Latest / Hurdle with Emily Abbate / 153. Emily DiDonato, Model & Co-Founder of Covey
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: I think we are all our toughest critics.
- 0:02Speaker 2: You know, we speak to ourselves in a way that
- 0:04Speaker 2: we would never speak to anyone else, like a friend,
- 0:06Speaker 2: a family member. And I think at those times that
- 0:08Speaker 2: all I did was beat myself up and like, wonder
- 0:11Speaker 2: why I was so sad and like felt so out
- 0:13Speaker 2: of sorts. So I think the main key thing would be, like,
- 0:17Speaker 2: you need to find ways to be kinder to yourself,
- 0:20Speaker 2: like mentally, physically and emotionally.
- 0:37Speaker 3: Hey everyone, Emily Abadi here bringing you episode one fifty
- 0:41Speaker 3: three of Hurdle, a wellness a focused podcast where I
- 0:44Speaker 3: sit down with inspiring individuals to talk about big wins,
- 0:48Speaker 3: tough moments, and everything in between. On the show, you
- 0:52Speaker 3: can expect a vulnerability, motivation, and candid discussions with everyone
- 0:57Speaker 3: from top athletes and CEOs to hiring entrepreneurs on what
- 1:01Speaker 3: it really takes to follow your passions. My mission is
- 1:05Speaker 3: simple to inspire you to be your best self, move
- 1:09Speaker 3: with intention, and have some fun along the way.
- 1:13Speaker 4: For today's episode, I am.
- 1:15Speaker 3: So amped understatement to be chatting with Emily Didonado. Beyond
- 1:20Speaker 3: being my personal style inspiration and a model, Emily is
- 1:25Speaker 3: the founder of a new skincare brand called Covey, as
- 1:29Speaker 3: well as a body positivity advocate. In today's episode, we
- 1:33Speaker 3: chat about her journey to self acceptance and the roller
- 1:36Speaker 3: coaster that was getting into modeling after being scouted in
- 1:39Speaker 3: a Connecticut mall. She talks to me about struggling with
- 1:42Speaker 3: her size early on, spending hours on end at the gym,
- 1:46Speaker 3: and eating apple slices trying to be quote unquote.
- 1:50Speaker 4: The right fit.
- 1:51Speaker 3: She details one hurdle moment in particular with a makeup
- 1:54Speaker 3: artist and a stylist on set that changed everything, empowering
- 1:58Speaker 3: her to do away with restrictive behavior and embrace her body,
- 2:03Speaker 3: empowering others to do the same.
- 2:06Speaker 4: She talks me through the evolution of her career, including big.
- 2:09Speaker 3: Big, big opportunities with companies like Maybeleine and Chanel and
- 2:13Speaker 3: Giorgio Armani, and how she even got into the skincare game,
- 2:17Speaker 3: which as an owner of a small business she is
- 2:21Speaker 3: finding to be super exciting.
- 2:23Speaker 4: We also talk about content creation.
- 2:25Speaker 3: She is a thriving TikTok and Instagram account, New York
- 2:29Speaker 3: City living her go to fitness routine. So so much
- 2:33Speaker 3: goodness in this episode and also huge thank you to
- 2:35Speaker 3: M and her team at Covey. Covey is a three
- 2:39Speaker 3: step DIRM approved universal skincare ritual, and we are coming
- 2:43Speaker 3: together to offer Hurdle listeners ten percent off on what
- 2:47Speaker 3: they refer to as their Covey routine. Just head on
- 2:50Speaker 3: over to coveyskin dot com that's Coovey ski n dot
- 2:57Speaker 3: com and use the code Hurdle at checkout for ten
- 3:00Speaker 3: ten percent off today.
- 3:01Speaker 4: Thanks so much, y'all. Before I get into today's episode,
- 3:04Speaker 4: I do want to give some.
- 3:05Speaker 3: Love to one of my sponsors, Baron fig Now, journaling
- 3:09Speaker 3: is one of the things in my life.
- 3:11Speaker 4: It just it brings me back to.
- 3:13Speaker 3: Calm, especially especially lately when it feels like work is
- 3:17Speaker 3: just spiraling and I am living on Street Easy and
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- 3:26Speaker 3: mental health and that the practice of.
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- 3:34Speaker 3: don't know where to start?
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- 3:45Speaker 3: I probably use at least three different Barren Fig products
- 3:48Speaker 3: a day, including their Clear Habit Journal, their Squire Pen,
- 3:52Speaker 3: and a Confidant notebook. I love the notebooks because not
- 3:56Speaker 3: only do they feel smooth, which I know is like
- 3:58Speaker 3: a super silly thing to point out, but they look
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- 4:04Speaker 3: me excited just to write things down. Of course, you
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- 4:36Speaker 3: Use code Hurdle twenty a checkout to receive twenty percent
- 4:40Speaker 3: off your first purchase of a guided edition journal. Make
- 4:44Speaker 3: sure you're following along with Hurdle over on social media.
- 4:47Speaker 3: It is at Hurdle podcast. I'm over at Emily a body.
- 4:50Speaker 3: I would love it, love it, love it. If you
- 4:51Speaker 3: would take just a quick moment click on into the
- 4:54Speaker 3: show notes and click to subscribe to the weekly Hurdle newsletter.
- 4:58Speaker 3: It's a labor of love, something that I've I really
- 5:00Speaker 3: loved putting together over the last year. In there, I'm
- 5:03Speaker 3: connecting about things that are going on in my life.
- 5:06Speaker 3: I'm offering you tips and tricks to embrace a healthier
- 5:09Speaker 3: and happier wellness practice of your own, as well as
- 5:12Speaker 3: my content picks, things that I'm digging right now and
- 5:14Speaker 3: so much more. And bonus, it's free to subscribe. With that,
- 5:20Speaker 3: let's get to hurdling.
- 5:33Speaker 1: Today.
- 5:34Speaker 3: I'm sitting down with Emily Didonado. She is a model.
- 5:37Speaker 3: She's also the co founder of Covey, newly launched How you.
- 5:42Speaker 1: Doing, m Hi, I am doing well. Thank you so
- 5:45Speaker 1: much for having me. I'm super excited.
- 5:47Speaker 4: I'm super excited too. Okay, I have a confession.
- 5:51Speaker 3: I'm going to call out one of my best friends
- 5:53Speaker 3: right off the bat here Kara was so geeked. We
- 5:57Speaker 3: send each other your Instagram style videos because we're both
- 6:01Speaker 3: working on our style game.
- 6:03Speaker 4: Oh my god. And when this inbox, when.
- 6:07Speaker 3: This email landed in my inbox, like you should chat
- 6:10Speaker 3: with Emily Didonado, And I was like, no brainer.
- 6:13Speaker 4: Will she come here and get me dressed first?
- 6:17Speaker 2: Absolutely? I'm also always working on my style game. But
- 6:20Speaker 2: I feel really flattered that that was helping anyone at all.
- 6:24Speaker 3: And you know what I love about your style is
- 6:26Speaker 3: that it's just like I feel like as a woman,
- 6:29Speaker 3: I'm in my early thirties. Okay, thirty two is early thirties, Yes,
- 6:34Speaker 3: absolutely right. I feel like sometimes you're like, am I
- 6:36Speaker 3: in my mid thirties now? Okay, as a woman in
- 6:40Speaker 3: my early thirties, I just feel like you've got the
- 6:42Speaker 3: basics on lock.
- 6:44Speaker 4: That's what I'm going for.
