Dayle Haddon: Beauty, Ballet, and Beyond
In this heartfelt episode of Health Gig, join Tricia and Doro as Dayle Haddon, the iconic model and UNICEF ambassador, takes us through a powerful journey of self-discovery, redefining beauty, and making a difference in the world. From her early days of visualizing classical music and finding her feet in ballet, to breaking barriers in the modeling world and finding a deeper purpose with Unicef, Dayle reflects on the lessons she's learned, the inspirations she's garnered, and the mission she's embraced to uplift women and girls globally.
Tune in to discover her insights on ageless beauty, the importance of gratitude, and her impassioned plea for education. A story of resilience, reinvention, and redefining what it means to truly shine.
More on Dayle Haddon
Website: https://dayle.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Women1One
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/daylehaddon/?hl=en
Twitter (X): https://twitter.com/Women1One
Quotes:
Even the mommas in Kenya tell me that with the girl child, so much changes when they're educated compared to a boy child because they take care of the community. - Dayle Haddon
I constantly am asked, “what’s my inspiration?” It's the people that go on at all odds that inspire me. - Dayle Haddon
Back when I modeled, models were Swedish, Danish, and Texan: tall, blond, and straight haired. And I was little and dark with curly hair. - Dayle Haddon
Show Notes:
Dayle Haddon: My mother loved classical music, so I loved it. Out of all the children, I loved it the most. And in a way, when I look back for me, I think I visualize music. It was visual for me. So when the music was playing, I could see shapes and what I would do is kind of follow the shapes and follow the movement that I visually saw. And then they looked at me and they said, Well, maybe she should go into ballet. So at five years old, I started ballet.
Dayle Haddon: I was the only one that wanted to leave the country and go on and do other things. And because we didn't have a lot of means to pay for my dance classes, I always was thinking of ways to make money … and I just thought without telling anybody that maybe I could. Maybe I could do modeling because I kind of knew how to move, so maybe I could not thinking anyone would take me. So I never told anybody.
Dayle Haddon: I went into the big city, Montreal at the time because I lived in, you know, the far end of the island and I got accepted. I was so surprised. So I started in doing like teen modeling. And because I could dance, I could move, so I could interpret.
Dayle Haddon: I wanted to see the world I want to live in. I wanted to see what's going on. So I kind of taught myself things, you know, taught myself languages and wow, took a lot of time during my modeling.
Dayle Haddon: I remember it was a certain point where I had tested and tested. That's where you. You know, do photos with a photographer that's trying to get on the map and you're trying to get on the map. So you come together on your off days with clothes and you try to do what's called test pictures that will get you a job. And I did so much of that because nobody seemed to want me, which was wonderful in a certain way. It was wonderful because it gave me great humor when I was successful that people don't really know. They don't know what is, you know, what is successful or what is beautiful.
Dayle Haddon: I think Eileen was very instrumental for me in placing me in front of opportunities because she looked at me because I'm smaller than most of the models. I don't didn't really look like the type of model that was. You know, at that time it was Swedish models, Danish models and Texans. Those were the beauties there. The tall, blond, straight haired girls. And I was a little dark with curly hair.
Dayle Haddon: It never went to my head when I was successful because it was many years later, I was more seasoned. I was older. I was able to handle it because it's a very hard thing to handle when you take a young girl 16, 17 from the Midwest or whatever, and then tell her she's the most incredible thing in the world for one year and then drop her. Too hard to take.
Dayle Haddon: When you work with the great, great greats, which I was so fortunate to do, it is so interesting because it has nothing to do with what you look like. What are you bringing to it? What is the communication you are bringing to it? And I think I was good at it because I sold a lot of product and I really felt strongly about communicating with women off the page.
Dayle Haddon: The definitions of beauty have expanded it. It's more inclusive of all kinds of beauty, of what is beautiful, what is not beautiful, what is trendy, what is popular, what is pertinent for fashion. Sometimes I don't understand it, especially the fashion. Sometimes I really don't understand it.
Dayle Haddon: I created a company about health and well-being, inner and outer beauty and stuff like that. But I think it was the turning point for me was when I tried to go back into the industry and they looked at me like horrified and said, You are so over the hill. You will never work in this industry again. And I was 35 years old.
