party or family gathering wonders what she does. “Sometimes I'll just say I'm an artist,” she says. “Other times, I’ll be like, ‘I’m a photographer, model and DJ.’ But calling myself an artist in my brain helps me understand myself more because then I'm not limited.” She gestures at the wall behind me, consumed by a three-dimensional sculpture. It’s white, textured, shaped like an exploding star. “I'm working on that,” she says. “It's not done.”

Nocito is twenty-four but has already launched successful careers as both a photographer and a model. She met her mentor, Petra Collins, as a junior at the Dalton School when a friend invited her to her Collins’ house to assist with a shoot: “She was like, do you want to come to Petra’s house with me because she’s shooting her personal work and needs someone to hold lights and also model. I was like, yea duh. She was doing what I wanted to do.” From there, Nocito learned from Collins, assisted Collins, modeled for Collins, which led to other modeling and photography jobs in the fashion industry. She attended Cooper Union for college, but continued to work throughout.