- 6:45Speaker 2: Am, That's always what I'm going for as well. Like
- 6:48Speaker 2: trends come and go, I'm like, I'm all about mastering
- 6:51Speaker 2: the basics in all things in life. I'm like, how
- 6:53Speaker 2: I need this to look good now and I needed
- 6:55Speaker 2: to look good in ten years from now, Like what's
- 6:57Speaker 2: going to work? I'll play with trends a little, but like,
- 7:01Speaker 2: you don't want to be a fashion victim.
- 7:03Speaker 4: You know you don't want to be a fashion victim?
- 7:05Speaker 3: Now? You say that now, But we're going to get
- 7:08Speaker 3: into your backstory. I know that growing up you have
- 7:12Speaker 3: said before that you didn't really feel like you had
- 7:15Speaker 3: any strong sense of style.
- 7:16Speaker 4: So talk to me about Talk to me about growing
- 7:18Speaker 4: up in upstate New York and what that was like
- 7:20Speaker 4: for you. Yeah.
- 7:22Speaker 2: I mean I grew up like an hour and a
- 7:23Speaker 2: half north of Manhattan, and it was like a working
- 7:26Speaker 2: class town, a lot of commuters. It wasn't a fashion
- 7:29Speaker 2: forward town. I'll tell you that. People always think because
- 7:31Speaker 2: I'm from New York, They're like, oh, you must have
- 7:33Speaker 2: went to the city all the time. I'm like, no,
- 7:36Speaker 2: that was just not the case. We didn't do that.
- 7:38Speaker 2: So my fashion inspiration, you know, it was slim. I
- 7:44Speaker 2: just wore I went through every single phase that I
- 7:47Speaker 2: think now we're all millennials, you know, ug boots and
- 7:50Speaker 2: many layers of tank tops and many skinny jeans. Like
- 7:55Speaker 2: I did all the millennial things and my I wouldn't
- 7:58Speaker 2: say that. I even started focusing on my style and
- 8:00Speaker 2: actually really trying to develop personal style until I got
- 8:04Speaker 2: closer to thirty, where I was like, wait, I actually
- 8:07Speaker 2: like want to find out, like identify what my key
- 8:10Speaker 2: pieces are, what's my wardrobe, what's the go to, how
- 8:14Speaker 2: do I look put together at all times?
- 8:16Speaker 1: And like what does that look like for me?
- 8:18Speaker 3: Okay, So before I keep diving into your backstory. The
- 8:20Speaker 3: next follow up question would be what are the key pieces?
- 8:25Speaker 2: So I think for me, it's like you have to
- 8:27Speaker 2: find like your denim. For me, like finding the perfect
- 8:30Speaker 2: piece of denim, like what it is. I just buy
- 8:32Speaker 2: the exact same genes in multiple colors, because I'm not
- 8:34Speaker 2: about experimenting and finding my gene my silhouette, like figure
- 8:39Speaker 2: out what that is A really great blazer for me.
- 8:42Speaker 2: It's also like really great flattering body suits, like basic colors, blacks, whites, neutrals.
- 8:48Speaker 2: And I always invest in accessories, so belts, bags and shoes.
- 8:52Speaker 2: I think if you're going to invest in something like
- 8:55Speaker 2: those really great basics, I think are key.
- 8:59Speaker 3: I know, and we'll talk a little bit about this,
- 9:01Speaker 3: but you are big on the body positivity movement. So
- 9:07Speaker 3: when I hear you talk about finding your Goldilock's pair
- 9:10Speaker 3: of jeans, I would be remiss if I didn't say that.
- 9:13Speaker 3: As someone who has certainly been up and down on
- 9:17Speaker 3: the scale, been all over the place with her way.
- 9:19Speaker 3: Even now feeling really confident and happy in my body,
- 9:22Speaker 3: I still have this like mind block when it comes
- 9:25Speaker 3: to buying good jeens.
- 9:27Speaker 4: Did you ever struggle with that?
- 9:28Speaker 2: Oh my god, Like even going into a dressing room
- 9:31Speaker 2: to this day like gives me energy that I just
- 9:35Speaker 2: do not need or want. Like, yeah, I think finding
- 9:38Speaker 2: the perfect pair of genes is hard. Also, I'd be
- 9:40Speaker 2: lying if I didn't say that I tailor some of
- 9:42Speaker 2: my genes too, to make sure that they fit like
- 9:44Speaker 2: really really perfectly. Also a really great investment of just
- 9:46Speaker 2: time and energy. But yeah, Also like post pandemic or
- 9:51Speaker 2: like where we are right now, I'm like my jene
- 9:53Speaker 2: size is different now, my silhouette is different now, Like
- 9:56Speaker 2: what I used to wear like two years ago now
- 9:58Speaker 2: is like so different. And even come to terms with
- 10:00Speaker 2: that is not easy, even as someone who like I
- 10:03Speaker 2: really try to embrace like where my body's at, you know,
- 10:05Speaker 2: where are we at in the world, Like where am
- 10:07Speaker 2: I at?
- 10:07Speaker 1: Emotionally?
- 10:08Speaker 2: Like my size is going to change and fluctuate, but
- 10:11Speaker 2: you're show like, well, damn, I'm not a twenty seven anymore.
- 10:14Speaker 4: Back Damn, Oh my god.
- 10:17Speaker 3: I remember the first time that I learned like twenty seven,
- 10:20Speaker 3: twenty eight, twenty nine, thirty, et cetera, like what all
- 10:22Speaker 3: those sizes meant. And I was like I had enough
- 10:24Speaker 3: to struggle when I was younger, like dealing with a
- 10:26Speaker 3: sixteen and now you're going to double that on me.
- 10:30Speaker 4: I know.
- 10:30Speaker 2: And then when I go on like shopping on Netaport
- 10:32Speaker 2: or something, and I'm like a size like fourteen in
- 10:34Speaker 2: the UK, I'm like, you know what, just.
- 10:37Speaker 4: Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Okay.
- 10:40Speaker 3: So, growing up about an hour and a half north
- 10:42Speaker 3: of New York City in Upstate New York, I know
- 10:44Speaker 3: that when you were was at sixteen or seventeen, that's
- 10:47Speaker 3: when a model scout.
- 10:48Speaker 4: Found you in a Connecticut mall.
- 10:50Speaker 1: Yes, that is correct.
- 10:51Speaker 2: So I was scouted in a mall in Connecticut, and
- 10:53Speaker 2: then shortly after that I signed with an agency in
- 10:56Speaker 2: New York. And then my modeling career pitched up like
- 10:58Speaker 2: pretty quickly after that. I was working like within a
- 11:02Speaker 2: week of being signed with Ralph Lauren and then yeah,
- 11:05Speaker 2: my life changed like very very quickly.
- 11:07Speaker 3: When you were younger, did you envision being a model?
- 11:10Speaker 3: Were you the kind of girl that had the magazines
- 11:12Speaker 3: at home? Did you cut out the pictures and make
- 11:14Speaker 3: a vision board? Like where were you at?
- 11:16Speaker 2: I wouldn't call it a vision board, but I definitely did.
- 11:19Speaker 2: I liked fashion and I liked the glamor of fashion.
- 11:24Speaker 2: I would say, like I cut out all the pieces,
- 11:26Speaker 2: Like I remember all of my binders and notebooks were
- 11:28Speaker 2: like plastered with like covers and ads.
- 11:31Speaker 1: Like I loved that kind of stuff.
