While some Bachelor contestants don't have time for children even during a children's birthday party (cough, cough Cassidy), some contestants actually like kids. Serene on The Bachelor is an elementary school teacher and impressed Clayton with her ability to communicate with children during Week 2's birthday party date. (Hilary Duff would approve.) But if you were to look up Serene online, she's no Michelle Young since there's not much of an emphasis on her teaching career. Instead, Serene's other job is front and center. Here's everything that's out there on the internet about Clayton's contestant Serene.
Her Teaching Career
Her Bachelor bio lists her as an elementary school teacher in Oklahoma City. Clayton discussed her being a third-grade teacher and good with kids during the birthday party group date. Her LinkedIn confirms she's been a teacher since June 2020, though she doesn't list which school district she's with. But there's no signs of her teaching career on her public-facing social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok.
Her Modeling Career
Besides teaching, she's been doing her other career — modeling — for far longer. Her LinkedIn says she began modeling in 2012. She's been signed with the Oklahoma-based Tabb Agency since 2014. In July 2021, she shared on Instagram that she had signed with Wilhelmina Denver too, an affiliate of the talent agency Wilhelmina Models. Her agency profiles highlight some of her more notable work, like modeling for Calvin Klein and Brides of Oklahoma magazine. She's also been the face of a campaign for Kicker Audio.
She once was a "Hexagon Girl," or "ring girl" as she called it, for the mixed martial arts company Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC). And she has recently participated in projects for Oklahoma City-based photographer Jared Kinley, including a vintage-inspired rollerblader shoot for Selin Magazine, a poolside shoot for the independent newspaper Oklahoma Gazette, and his upcoming book of models posing with classic cars, Make & Model. In her post about Make & Model, Serene noted that she's a car lover.
Her Cats
While her Insta is dedicated to her modeling, Serene shares a little bit more about her personal life on TikTok, like when she gave this brief tour of her apartment or when she revealed she was nominated for The Bachelor by her friends. But far more importantly, she has shared some videos of her cats — a black one and a gray one. Unfortunately, she doesn't reveal which one of these buddies is the Leonardo DiCATprio that's mentioned in her Bachelor bio.
Her Alma Mater
She graduated from the University of Central Oklahoma with a BA in professional media in 2020. While there, she once anchored the university's student news broadcast. She's also a member of the sorority UCO Sigma Kappa.
Her Family
She did the "Parent Challenge" on TikTok where a parent answers a series of questions about their kids by dunking their heads into bowls of water. Her mom's face and when she dunks Serene offer some amusing insights (she's the most overdramatic and most likely to put her mom in a nursing home) into youngest child Serene (she has two older brothers). In an Instagram post about her grandmother, Serene also noted she has a younger brother, so it seems she has a blended family.
Her Non-Controversy
Though this ended up not being a Thing, for the sake of the deep dive, I feel compelled to mention that there was a photo of Serene posing with two women wearing MAGA shirts that was circulating the internet in December 2021 before Clayton's season was aired. According to a screenshot on Reddit, Serene addressed the photo head-on in her Instagram Stories. She said this photo was from the Halloween prior to the 2016 presidential election and she had believed the women's costumes were a joke. But she wanted to clarify that she "NEVER supported or agreed with the ideologies associated" with the MAGA t-shirts. She went on to say all humans should be treated equally and Black lives matter. "THESE are my beliefs and I feel its [sic] important to make that very clear," she added. (In case her words weren't enough, she had participated in the social media movement #BlackoutTuesday on June 2, 2020, in support of Black Lives Matter, as seen above.)
Now, that's how to diffuse a potential social media controversy and set the record straight. Bachelor Nation could certainly learn a thing or two from Serene.
Image: John Fleenor/ABC