The Insta photo that launched Coast model to stardom
Jade Foster struggled in the school yard for years before a single photo brought him 150,000 Instagram followers overnight.
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INSTAGRAM influencer Jade Foster struggled in the school yard for years before a photo with Kim Kardashian launched him social media stardom.
@JadeKevinFoster "blew up", literally overnight.
The Louis Vuitton and Mossimo model went to bed after the Kardashian's fragrance launch with 11,000 followers. He woke up with 160,000.
"They don't call her the Social Media Queen for nothing - that morning was Christmas come all at once," Jade told the Daily from his Twin Waters home.
The openly-gay social media influencer now has more than 1.3 million followers and is nominated for an Australian LGBTI Award in the "local icon" category.
Jade is honoured to be ranked among two of his own icons; fellow 2018 nominee and Olympic swimmer Ian Thorpe, and last year's winner Magda Szubanski who he adored in comedy Kath and Kim.
Jade's mother, a fellow model, encouraged him into the industry aged 16. Ten years later, Jade admits he never envisioned the heights he would reach.
He loves the quiet life on the Sunshine Coast, away from the "chaos" of his former hometown, Sydney.
But Jade thrives on the last-minute call to Los Angeles to shoot with MTV, on flying to Bali first-class for a promotional tour, and rubbing shoulders with the likes of DJs Steve Aoki and Khaled.
A young Jade Foster knew he was gay, and said others in primary and high school could not accept him for what made him "different".
But in adulthood, the 2017 Mardi Gras ambassador found a freedom in social media not afforded by the community he grew up in.
His inbox is flooded with LGBTI youth sharing their stories and struggles, and Jade said he is proud to be their confidante even if he still cops negativity from the "haters".
"It's so hard to first realise if you are gay or not, the mixed emotions and everything else, you don't need a bunch of school kids, or friends, treating you like s**t on top of that - you need to be supportive.
"(Social media) made it so much more acceptable... it gives people a voice and lets you be free.
"Whether you're a boy who enjoys wearing make up, dressing up in pretty dresses or putting wigs on, social media gives you that platform to be yourself."
Jade said he had not spoken to Kim Kardashian since that fateful photo, but enjoyed dinner with her sister Kylie Jenner as her best friend Jordyn Wood's mother, Elizabeth, represented him while he modelled in the US.
He recently launched a line of phone cases which light up at the front for better Snapchats, and sold 5000 units in the first three months.
The LGBTI Australia Award winners will be announced in Sydney on March 1.
Jade is honoured to be nominated alongside musician Tash Sultana, comedian Hannah Gadsby, entertainer and author Harry Cook, entertainer and Member of the Order of Australia Judi Connelli, androgynys model Andreja Pejic, social media influencer Tim Dormer, LGBTI community spokesman and musician Troye Sivan and comedian Jordan Raskopoulos.
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