diff --git a/ data-model.png b/ data-model.png
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..43855b542
Binary files /dev/null and b/ data-model.png differ
diff --git a/ data-model.xml b/ data-model.xml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..1597bf7d9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ data-model.xml	
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+<mxfile userAgent="Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10_11_6) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/54.0.2840.71 Safari/537.36" version="5.7.1.2" editor="www.draw.io" type="device"><diagram>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</diagram></mxfile>
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 5f8b6d3d7..70e2d1110 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ Runs Talk.
 `npm test`
 
 ### Lint
-`npm lint`
+`npm run lint`
 
 ### Docs
 `swagger.yaml`
diff --git a/models/action.js b/models/action.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..581108a71
--- /dev/null
+++ b/models/action.js
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const mongoose = require('../mongoose');
+const uuid = require('uuid');
+const Schema = mongoose.Schema;
+
+const ActionSchema = new Schema({
+  id: {
+    type: String,
+    default: uuid.v4,
+    unique: true
+  },
+  action_type: String,
+  item_type: String,
+  item_id: String,
+  user_id: String
+},{
+  _id: false,
+  timestamps: {
+    createdAt: 'created_at',
+    updatedAt: 'updated_at'
+  }
+});
+
+/**
+ * Finds an action by the id.
+ * @param {String} id  identifier of the action (uuid)
+*/
+ActionSchema.statics.findById = function(id) {
+  return Action.findOne({id});
+};
+
+const Action = mongoose.model('Action', ActionSchema);
+
+module.exports = Action;
diff --git a/models/comment.js b/models/comment.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..107708a3b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/models/comment.js
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const mongoose = require('../mongoose');
+const uuid = require('uuid');
+const Schema = mongoose.Schema;
+
+const CommentSchema = new Schema({
+  id: {
+    type: String,
+    default: uuid.v4,
+    unique: true
+  },
+  body: {
+    type: String,
+    required: [true, 'The body is required.'],
+    minlength: 50
+  },
+  asset_id: String,
+  author_id: String,
+  status: {
+    type: String,
+    enum: ['accepted', 'rejected', ''],
+    default: ''
+  },
+  parent_id: String
+},{
+  _id: false,
+  timestamps: {
+    createdAt: 'created_at',
+    updatedAt: 'updated_at'
+  }
+});
+
+/**
+ * Finds a comment by the id.
+ * @param {String} id  identifier of the comment (uuid)
+*/
+CommentSchema.statics.findById = function(id) {
+  return Comment.findOne({id});
+};
+
+const Comment = mongoose.model('Comment', CommentSchema);
+
+module.exports = Comment;
diff --git a/models/user.js b/models/user.js
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..d6b174075
--- /dev/null
+++ b/models/user.js
@@ -0,0 +1,37 @@
+'use strict';
+
+const mongoose = require('../mongoose');
+const uuid = require('uuid');
+const Schema = mongoose.Schema;
+
+const UserProfileSchema = new Schema({
+  id: {
+    type: String,
+    default: uuid.v4,
+    unique: true
+  },
+  display_name: String,
+  auth_user_id: String
+},{
+  _id: false,
+  timestamps: {
+    createdAt: 'created_at',
+    updatedAt: 'updated_at'
+  }
+});
+
+/**
+ * Finds a user by the id.
+ * @param {String} id  identifier of the user (uuid)
+*/
+UserProfileSchema.statics.findById = function(id) {
+  return UserProfile.findOne({id});
+};
+
+// TO DO: methods
+//    modifications to user as statics
+//    find by auth user id
+
+const UserProfile = mongoose.model('UserProfile', UserProfileSchema);
+
+module.exports = UserProfile;