- 11:33Speaker 2: But I wouldn't say that I was thinking of it
- 11:36Speaker 2: as a vision board then but maybe now actually it
- 11:38Speaker 2: kind of was. It actually never reflected on that, but
- 11:41Speaker 2: like you know, growing up, people would tell me that
- 11:43Speaker 2: I should be a model and stuff like that, but
- 11:45Speaker 2: I feel like I wasn't someone who was like, that's
- 11:48Speaker 2: not information that you take and like run with and
- 11:50Speaker 2: you're like, you know what, you're right, let me just
- 11:52Speaker 2: go be a model like I was. I had no
- 11:54Speaker 2: idea how to even begin with that kind of journey.
- 11:57Speaker 2: Like it was just like a really great compliment. But
- 11:59Speaker 2: then when I was scouted, I was like very interested
- 12:02Speaker 2: in that opportunity, and you know, I was kind of
- 12:05Speaker 2: like I didn't know where I was at in my life.
- 12:06Speaker 2: I was supposed to be applying to colleges. I was
- 12:08Speaker 2: applying to colleges. All of my friends were like we
- 12:11Speaker 2: were in that zone when this was picking up for me.
- 12:14Speaker 2: So I had to make a tough decision, like was
- 12:16Speaker 2: I going to go away to college. Was I going
- 12:17Speaker 2: to pursue this full time? So obviously I made the
- 12:20Speaker 2: decision to pursue a full time, which I'm glad that
- 12:23Speaker 2: I did, but I didn't know if it was the
- 12:25Speaker 2: right decision at the time for sure.
- 12:27Speaker 4: Of course, of course.
- 12:27Speaker 3: I mean it's a big decision, especially to take on
- 12:30Speaker 3: at that age for you. Aside from being a little overwhelmed,
- 12:33Speaker 3: where were your parents at with this decision?
- 12:36Speaker 2: I felt like I have to give my parents props.
- 12:38Speaker 2: I feel like they did a good job being as
- 12:40Speaker 2: neutral as possible. And you know, my parents didn't go
- 12:44Speaker 2: to college, my brother did, so like they weren't like
- 12:48Speaker 2: this is absolutely you must do this in order to survive,
- 12:52Speaker 2: like go away to school. I feel like maybe some
- 12:54Speaker 2: other families or parents would be like, this is the
- 12:56Speaker 2: only way.
- 12:57Speaker 1: And I think they were.
- 12:58Speaker 2: Excited that I was excited by the opportunity, but they
- 13:01Speaker 2: really did let me steer that ship. But it had
- 13:06Speaker 2: its downfalls, you know, like when I first moved to
- 13:08Speaker 2: Manhattan and I all my friends were a way at college.
- 13:10Speaker 2: And I'm going to age myself by saying this, but
- 13:12Speaker 2: it was when Facebook was getting really big and everyone
- 13:14Speaker 2: was posting albums of like every single minute of their nights.
- 13:17Speaker 2: And I remember being like, wow, I'm like alone in
- 13:20Speaker 2: New York City and like studio apartment, like getting ready
- 13:22Speaker 2: to go to work tomorrow, and all my friends are
- 13:25Speaker 2: like raging their faces off at college. Like I don't
- 13:28Speaker 2: know if I made the right decision. I feel really
- 13:30Speaker 2: lonely and confused. But like I said, of course, like
- 13:35Speaker 2: reflecting now, you're.
- 13:36Speaker 1: Like, no, it's good.
- 13:37Speaker 4: Good decision, good decision.
- 13:39Speaker 3: First impressions, When you moved to New York, What was
- 13:42Speaker 3: that experience like for you?
- 13:43Speaker 4: Where were you? Where were you living?
- 13:46Speaker 1: Yeah, I moved.
- 13:48Speaker 2: So when I first moved to New York, I moved
- 13:50Speaker 2: down into like the Soho grunged village area, and I
- 13:53Speaker 2: was like in the heart of NYU, which I thought
- 13:55Speaker 2: that was a smart decision because I was like, oh,
- 13:57Speaker 2: I'll be around kids my age.
- 13:58Speaker 1: Well, if you don't really have any common.
- 14:01Speaker 2: Classes or ways to like talk to all these college kids,
- 14:04Speaker 2: like I found it really hard to make friends and
- 14:07Speaker 2: make connections. And you know, moving to New York as
- 14:09Speaker 2: a model, like you do get a lot of inbound
- 14:12Speaker 2: like people wanting to like hang out with you or connect,
- 14:14Speaker 2: but they're not necessarily like the best people.
- 14:17Speaker 4: I would say.
- 14:18Speaker 2: Also as a model, you know, I would go to work,
- 14:20Speaker 2: but you rarely see the same face twice, meaning you
- 14:23Speaker 2: would go to work and meet someone great, but you know,
- 14:25Speaker 2: your freelance, like I would work with different people almost
- 14:28Speaker 2: every day, so I wasn't really having like this consistency
- 14:31Speaker 2: to make new friends or like create deep relationships. Eventually
- 14:35Speaker 2: I started to, like a year or two later, you know,
- 14:37Speaker 2: you meet like one person who knows a lot of people,
- 14:40Speaker 2: who's like a great connector, or you know, you start socializing.
- 14:43Speaker 2: My first year or two here, I would say it
- 14:45Speaker 2: was incredibly lonely. It's a tough place to like connect
- 14:48Speaker 2: with people. I would say, even though there's so many
- 14:49Speaker 2: people here, good.
- 14:51Speaker 3: On you to know enough to strategically choose who you
- 14:57Speaker 3: spent your time with. Because on that note of John, like,
- 15:00Speaker 3: it's easy to get sucked into the wrong crowds. I mean,
- 15:04Speaker 3: I remember my first couple of years in New York,
- 15:06Speaker 3: just like I would give my phone number to like
- 15:09Speaker 3: one girl or one guy that I didn't know that well,
- 15:12Speaker 3: and then suddenly I was on like fourteen different club
- 15:15Speaker 3: promoter lists. Yes, yes, and exactly I would show up
- 15:20Speaker 3: and I'd be like, this person wants to be my friend,
- 15:21Speaker 3: and then I'm like, I don't necessarily always want to
- 15:24Speaker 3: be at a club until two am on a Tuesday,
- 15:27Speaker 3: Like maybe I need friends that don't want to do that.
- 15:30Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely use that to my advantage, like in
- 15:34Speaker 2: very very specific moments where I was like, I'd have
- 15:36Speaker 2: all my friends in town from home, and I'm going
- 15:39Speaker 2: to take them out for a really good time and
- 15:41Speaker 2: their minds are going to be blown. Definitely did that,
- 15:44Speaker 2: but otherwise, no, I was not the one like going
- 15:48Speaker 2: it just gave me the he begbis and it rightfully,
- 15:52Speaker 2: so you know, I kind of trusted my gut.
- 15:54Speaker 1: I was like, I don't think this like man.
- 15:55Speaker 2: Who just approached me in Union Square Park like genuinely
- 15:58Speaker 2: wants to get to know me and create this beautiful friendship,
- 16:01Speaker 2: and just something age debating.
- 16:04Speaker 4: This beautiful friendship.
- 16:07Speaker 3: It's so funny too, because I know, I mean, there
- 16:08Speaker 3: are certainly a fair share of listeners that are that
- 16:11Speaker 3: have this in their air pods and they're listening from
- 16:13Speaker 3: New York City, But for those that don't live here
- 16:16Speaker 3: and have never had that experience, it's really just like
- 16:19Speaker 3: you show up somewhere and you don't pull out your
- 16:22Speaker 3: wallet at all, and all of a sudden, there are
- 16:24Speaker 3: just drinks and people.
- 16:26Speaker 4: I mean obviously pre COVID, but.