Dayle Haddon: Because of also my personal circumstances that happened, I became bolder, you know, because I think I was very shy. And I think circumstances can make it so that is a luxury to be shy. And I had to be bold about my choices and what I was doing, and I was on the forefront. I think it was Clairol that brought me on with a bunch of girls in a line of color, and I became their keynote speaker. So became the speaker for this idea of if one is beautiful, one should be beautiful all their life.
Dayle Haddon: We as women have to come together and say, Yeah, what's beautiful about this age. We lose some things, but we gain other things. That beauty of the journey of living and it wasn't being addressed or talked about and so it was new and it was exciting for people to hear this.
Dayle Haddon: I wrote two books. Both were bestsellers, including in China.
Dayle Haddon: It gave me a really great opportunity to talk with women. And what's bothering you? What you know, why don't you think you're beautiful? What is beautiful about you? You know all of those questions?
Dayle Haddon: I come across these women that don't feel they're beautiful for many reasons, that have really nothing to do with themselves.
Dayle Haddon: The first principle is look your best because you can access yourself through changing your hair or hair color or wearing something.
Dayle Haddon: Discover your wisdom. Because your wisdom is love. That is what you gain. That is the beauty of what you gain with time. That you what you would do at 20, you would not do at 40, 50. You know, every year you change, discover your wisdom, honor your body. You have one body. That's your vehicle.
Dayle Haddon: My daughter does a beautiful thing where for one year she kept a gratitude journal. And I do speak about that in my book. The Five Principles of Ageless Living is gratitude. And to say at night, you know, at least three things you're grateful for.
Dayle Haddon: I think a gratitude list enhances your gratefulness. And it is a key to happiness.
Dayle Haddon: I love the saying, keep good company. We have to, especially in these times. Watch who we're spending time with and what are they saying to us? Because that might not be conducive for your health and your well-being, you know, your mental health.
Dayle Haddon: I think it's important for people, but especially for women, not to feel that it's over. It's over because of a number. It's over because you got divorced. It's over because somebody left you. It's never over.
Dayle Haddon: I think what I wanted to do in that world, the fashion world, and I really wanted to work with women because I really enjoyed working with women, changing their mind about themselves, you know, personally for the positive. I enjoyed it. So I said I would like to work with women in much more extreme situations, and I propose to Unicef to work with them.
Dayle Haddon: I became a Unicef ambassador and went all over with them. I went to Darfur. I went to Angola. I was in many, many countries in Africa and also in South America. I learned a lot from them. Extraordinary organization.
Dayle Haddon: Of all the different problems because there's a lot of them. I veered towards education because it's a game changer if somebody is educated. A lot of changes happen. And I focused on women and girls because at 12 and 13 is where you lose a girl. She'll either be sold off, married off or brought back into the family.
Dayle Haddon: I just want you to know it's not just exclusively girls, but primarily focus on girls, because I'm a girl. You know, if the family has money, usually it'll be spent on a boy and not a girl. Even though the mamas in Kenya tell me that with a girl child, so much changes when they're educated compared to a boy child because they take care of the community.
Dayle Haddon: My mom inspired me because she came from nothing and put a family together with nothing. And she passed now. So she did inspire me. My daughter is one of my biggest inspirations because my daughter walks the walk. She's been through a lot. She's been through a lot of her own difficulties that she walks through to the other side. So it strengthened her. It made her impossible to sway off of that path.
Dayle Haddon: I'm really hoping to put together my meetings that I met with different people that will benefit many, many people. And that's what you want to do.
Dayle Haddon: Two of my girls said, Could you please be my mom?
Dayle Haddon: It's the people that go on at all odds that inspire me. They might not have the spotlight on them. They might not be on the cover of a magazine. So they're unsung heroes or heroines. They inspire me because when you meditate or when you go in, you can connect to those people and really pray for them to keep going, you know, and keep going on because we're not going to know all of them.
Dayle Haddon: We are called upon also, if we have advantages to hold the light for those people that do not to hold the light for what's happening in Morocco right now, things like that.
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