Walk the Runway to Physical and Mental Wellness with Kim Alexis
Kim Alexis describes her start as a model at just 18 years old and details hearing herself called a supermodel for the first time. She also talks about her wellness journey and her mindset throughout her time in the modeling industry that helped her become successful while maintaining her mental health.
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Website: https://kimalexis.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheKimAlexis/
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Quotes:
“I had to learn quickly at the age of 18 to set healthy boundaries and make my voice known… and I hadn't been used to that growing up in a small town.” -Kim Alexis
“I had to learn quickly that I had to go with what my gut said and that twisted, weird feeling in your gut when you feel sick is manipulation… and so I had to learn that's not good. Slow down. The faster someone wanted me to sign a contract, the slower I would go.” -Kim Alexis
“Modeling is a lonely business. You're always at a different location with different people, different personalities. You never know if you're going to get a big lunch or if you should have brought your own. You don't know where your parking spots are. Nothing is predefined. It's all new every day.” -Kim Alexis
Show Notes:
Kim Alexis: I graduated from high school at 17, but in the fall I was already accepted into a pharmacy program at University of Rhode Island. I was a swimmer. I used to swim 5.5 hours a day, so I was already on their swim team.
Kim Alexis: I just felt like a fish out of water. I was a tomboy. I hadn't studied all the the magazines. I didn't know how to put makeup on. I didn't realize there was a certain way to walk into a room back in the late 70s.
Kim Alexis: I thought they were kicking me out. And instead they said, Would you like to go to New York City? And I said, No, I'm going to be a pharmacist.
Kim Alexis: So they took the pictures, sent them to John Casablancas. He decides that he has to see me and has a Discover model day in Buffalo. He flies to Buffalo, comes into my classroom. I'm with all the other girls from my classroom and he pulls me out of class and offers me a guaranteed contract for a year.
Kim Alexis: I looked at my parents. They said, Don't regret anything. Just go ahead and try and see if you like it. You can always go back to school. So I tried it and I had a cover of Italian Bazaar in the first four days.
Kim Alexis: I had to learn quickly at the age of 18 to set healthy boundaries and make my voice known. And I hadn't been used to that growing up in a small town.
Kim Alexis: I was getting offered 14 jobs a day, so I could pick and choose what I wanted to do. It was just a strange time.
Kim Alexis: When you're 18, you don't need an escort. My sister's two years younger, so she was finishing up high school. I was on my own and I traveled immediately to Rome, to Paris. I started traveling, London, around the world by myself at 18.
Kim Alexis: John Casablancas from Elite discovered me. He said seven words that changed my life. You need to lose 15 pounds.
Kim Alexis: I had to learn to let that roll off my back and just not accept them or just say, Oh, that's your opinion.
Kim Alexis: My sister is as my dad would say, I have a smart one and I have a pretty one. And so my sister was valedictorian of her high school. She went off to Cornell. She's an electrical engineer with a master's.
Kim Alexis: Everyone's a supermodel nowadays. I want to make a new term master model.
Kim Alexis: All of a sudden I remember hearing it one day someone called me a supermodel. I'm like, what's that? And they said, Well, it's you, darling. And I said, Really? Well, who else is? And they said, Christie. And I'm like, You have me in the same category as Christie Brinkley. So I felt at that point that I'd kind of made it.
Kim Alexis: Now, I don't even have a modeling agency because they want to know what your social media numbers are and certain bookings you don't get based on merit of how beautiful you are.
Kim Alexis: My first son was born when I was 25, and I was supposed to be running a marathon in New York City at that point.
Kim Alexis: I'm a true believer that if you can keep the body as healthy as possible, it will heal itself.
Kim Alexis: I am developing a curriculum to help women that are coming out of jail, setting healthy boundaries and what that looks like.
Kim Alexis: A boundary is protecting my self esteem, protecting my peace of mind, protecting my integrity.
Kim Alexis: I went through a period where I was so funked out and depressed I couldn't get out of bed for two weeks.
Kim Alexis: Stay true to yourself and don't do something because you want to be famous or you want a label or you want a lot of money.