- 16:28Speaker 3: Drinks and people, and like it just it all happens,
- 16:31Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, there's like flashaking lights and
- 16:33Speaker 3: you're in a club and you don't even remember how
- 16:35Speaker 3: you got there.
- 16:36Speaker 4: Like it's a whole thing totally.
- 16:38Speaker 2: It's a very overwhelming experience for sure, Like you're really
- 16:41Speaker 2: taking me back.
- 16:42Speaker 3: Yeah, I just needed a moment to personally reflect on
- 16:45Speaker 3: this time where like this was even an opportunity for us.
- 16:50Speaker 3: I'm glad we exchanged this mutual New to New York
- 16:52Speaker 3: promoter text cycle and now we.
- 16:55Speaker 1: Can move past it exactly.
- 16:56Speaker 4: We can get past it.
- 16:57Speaker 3: Okay, but you're in New York and you're you're working
- 17:00Speaker 3: more jobs, but you're feeling really alone. And I would imagine,
- 17:03Speaker 3: as a relatively new model in the space, that that
- 17:06Speaker 3: also opens up the door to having and then navigating
- 17:12Speaker 3: a lot of perhaps dangerous thoughts. Talk to me about
- 17:16Speaker 3: the mental side of getting into modeling.
- 17:19Speaker 2: When I first started the industry, I mean, even still,
- 17:21Speaker 2: it's a very competitive industry for sure, and I think
- 17:26Speaker 2: I came into it with the same competitive spirit that
- 17:29Speaker 2: I kind of had my whole life, in the sense
- 17:31Speaker 2: I grew up playing sports.
- 17:33Speaker 1: And I made this huge decision to.
- 17:35Speaker 2: Not go to college, and I think I felt a
- 17:37Speaker 2: lot of pressure to make this decision work. Like I
- 17:40Speaker 2: think I was like, this has to work out. You know,
- 17:43Speaker 2: I don't want to go home with my tail between
- 17:45Speaker 2: my legs.
- 17:46Speaker 1: I don't even know if going to school.
- 17:47Speaker 2: At this points and option I you know, I was
- 17:49Speaker 2: seventeen eighteen, Like I was just like, this has to
- 17:52Speaker 2: work out for me. So when I first moved to Manhattan,
- 17:55Speaker 2: it was the first time that I've really been away
- 17:57Speaker 2: from my family, away from the structure of school sports,
- 18:01Speaker 2: like a normal teenage life, you know. When I first
- 18:03Speaker 2: moved here, in things, I said that I started working
- 18:06Speaker 2: like very early on, but I wanted more. You know,
- 18:09Speaker 2: I was doing like specific jobs and it was enough
- 18:11Speaker 2: for me to say, yes, I'm going to pursue this
- 18:13Speaker 2: full time. But I wanted to be like at the
- 18:15Speaker 2: top of my game. I wanted to be like top
- 18:17Speaker 2: one hundred models in the world, like all of those things.
- 18:20Speaker 2: I wanted to be super successful. And I think the
- 18:23Speaker 2: dangerous thoughts for me or habits started coming in because
- 18:26Speaker 2: first of all, I was spending so much time alone.
- 18:28Speaker 1: I was alone all the time.
- 18:31Speaker 2: Living alone, not a lot of friends, and I was
- 18:33Speaker 2: basically putting so much pressure on myself to be successful
- 18:36Speaker 2: and make this career work. And I started picking up
- 18:40Speaker 2: super unhealthy habits that I think if I was living
- 18:43Speaker 2: with another person or a parent, they would be like, Emily,
- 18:45Speaker 2: you're acting really strange, like stop going to the gym
- 18:49Speaker 2: for like three hours a day and only allowing yourself.
- 18:51Speaker 1: To eat like apples. It's a little weird.
- 18:54Speaker 2: But I was alone and like walking around the city constantly,
- 18:58Speaker 2: and I think I just was like, if I'm going
- 19:00Speaker 2: to be successful, that means I.
- 19:01Speaker 1: Have to be thin.
- 19:02Speaker 2: And you know, I want to make money, and that
- 19:04Speaker 2: also means that I have to be thin.
- 19:07Speaker 1: So I just made that my only goal in life and.
- 19:12Speaker 2: Put all of my energy into that, and it paid
- 19:15Speaker 2: off in the sense that I did get extremely thin,
- 19:17Speaker 2: but I also got extremely miserable, so kind of, yeah,
- 19:20Speaker 2: it didn't work out.
- 19:22Speaker 3: Didn't work out, And I would imagine the concept of
- 19:25Speaker 3: I can just eat apples and go to the gym
- 19:27Speaker 3: for three hours at a time, like you have all
- 19:29Speaker 3: of this new found independence and this is like the
- 19:32Speaker 3: one thing that you can take control over. But when
- 19:36Speaker 3: there's no one almost to call you out on your bullshit,
- 19:39Speaker 3: as I think a lot of people struggled over this
- 19:42Speaker 3: past year, it can certainly become a little bit toxic.
- 19:46Speaker 3: So for you, how long were you in would you
- 19:49Speaker 3: say this kind of pattern before the straw broke the
- 19:52Speaker 3: camel's back?
- 19:53Speaker 2: Yeah, I would say like maybe like the first six
- 19:55Speaker 2: to eight months that I was living in the city.
- 19:57Speaker 2: I really was going like all the way, putting all
- 20:01Speaker 2: my effort into that, and that's when but I definitely
- 20:04Speaker 2: had kind of a moment where I came to and
- 20:07Speaker 2: was like, this isn't this actually is not worth it.
- 20:09Speaker 2: I'm actually lucky that I was even able to have
- 20:11Speaker 2: that moment for myself. Now that I look back on it.
- 20:14Speaker 3: Talk to me about that moment. Do you remember any
- 20:16Speaker 3: details about it?
- 20:17Speaker 1: Yeah? I just remember.
- 20:20Speaker 2: I remember I was like so irritable and miserable, and
- 20:23Speaker 2: I was like, I remember there were like two things
- 20:25Speaker 2: that happened that I was like, Okay, this is this
- 20:27Speaker 2: is so bad. I like snapped at my mom, who
- 20:29Speaker 2: like came down to visit me because I was just
- 20:31Speaker 2: like so irritable and like in this zone, in this
- 20:33Speaker 2: space where I was like very isolated. And then I
- 20:37Speaker 2: think one of the other key key moments for me
- 20:39Speaker 2: was I went to work for this brand that I
- 20:41Speaker 2: worked with for a very long time since the beginning
- 20:44Speaker 2: of my career, like they were one of my first clients,
- 20:46Speaker 2: call it, and I had gotten very thin, and two
- 20:48Speaker 2: people approached me, a model and a makeup artist, and
- 20:52Speaker 2: they were like.
- 20:52Speaker 1: Hey, you like don't look well. Are you okay?
- 20:57Speaker 2: And I remember being like, yeah, I'm like fine, Like
- 20:59Speaker 2: what do you mean, Like I'm you know, I was
- 21:01Speaker 2: kind of like what, like isn't this what you guys do?
- 21:05Speaker 2: Like I'm thin now, Like I'm just trying to work
- 21:07Speaker 2: and like be successful. And then after shortly after that,
- 21:10Speaker 2: I remember my agency said to me like, oh, you know,
- 21:12Speaker 2: people didn't think that you looked very good or very healthy.
- 21:15Speaker 2: They're concerned for you, and if you continue in this direction,
- 21:18Speaker 2: like they don't know if they're going to want to
- 21:20Speaker 2: keep working with you. And I remember I was like,
- 21:22Speaker 2: are you kidding me? I've been putting like all of
- 21:24Speaker 2: this work and effort and time into like looking this way,
- 21:27Speaker 2: and now people are not only saying that I don't
- 21:29Speaker 2: look good, they're saying that they might not want.
