I met my husband while I was nude modeling for extra money. Together, we figured out a new path for me.

• I worked as a nude model throughout my 20s.
• I went back to school in my 30s, earned a degree, and got an office job, but was still modeling.

I worked full time as a nude model throughout my 20s. I'd taken community-college classes but hadn't finished a degree. In the metropolitan area where I lived, earning a decent salary without an education or job skills was nearly impossible. Supporting myself was manageable, though, if I worked as a nude model.

I had an epiphany at 30: I wanted more out of life. That didn't mean another men's magazine cover. I went back to school for a business degree. An advisor helped me craft a competitive résumé, and soon I landed a full-time position in a branch in the commercial-real-estate field.

There was a new life ahead. Nude modeling wasn't always easy, and I packed away my heels and lingerie without looking back. I reinvented myself. I made new friends. My past life as a model was a chapter I believed I was closing for good.

A breakup pushed me back into modeling

A few years later, a bad breakup left me single with expenses I couldn't afford. I wasn't far along in my new career, and near the bottom of the salary range. I considered part-time jobs in retail and restaurants, but none would've adequately made ends meet. I loved my apartment. I didn't want to uproot myself from the life I'd built. However, my savings were dwindling.

Returning to modeling part time was always a fallback plan. But things felt different this time.

I had a corporate job and worried about being discovered. I needed to distance myself from my previous work in men's magazines. This time around, there was less money and fewer bookings than I was accustomed to. I occasionally had panic attacks before the photo shoots. After others, I sat in my car and wept into the steering wheel. I realized modeling wasn't an easy answer. I felt trapped. Posing nude had sometimes bothered me but never like this. I kept at it on the weekends, though, because I didn't believe I had a better choice.

I met a studio owner who became my confidant

One afternoon, a photographer introduced me to Charles, the owner of a new local photography studio. I knew Charles would be good for networking, so I invited him to dinner. It might have been a lovely first date but I was still reeling from the breakup, financial issues, and modeling's new pressures.

I saw Charles regularly when I worked at his studio and slowly began to confide in him. It was nice to meet someone else who understood the challenges of the business.

My last shoot at his studio was particularly difficult, with a photographer pressuring me for far more than I was willing to do. Afterward, I went into his office as usual. That time, I broke down and wept.

I had few options, and it was difficult to see a way out. When we spoke days later he had a solution: a part-time remote position doing studio administrative work, paying exactly what I needed to make up for my ex's share of expenses. I'd experienced men using their financial security to take advantage of women in my position, so I was wary. He'd never made advances, though, so I accepted the position.

Working together, we discovered we had similar outlooks, similar childhoods, and similar tastes in arts and culture. I received a promotion at my corporate job the following season and no longer needed the studio work. But when I found that I didn't want to be away from him, I knew I'd fallen in love.

We recently celebrated a milestone anniversary. We joke about the "marrying a model" trope when people ask us how we met. The trope makes a better story than saying he rescued me and then I chose him, which are both closer to the truth.