Alex Consani before fame was a Bay Area kid with a clear sense of self, a supportive family, and an early start in modeling that predated her viral TikTok stardom and high fashion breakthrough. Born July 23, 2003, in Petaluma, California, she began wearing feminine clothing at age four and chose the name Alex at eight .
Early Life and Identity in Petaluma
Consani grew up in Petaluma, a town near San Francisco that she has described as charming but conservative . Her parents, Lisa and Anthony Consani, supported her early self-expression even before they fully understood her identity .
One of her mother’s favorite photos shows Consani at age three in a pink skirt, a tiara with pink feathers, and pink Sleeping Beauty heels . Another captures her at seven running around a playground in stilettos . For Consani, clothing was an early language of selfhood. “My first memory is this pink princess dress that I had,” she told Vogue. “That was an introduction to me representing myself correctly” .
She lacked the vocabulary to articulate her gender at first. “I remember calling myself a boy-girl,” she said. “I was like, I’m both, and I’m neither” . Her mother recalls a first grade school picture day when Consani, dressed in a light blue boys’ linen shirt, telegraphed her misery through the camera’s lens . Everything clicked for Lisa in that moment.
The name Alex arrived during a drive up the California coast. Consani told her mother that God had given her the name . Her father, Anthony, attributes the inspiration to Selena Gomez’s character Alex Russo on the Disney show Wizards of Waverly Place . She began hormone replacement therapy during puberty with her family’s support .
First Steps Into Modeling at Twelve
Consani’s modeling career began in 2015, when she was just twelve years old . Her mother found a Facebook ad from Slay Model Management, an agency focused on transgender models, and Consani answered it .
She became known as the youngest transgender model in the world at that time . Her early jobs gave her structure and discipline, though some gigs were unpaid and required long drives with her mother to auditions . She paused modeling for a period to focus on school before resuming with an agency linked to IMG .
Consani’s interest in fashion had been sparked years earlier. In 2012, her grandmother took her to “The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier” exhibit at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. She was nine years old. “I remember being so enamored,” she said . Later, at a summer camp for trans youth that her mother arranged, she came home with a clear vision: she wanted to be a model because she saw no trans models in the industry .
Signing With IMG Models and Moving to New York
Consani signed with IMG Models in 2019 . Sources vary slightly on her age at signing: some report she was sixteen, while a local Petaluma outlet says she was fifteen . IMG is the same agency that represents Ashley Graham, Paloma Elsesser, and the Hadid sisters .
She graduated from Petaluma High School in 2021 and attended Pace University with scholarships from the Petaluma Educational Foundation . At seventeen, she moved to New York City to pursue modeling more intensely . She has said that New York was where she finally found the community she had always wanted .Alex Consani Quick Bio
Note on conflicting sources: Some outlets report Consani was 12 when she began modeling, while others say 13 . Birthplace is listed as Petaluma in most authoritative sources, though one outlet cites San Francisco . Net worth figures are estimates and not officially confirmed.
The TikTok Years During Lockdown
The 2020 COVID-19 lockdown paused Consani’s runway debut plans, so she turned to TikTok . Posting under two accounts, @captincroook and @ms.mawma, she built a following with absurdist, spontaneous comedy .
Her content was intentionally unpolished and raw. She dressed as Gru from Despicable Me, sang off-key Taylor Swift covers, and filmed herself swirling a carafe of “fancy” water while contorting her face to a Rich Gang song. That last video alone has 57 million views . By December 2025, her combined TikTok following reached 8.5 million .
Consani has said the spontaneity was the point. “TikTok for me is something that comes very in the moment,” she told Vogue. “Most of the time, it’s when I am walking with friends or in my room bored” . She believed social media worked best when it showed a person as human rather than as a polished personality .
She was advised to delete her TikTok and cultivate a more mysterious image for her modeling career. She refused. “People told me I should delete everything,” she said. “They’d say, ‘You should be quiet about your trans identity. You should just be the most mysterious blank hanger bitch you can be'” . But she remembered the girl at summer camp who wanted to fill a void. “I couldn’t do it,” she said. “I’ve built a community and a voice for myself” .
The Runway Debut That Marked the Divide
In June 2021, Consani posted a video her father sent to cheer her up after she was not cast in a Marc Jacobs show . Less than three months later, she made her official runway debut for Tom Ford’s spring 2022 collection . The contrast between those two moments captures the pivot from her pre-fame years to her fashion breakthrough.
The same year, she was included on GLAAD’s 20 Under 20 list honoring LGBTQ changemakers . Her “before” period had ended. What followed were runways for Versace, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, and a historic Model of the Year win at the 2024 Fashion Awards, where she became the first openly trans recipient of the honor .
Consani’s pre-fame story is one of early self-knowledge, family support, and a slow build that began long before the spotlight found her. The TikTok fame and the Tom Ford debut did not create her identity. They amplified something that was already firmly in place.
How did Alex Consani start her modeling career?
Consani began modeling at age 12 in 2015 after her mother found a Facebook ad from Slay Model Management, an agency representing transgender models. At the time, she was considered the youngest transgender model in the world. She later signed with IMG Models in 2019 .
What made Alex Consani famous on TikTok?
During the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, Consani began posting absurdist comedy videos under the username @captincroook. Her spontaneous, unpolished content—including dressing as Gru from Despicable Me and off-key Taylor Swift covers—earned millions of views. One video alone reached 57 million views .
When did Alex Consani make her runway debut?
Consani made her official high-fashion runway debut in 2021 for Tom Ford’s spring 2022 collection. That same year, she was included on GLAAD’s 20 Under 20 list. She has since walked for Versace, Alexander McQueen, and Chanel .
What major achievement did Alex Consani earn in 2024?
In December 2024, Consani became the first openly transgender model to win Model of the Year at the Fashion Awards. She also walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show that year alongside fellow trans model Valentina Sampaio .