- 21:32Speaker 1: To continue working with me.
- 21:34Speaker 2: That was kind of my breakthrough moment where I was like,
- 21:36Speaker 2: all right, this isn't moving the needle. Clearly people don't
- 21:40Speaker 2: think I look good. It's hurting my career. I thought
- 21:42Speaker 2: this was going to help, and I kind of just
- 21:45Speaker 2: in that moment, actually gave up on this you know,
- 21:48Speaker 2: insane drive that I had to be thin. That was
- 21:52Speaker 2: the only goal I had. Was like, I just want
- 21:54Speaker 2: to be skinny, and that had its own, you know,
- 21:58Speaker 2: downfalls to it because and I just gained a bunch
- 22:01Speaker 2: of weight, and you know, when you go from one
- 22:02Speaker 2: extreme to the other. There was a lot of emotional
- 22:05Speaker 2: sort of stuff that I had to kind of deal
- 22:08Speaker 2: with and process.
- 22:10Speaker 1: So it was a journey.
- 22:12Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it sounds like a journey. I could
- 22:15Speaker 3: imagine how frustrating it must have felt, because it's so
- 22:19Speaker 3: interesting to hear you say, well, isn't the goal here
- 22:21Speaker 3: for me to be skinny? But when you started your
- 22:25Speaker 3: modeling journey, your goal was to be the best of
- 22:29Speaker 3: the best, to work with the best of the best.
- 22:32Speaker 3: So in your mind, to get to that goal, you
- 22:36Speaker 3: had to be small. But when you took a step
- 22:39Speaker 3: back and you looked at where you really wanted to
- 22:42Speaker 3: go and you got this feedback, you were, I mean
- 22:45Speaker 3: understandably shook totally completely.
- 22:49Speaker 1: Like I was just so defeated.
- 22:51Speaker 2: You know, you just think you're doing all the right
- 22:53Speaker 2: things and it just did not turn out to be
- 22:56Speaker 2: that way.
- 22:56Speaker 1: And if anything, people were encouraging.
- 22:58Speaker 2: Me to return to like how I I was when
- 23:00Speaker 2: I started, which was like a very healthy, size six
- 23:04Speaker 2: athletic girl. You know, I didn't look like other models,
- 23:08Speaker 2: I will say especially you know, I started modeling in
- 23:10Speaker 2: two thousand and nine and the trend then was WAF
- 23:13Speaker 2: very very thin, like Eastern European.
- 23:16Speaker 1: You know, six foot it was.
- 23:18Speaker 2: It was a mold, a cookie cutter, like models looked
- 23:22Speaker 2: one way and one way only. So I think I
- 23:25Speaker 2: was kind of like, well, I got to make myself
- 23:27Speaker 2: look like that, because that's how everyone else looks. I
- 23:29Speaker 2: felt so different and I was different, you know, I
- 23:32Speaker 2: didn't look like that.
- 23:34Speaker 3: So when you started to learn how to get better
- 23:38Speaker 3: at being in your own body, how your body is
- 23:41Speaker 3: supposed to be, talk to me about the mental transition there,
- 23:45Speaker 3: because I would expect that that would.
- 23:48Speaker 4: Come with its fair share of hurdles as well.
- 23:51Speaker 1: Yeah, I know.
- 23:52Speaker 2: I remember after that when I kind of hit that
- 23:55Speaker 2: breaking point. I went home for like six months, back
- 23:58Speaker 2: to my parents' house. Granted I was still only like eighteen,
- 24:01Speaker 2: or maybe I was nineteen at that point, but I
- 24:03Speaker 2: was fried. I was burnt out, Like I think, I
- 24:07Speaker 2: just felt so defeated and down and didn't know if
- 24:10Speaker 2: this was even the right direction for me. I was
- 24:12Speaker 2: doubting a lot. And I went home and I gained
- 24:14Speaker 2: quite a bit of weight, and I wanted to hide.
- 24:17Speaker 2: I didn't want to be seen. I definitely didn't want
- 24:20Speaker 2: to model. So that was in the super strange in
- 24:23Speaker 2: between space where I wasn't in college and I wasn't modeling,
- 24:26Speaker 2: and I was very sad. I was very very sad
- 24:29Speaker 2: and very very lost. And I do remember having this
- 24:33Speaker 2: kind of conversation with my agency at the time. I
- 24:36Speaker 2: kind of had a moment where they were kind of
- 24:38Speaker 2: pushing me, you know, to get back to where I was,
- 24:41Speaker 2: or to lose weight. You know, there was always pressure
- 24:45Speaker 2: to lose weight, to be a certain size, you know,
- 24:47Speaker 2: check your measurements, like where are you at? And I
- 24:50Speaker 2: just remember I had this breaking point with them where
- 24:52Speaker 2: I was like, listen, from here on is either take
- 24:54Speaker 2: it or leave it. I just can't stay on this
- 24:57Speaker 2: hamster wheel. It's not even because I I don't want to.
- 25:00Speaker 2: It's not even possible for me to be consistently this
- 25:04Speaker 2: one size that I need to be. So from now on,
- 25:07Speaker 2: you know, I want you to be honest about my
- 25:09Speaker 2: measurements with clients who want you to be honest about
- 25:11Speaker 2: my polaroids. You know, if people are interested, they'll I
- 25:15Speaker 2: hope that they'll make it work. And like that's it
- 25:18Speaker 2: for me now. I just don't want to hear it anymore.
- 25:20Speaker 2: About like losing weight, I just like I don't want
- 25:22Speaker 2: to hear it. And it was just totally bizarre because
- 25:25Speaker 2: like things kind of like took off for me shortly
- 25:28Speaker 2: after that. I don't know if it was like I
- 25:30Speaker 2: just put it out into the universe that I was
- 25:32Speaker 2: kind of like, this is it and I'm sick of
- 25:34Speaker 2: fighting it.
- 25:35Speaker 1: I don't want to do that anymore.
- 25:36Speaker 2: And then after that and I also you know, found
- 25:39Speaker 2: an agent who really represented me and like understood me
- 25:42Speaker 2: at the time and was like I'm here with that,
- 25:44Speaker 2: I'm here for you, like will make it work and
- 25:46Speaker 2: who wants to make it work will And that ended
- 25:49Speaker 2: up happening like very quickly, and I started getting or
- 25:53Speaker 2: having the career that I'd always dreamed of.
- 25:55Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think during that point, when you get
- 25:59Speaker 3: to this place where like this is who I am,
- 26:01Speaker 3: like that must have been such a freeing moment for you.
- 26:05Speaker 1: Oh my god, it really was.
- 26:06Speaker 2: Like I was just like, I think, I just put
- 26:09Speaker 2: faith into the universe that if someone wants to work
- 26:12Speaker 2: with me, they will, and they'll make it work and
- 26:14Speaker 2: they'll be excited to do so, and stop focusing on
- 26:18Speaker 2: all the people who don't want to work with me
- 26:20Speaker 2: or will work with me under certain circumstances, and like
- 26:24Speaker 2: I was, it was just too exhausting.
- 26:27Speaker 1: So yeah, it was.
- 26:27Speaker 2: Definitely like a really great moment where I felt like
- 26:29Speaker 2: I found my footing and like my confidence. And I
- 26:32Speaker 2: looking back, I'm like, listen, I was still like nineteen
- 26:35Speaker 2: years old, then twenty years old. Maybe when I'm starting
- 26:38Speaker 2: to like really come to these like more confident moments
- 26:40Speaker 2: in my life, that's still young.
