I sat down with Idania Quezada expecting to talk about the runway. What I didn’t expect was a conversation about confidence, identity, and the kind of presence that has nothing to do with height, size, or even modeling itself.
Idania, who is originally from the Bronx and now based in Los Angeles, didn’t begin her journey in modeling at all. “I trained as a dancer, singer first, and then I got into acting,” she tells me. She grew up immersed in performance, working in musical theater and even performing Shakespeare with The Public Theater in New York. “I was a theater girl, live performance, dance, because New York is all about that,” she says.
But despite being surrounded by performance her entire life, modeling felt different. “I’ve always wanted to model, but I didn’t have confidence,” she says. It’s a surprising admission from someone who now teaches confidence for a living, but it becomes one of the most defining threads of her story. “There’s something about modeling specifically… you need a confidence. And the way you need a confidence for that is different than in acting and dance.”
That shift didn’t happen overnight. It wasn’t until the end of high school and into college that she began experimenting with modeling, shooting with friends who were photographers and slowly stepping into the space she had once avoided. Then came a turning point when she met a model manager who encouraged her to pursue it seriously, bringing her into a company where she learned the fundamentals of the industry.
“I feel like I was the kind of person that needed to be taught it all in that moment, because that’s what gave me the confidence,” she says. That idea becomes central to everything she does now.
“I’ve learned confidence really is just knowing how to do the thing.”
For Idania, confidence isn’t abstract. It’s technical. It’s learned. It’s practiced.
She spent six years modeling and eventually transitioned into coaching, helping develop new talent, before moving to Los Angeles to build something of her own. “I felt limited to what I was able to do working with the company,” she says. In LA, she combined her background in dance, acting, and modeling into a teaching style that blends technique with expression.
What makes her approach stand out is who she teaches. At first, her focus was on aspiring and professional models. But that quickly expanded. While teaching heels dance classes, she noticed something shift. “A lot of the students… were women who weren’t pro dancers… and just wanted to learn to be confident and sexy,” she says. That realization changed her direction.
“I thought, well, how can I open this up to all women… not just ones who want to model as a career?”
The answer became runway, not just as an industry skill, but as something women could carry into everyday life. “That is something you can also apply into your day-to-day life as a woman,” she explains. Her workshops now bring together aspiring models, professionals, and women who simply want to feel more confident in heels.
“If you’re a corporate girl and you want to wear heels… let them hear you when you walk in,” she says. “If you like to go clubbing… how can you add that sense of elegance?”
It’s about presence. And for Idania, presence is something you can build.
When I ask what defines an iconic walk, her answer comes quickly. “Naomi Campbell… I feel like the industry should give her the stamp of Mother of the Runway,” she says. She describes it with precision. “A sense of elegance, poise, not too fast, not too slow, but it also has that little hip sway… kind of like a cat.”
That comparison to animals isn’t accidental. Idania thinks about movement physically, almost instinctively. When we talk about technique, she brings up something unexpected.
“If you look at a horse or cat and see how they walk… they’re really great examples of animals to watch,” she says.
She explains how their movement is naturally elongated, controlled, and grounded. The legs are straight, the posture is intentional, the energy flows through the body without tension. For her, studying that kind of movement isn’t about imitation, it’s about understanding elegance at its most natural form. Which is why, when we talk about the difference between simply walking and commanding a runway, she brings it back to both body and mindset.
“Walking is just walking,” she says. “But commanding a runway… it’s confidence… literally eating up the runway.”
She reframes it in a way that feels universal. “There’s always a moment where all the eyes are on you… so I feel like it’s so powerful for all the attention to be on you… and how do I take advantage of that?”
For beginners, her advice is both physical and mental. “Walk in a straight line, have your shoulders nice, back and open, and then add a little bit of the hip sway,” she says. But just as important is the mindset.
“Walk into any room feeling like I own the space… and lie to yourself if you need to, and then the confidence will come.”
She’s equally clear about common mistakes.
“The number one thing… is the knees,” she says. Many women instinctively bend them, especially in heels, but straightening them creates length and changes the entire walk.
“It makes you look more like a cat,” she says again.
She describes runway as something you learn first, then live in. “I call it the ballet of runway,” she says. Once you understand the fundamentals, your body begins to move naturally within them. “You find your own sauce and spice,” she adds.
But the most powerful moment in our conversation comes when we step away from technique entirely.
“As women, we don’t need to do anything,” she says. “Just being a woman is enough. You walk in a room… you just being you, the energy just blooms.”
It reframes everything. The posture, the walk, the training, all of it becomes an extension of something deeper.
When I ask what she hopes women feel after working with her, she brings it back to that same idea. “That they just feel better and more confident within who they are,” she says. Not just looking better, but feeling better.
And when I ask what being a Neon Gurl means to her, she pauses, then answers simply.
“I don’t dim… I glow on purpose.”
It feels like the perfect way to understand her work.
Idania’s runway workshops, held in Los Angeles and open to all women, are built around that exact philosophy. Whether you’re an aspiring model, a professional refining your craft, or someone who simply wants to feel more confident walking into a room, her classes are designed to teach both technique and presence. Upcoming sessions at her company ModelArts Studio are scheduled throughout May (16 & 30th), offering women the chance to step into that confidence for themselves.
Because in Idania’s world, a walk isn’t just a walk.
It’s a decision to take up space.