- 26:43Speaker 1: It was it was difficult to do that for me.
- 26:46Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean, how applicable is this to so
- 26:49Speaker 3: much other stuff in life? Right, like just this idea
- 26:52Speaker 3: that we always want the thing that doesn't want us back,
- 26:55Speaker 3: and then it's hard to it's hard to let go
- 26:58Speaker 3: or give yourself to a thing or a person that
- 27:01Speaker 3: treats you with respect and values you.
- 27:05Speaker 4: And how messed up?
- 27:06Speaker 1: Is that? Exactly? Totally?
- 27:09Speaker 2: It was like I was just I felt like I
- 27:11Speaker 2: was fighting something, you know, I was like going against
- 27:14Speaker 2: the current, you know, I like as opposed to just
- 27:17Speaker 2: being like, all right, this is who I am, this
- 27:18Speaker 2: is where I'm at, and it's okay, and in fact,
- 27:21Speaker 2: it like may be exactly what it needs to be.
- 27:25Speaker 3: So yeah, okay, So we're finally at a place where
- 27:29Speaker 3: we feel more confident with the direction of where our
- 27:33Speaker 3: career is going. I'm talking about this like we're just
- 27:36Speaker 3: in this hand in hand here and you were at
- 27:39Speaker 3: this better place with where you were going with your career.
- 27:41Speaker 3: Did you feel that the people that you were working
- 27:45Speaker 3: with really started to accept you for this version of
- 27:48Speaker 3: yourself or did you still feel a little bit conflicted
- 27:50Speaker 3: in that?
- 27:51Speaker 1: Oh?
- 27:51Speaker 2: I mean I definitely still felt conflicted in moments. There
- 27:54Speaker 2: were absolutely people who celebrated me, were excited to do
- 27:59Speaker 2: so and to work with me, which was great, but
- 28:02Speaker 2: I still had many moments where I would go to
- 28:05Speaker 2: jobs or show up and people would be very upset,
- 28:09Speaker 2: like think that I wasn't what they expected or I
- 28:11Speaker 2: didn't fit the clothes I That happened many times, but
- 28:16Speaker 2: and that was always like really hard, a hard pill
- 28:19Speaker 2: to swallow, because it's just uncomfortable, and you're wasting people's
- 28:22Speaker 2: time and energy and money just by being you.
- 28:27Speaker 1: Like you're like, I'm sorry, Like I don't know what
- 28:30Speaker 1: to say or what to do.
- 28:32Speaker 2: So I still have I still had and have moments
- 28:35Speaker 2: like that though up until like before the pandemic, like
- 28:39Speaker 2: where I was working and traveling all the time, like
- 28:41Speaker 2: that still happens.
- 28:43Speaker 1: Yeah, My point is that you're not going to be
- 28:44Speaker 1: a person for everyone.
- 28:45Speaker 2: And you know, I would always when I was younger,
- 28:47Speaker 2: think like all these people are mad at me, they're
- 28:50Speaker 2: upset with me, they're disappointed in me, and I just
- 28:52Speaker 2: couldn't stand that. It just like sent me over the edge.
- 28:54Speaker 2: I just felt so guilty and so horrible. But yes,
- 28:57Speaker 2: it makes people's lives more difficult or complicate, but you're
- 29:00Speaker 2: not like a bad person or like you know, this
- 29:03Speaker 2: isn't like the world is not against you. They might
- 29:06Speaker 2: be mad at a situation or whatever it may be,
- 29:08Speaker 2: but it's not like all your fault because you're like
- 29:11Speaker 2: a size six.
- 29:12Speaker 3: Oh my god, I'm just like sitting or shaking my
- 29:15Speaker 3: head because I don't even I can't even fathom dealing
- 29:18Speaker 3: with one of those situations when someone looks at you
- 29:21Speaker 3: and they're just like no, And I would imagine that
- 29:24Speaker 3: that had happened to you, not just like when you
- 29:26Speaker 3: walk down the street for a casting, like you travel
- 29:29Speaker 3: so much for your job.
- 29:30Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I would travel very far distances and show
- 29:35Speaker 2: up and sometimes not fit the clothes and get sent
- 29:37Speaker 2: home like that day, Like they would literally be like, oh,
- 29:40Speaker 2: it's not working out, Like you don't fit the clothes,
- 29:43Speaker 2: not we expected, and that was just so tough, Like
- 29:45Speaker 2: I can't even lie. Like I would definitely cry and
- 29:48Speaker 2: like feel really bad about myself and just think about
- 29:51Speaker 2: all the time and energy that was wasted on my
- 29:53Speaker 2: side and their side. But then I would just be
- 29:57Speaker 2: like I have to move forward, Like what am I
- 30:00Speaker 2: supposed to do? Like cry about my jeene size all
- 30:02Speaker 2: day long for how long? Like it's like it is,
- 30:05Speaker 2: I can't do anything about it right now?
- 30:07Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean in those moments when you're in
- 30:09Speaker 3: that difficult headspace and sometimes that negative headspace, how have
- 30:13Speaker 3: you learned to pull yourself out of that?
- 30:17Speaker 2: Yeah, I think for myself, I it's like a series
- 30:21Speaker 2: of steps because I always need to let myself feel
- 30:24Speaker 2: the feelings. I'm like, I'm a pisces, Like I find
- 30:26Speaker 2: need to cry or let it out or whatever it is.
- 30:29Speaker 2: I do allow myself to feel the feelings, but I
- 30:31Speaker 2: also always have this moment where I'm like, Okay, the
- 30:34Speaker 2: only person who can turn this ship around is me. Like,
- 30:37Speaker 2: and if I just continue speaking to myself in a
- 30:39Speaker 2: negative way or being like you know what you are.
- 30:41Speaker 1: You know you are.
- 30:42Speaker 2: Fat, or you should have ate less, or you could
- 30:44Speaker 2: have worked out more, or you could have prepped more,
- 30:47Speaker 2: like you could be more hard working, I'm like, this
- 30:49Speaker 2: is not helpful. You know, Let's try to integrate and
- 30:52Speaker 2: bring in more positive thoughts and more positive point of view,
- 30:56Speaker 2: Like what kind of actions can I take right now
- 30:58Speaker 2: that will make me feel better?
- 31:00Speaker 1: But I do think like when.
- 31:01Speaker 2: You're in those moments, I've learned that I kind of
- 31:03Speaker 2: have to take responsibility for turning it around, Like, because
- 31:06Speaker 2: you know, the meanest person I interact with or is myself,
- 31:09Speaker 2: because I have like negative thoughts and like those negative
- 31:13Speaker 2: voices that you do have to be like okay, like
- 31:15Speaker 2: how do I turn this around?
- 31:24Speaker 3: Taking a break from today's episode to talk to you
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- 34:38Speaker 3: Talk to me about do you remember when you felt
- 34:41Speaker 3: as though you had quote unquote made it?
- 34:47Speaker 1: Yeah, I do.
- 34:48Speaker 2: I like I remember I was shooting this commercial for
- 34:53Speaker 2: Aqua Da Joya, this fragrance for OURMANI that was like,
- 34:57Speaker 2: you know, one of the biggest jobs that I've ever
- 34:59Speaker 2: don it's still what people recognize me for to this day.
- 35:03Speaker 2: And then like while I was on set, I got
- 35:05Speaker 2: a phone call and someone was like, oh, my agent
- 35:07Speaker 2: at the time was like, oh, you just got booked
- 35:09Speaker 2: for the cover of French Vogue, like while I was
- 35:11Speaker 2: on this set, and I was like, oh my god,
- 35:14Speaker 2: like all of the things that I could have ever
- 35:17Speaker 2: dreamed of, Like I'm shooting this massive commercial for this
- 35:19Speaker 2: like huge.
- 35:20Speaker 1: Brand, Like what a dream.
- 35:22Speaker 2: I just found out I got booked for the cover
- 35:23Speaker 2: of French Vogue, like you know, things just like when
- 35:26Speaker 2: it rains at Poor's kind of like I was just like, Wow,
- 35:29Speaker 2: this is what I always dreamed of and it's happening,
- 35:32Speaker 2: and that's happening.
- 35:33Speaker 4: So when was that?
- 35:34Speaker 1: That was like twenty ten?
- 35:35Speaker 4: Oh my god, So we've been at this for a minute.
- 35:39Speaker 1: Yeah, oh yeah.
- 35:39Speaker 2: I mean now it's like twelve years that I've been
- 35:42Speaker 2: doing this, So that's crazy.
- 35:45Speaker 4: That is actually crazy.
- 35:46Speaker 3: So when do you leave the small studio near Greenwige
- 35:50Speaker 3: Village and like start to upgrade because I feel like
- 35:53Speaker 3: there has to be like a natural blam upgrade story here.
- 35:56Speaker 1: There's totally an upgrade. Yeah.
- 35:58Speaker 2: I went from like a very small, dark studio where
- 36:01Speaker 2: I like slept above my kitchen, and then I moved
- 36:05Speaker 2: into like a really nice building with like Florida ceiling
- 36:09Speaker 2: windows the following year, like in the Lower East Side,
- 36:12Speaker 2: and I was kind of like, all right, this is
- 36:14Speaker 2: better for my mental and spiritual health.
- 36:17Speaker 1: I feel a lot better, a little more settled. For sure.
- 36:20Speaker 3: I'm a I'm channeling Florida ceiling windows for my move
- 36:23Speaker 3: within the next two months.
- 36:24Speaker 4: Yeah, so it's coming. It's coming.
- 36:27Speaker 3: Everyone deserves a Florida ceiling window moment. Okay, So twenty eleven,
- 36:31Speaker 3: we're like, we're not doing so bad.
- 36:34Speaker 1: Yeah, it kind of turned around, it really did.
- 36:36Speaker 3: You're shooting with Armani, You're gonna be on Friend Vogue.
- 36:40Speaker 3: You're you're kind of grinding it out, You're going through
- 36:42Speaker 3: all the motions. Do you get to a place as
- 36:45Speaker 3: the jobs keep coming in where you start to ask
- 36:48Speaker 3: yourself what's next?
- 36:52Speaker 4: Oh?
- 36:52Speaker 2: Yes, that conversation that what's next though, was like this
- 36:56Speaker 2: dooming question.
- 36:57Speaker 1: From the minute I started modeling.
- 36:59Speaker 2: That's the first thing that people like literally ask you
- 37:02Speaker 2: as a model, because people are like, you know this
- 37:04Speaker 2: only lasts for so long, Like that would literally be
- 37:06Speaker 2: the first thing that people would say to me when
- 37:08Speaker 2: I was a teenager and I chose this career. They
- 37:10Speaker 2: would be like, you know, this only lasts for so long,
- 37:12Speaker 2: Like you can only do this for X many years?
- 37:14Speaker 2: Like what are you going to do after this? Like
- 37:16Speaker 2: what's your plan? Are you going to go back to college?
- 37:18Speaker 2: Like it would always be this like looming question, and
- 37:21Speaker 2: you know, rightfully so it is a legitimate question because
- 37:25Speaker 2: you know, a lot of models do only last I
- 37:26Speaker 2: mean ten years less than that. A lot of people
- 37:28Speaker 2: only last a few seasons. So it was always kind
- 37:32Speaker 2: of like this dooming question for me. But it started
- 37:36Speaker 2: feeling less of like this burden or fear for me,
- 37:39Speaker 2: like four years or so ago, for sure, because I.
- 37:43Speaker 4: Follow four years ago.
- 37:45Speaker 3: So four years ago is that when you started to
- 37:47Speaker 3: think about Covey.
- 37:50Speaker 2: No, Actually, like what came first was like starting to
- 37:54Speaker 2: focus more on my social channels weirdly, like, you know,
- 37:58Speaker 2: I had reached this point in my career where that
- 38:01Speaker 2: was all going fine and dandy, but I did feel
- 38:03Speaker 2: like I was kind of at this weird point where
- 38:05Speaker 2: I wanted more and felt like I had more to offer,
- 38:09Speaker 2: and I finally felt ready to take a step in
- 38:11Speaker 2: figuring out, like how can I actually do that? And
- 38:14Speaker 2: so that's when I kind of started focusing on my
- 38:16Speaker 2: YouTube channel, my Instagram, Like I was like, I want
- 38:19Speaker 2: to create content and I want to share what I
- 38:23Speaker 2: have to say with the world. And once I started
- 38:27Speaker 2: having that control or created that agency for myself, it
- 38:30Speaker 2: kind of like tumbleweeded into more things and opportunities outside
- 38:34Speaker 2: of just like being a model, like showing up for
- 38:37Speaker 2: a job and then like going home, which were always
- 38:39Speaker 2: just like very transactional, like one or two days, the
- 38:42Speaker 2: job is done and then you just wait for the
- 38:44Speaker 2: next one. I felt ready to start like building my
- 38:48Speaker 2: social presence and like my personal brand, I guess.
- 38:52Speaker 3: Yeah, And I mean modeling involves so much of you
- 38:54Speaker 3: putting yourself out there, but kind of just being open
- 38:57Speaker 3: to people judging your body. Now, when you go into
- 39:00Speaker 3: the content creation space and you're starting to have a
- 39:03Speaker 3: personality or be a little bit more vocal about who
- 39:05Speaker 3: it is that you are, talk to me about the
- 39:08Speaker 3: challenges that went hand in hand.
- 39:09Speaker 1: With that, definitely felt more.
- 39:12Speaker 2: I felt I definitely felt more vulnerable when I started
- 39:15Speaker 2: creating content and putting it on the internet, because yeah,
- 39:17Speaker 2: exactly like you said, people are no longer judging you
- 39:20Speaker 2: for the way that you look in your pant size.
- 39:22Speaker 2: They're actually seeing your personality and deciding if they like
- 39:25Speaker 2: you or not or like who you are or what
- 39:27Speaker 2: you have to say. So there was definitely more pressure there.
- 39:30Speaker 2: And I remember when I first started, like my YouTube channel,
- 39:32Speaker 2: a lot of people in my industry would be like,
- 39:34Speaker 2: oh my god, like you're so brave, like yikes, like
- 39:38Speaker 2: how are you doing that? Or like making that work? Meanwhile,
- 39:40Speaker 2: like two years later, these are the exact people who
- 39:42Speaker 2: are like, hey, like do you have any tips for me?
- 39:45Speaker 2: Like I think I'm gonna start one like too funny.
- 39:49Speaker 2: But yes, I've definitely like gotten like negative comments, but
- 39:52Speaker 2: it's actually like part of what sparked covey and like
- 39:55Speaker 2: this other journey that I'm now on.
- 39:57Speaker 1: So it worked out, but.
- 39:58Speaker 2: It's it never gets easy, Like I still get to
- 40:01Speaker 2: write negative comments and I click on the person, I'm
- 40:03Speaker 2: like who are you, Like where are you in the world,
- 40:05Speaker 2: Like what's your story? Why are you commenting this?
- 40:10Speaker 4: First of all, I can totally relate to this.
- 40:11Speaker 3: I feel like, whether you have five followers or millions
- 40:15Speaker 3: of followers. It's always, you know, a struggle to open
- 40:18Speaker 3: yourself up and understand kind of back to that idea,
- 40:21Speaker 3: like we always it's so easy to focus on the
- 40:24Speaker 3: negative side of things, right, It's so easy to focus
- 40:26Speaker 3: on the one person that you quote unquote weren't good
- 40:29Speaker 3: enough for you, rub the wrong way instead of the
- 40:31Speaker 3: you know, long, lengthy scroll of the people that are like.
- 40:35Speaker 4: This is awesome, You're amazing. I love what you're saying.
- 40:37Speaker 4: Give me that blazer, like I get it. So it's tough.
- 40:41Speaker 4: It's tough.
- 40:42Speaker 3: Secondly, so then take me down the path now of
- 40:44Speaker 3: where Covey comes from.
- 40:46Speaker 1: Yeah, so Covey.
- 40:47Speaker 2: What happened with Covey was like I started creating content
- 40:50Speaker 2: on my social channels. I loved doing beauty content. I
- 40:54Speaker 2: loved beauty in general, and like skincare was something that
- 40:57Speaker 2: was like obviously super important for me and my job.
- 41:00Speaker 1: So I had a lot.
- 41:01Speaker 2: Of fun sharing my routines and what I was doing
- 41:03Speaker 2: and what products I was loving and all of that.
- 41:05Speaker 2: But funny enough, I did this video for Harper's Bizarre,
- 41:07Speaker 2: one of their get Unready with Me videos that are
- 41:09Speaker 2: like they're like very famous for and I shared my
- 41:11Speaker 2: routine and it was I thought perfect, elaborate many steps.
- 41:15Speaker 2: I was doing all the things, using all the actives,
- 41:18Speaker 2: like I just thought, you know, I was going to
- 41:22Speaker 2: blow them out of the water. But anyway, when they
- 41:24Speaker 2: posted it on their channel, people came for me in
- 41:27Speaker 2: the comments, like all of the comments were literally like
- 41:29Speaker 2: this is the most whack routine I've ever seen in
- 41:32Speaker 2: my life. Like You're not supposed to pair those two
- 41:34Speaker 2: products together. That's not how you're supposed to layer your skincare.
- 41:37Speaker 2: You're using too many products.
- 41:38Speaker 1: Or doing this.
- 41:38Speaker 2: And I remember being like, I am someone who has
- 41:41Speaker 2: a background, I have access to many experts, you know,
- 41:44Speaker 2: in my industry. I have a passion for this. I
- 41:47Speaker 2: love skincare, but apparently I'm doing it all wrong. Like
- 41:52Speaker 2: if I feel this way, I can't be the only
- 41:53Speaker 2: person who feels that way, Like what is the perfect
- 41:56Speaker 2: skincare routine?
- 41:57Speaker 1: Like what is the ultimate routine? Then somebody tell me?
- 41:59Speaker 2: And I went down a rabbit hole, you know, myself
- 42:02Speaker 2: and my business partner, Christina. I went down all of
- 42:04Speaker 2: these communities on Reddit like skincare addiction, and I saw
- 42:08Speaker 2: also on Twitter that people were asking the same questions
- 42:11Speaker 2: that I was asking, which was what things do you
- 42:14Speaker 2: need in your skin carouteine? What are the most effective
- 42:16Speaker 2: products that you need? What order do you use them in?
- 42:19Speaker 2: And do they work together? Everyone was asking these questions
- 42:22Speaker 2: like what goes first? What goes next? Can I pair
- 42:24Speaker 2: this and this together? Like how does this work? So
- 42:27Speaker 2: I basically confirmed I was like everyone's asking the exact
- 42:29Speaker 2: same questions like where is it laid out in a
- 42:31Speaker 2: super simple effective like this is how your skin care
- 42:34Speaker 2: routine should work.
- 42:35Speaker 1: Here are the products that you need? And I couldn't
- 42:37Speaker 1: find it?
- 42:38Speaker 2: And you know, along with that, I also went through
- 42:40Speaker 2: over two thousand comments on my YouTube channel seeing what
- 42:43Speaker 2: everyone had to say about skincare there. So I really
- 42:48Speaker 2: leaned into my social channels and my community, like and
- 42:52Speaker 2: also negative comments that kind of helped like create this
- 42:55Speaker 2: this idea.
- 42:57Speaker 3: Just finally taking that negativity and make hang a positive
- 43:00Speaker 3: influence here exactly.
- 43:02Speaker 4: For a while.
- 43:03Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly.
- 43:05Speaker 3: I think the next logical question for someone that would
- 43:08Speaker 3: have a similar thought, like man, I would love to
- 43:10Speaker 3: do something like this, like where does one even start
- 43:14Speaker 3: with that? Because that hurdle is what holds so many
- 43:17Speaker 3: people back.
- 43:18Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean what started first? For myself was, like
- 43:23Speaker 2: I said, doing all of that research, Like I was
- 43:25Speaker 2: not shy about going through all of the comments, direct messages,
- 43:29Speaker 2: everything that had to do with skincare.
- 43:31Speaker 1: On my social channels, on other skincare.
- 43:33Speaker 2: Communities, you know, making sure you really do your research
- 43:36Speaker 2: and figure out, like what are the questions that people
- 43:38Speaker 2: are asking, what are they confused about? Like the internet
- 43:41Speaker 2: will tell you there's plenty of people you know, talking
- 43:43Speaker 2: about and asking those questions. And then in terms of
- 43:46Speaker 2: the products and what we wanted to create, first of all,
- 43:49Speaker 2: we partnered with a dermatologist, which was helpful. She really
- 43:52Speaker 2: helped us figure out like the key products, the key
- 43:54Speaker 2: ingredients that were effective back by the latest research in science.
- 43:58Speaker 2: But then we also use all of the reviews of
- 44:01Speaker 2: top selling products on top retailers, and we went through
- 44:04Speaker 2: over five hundred thousand reviews and we figured out what
- 44:07Speaker 2: people were complaining about, what they didn't like, what they
- 44:09Speaker 2: wanted from their skincare, and we really figured out, like,
- 44:12Speaker 2: you know, what did people actually want out of their skincare.
- 44:15Speaker 2: And then we figured out with our dirm you know,
- 44:17Speaker 2: what are those key three products.
- 44:18Speaker 1: And started from there. So, yeah, it was a lot
- 44:23Speaker 1: of research.
- 44:26Speaker 3: And like a few years on the making. I mean
- 44:27Speaker 3: you said you started this journey what three years ago?
- 44:30Speaker 1: Hmm.
- 44:31Speaker 2: Yeah, it took a really really long time because then
- 44:33Speaker 2: when we you know, found a lab that aligned with
- 44:35Speaker 2: us and kind of what we wanted these products to be,
- 44:37Speaker 2: what we wanted to have in the products and not
- 44:39Speaker 2: have in the products, you know, then we had to
- 44:41Speaker 2: do a ton of testing.
- 44:43Speaker 1: So we did.
- 44:44Speaker 2: Over twelve iterations of each of the products and tested
- 44:47Speaker 2: them on over one hundred and fifty people. So getting
- 44:49Speaker 2: all that data back, figuring out did people like it,
- 44:52Speaker 2: how did it work with their skin? You know, we
- 44:54Speaker 2: really tried to do all those things to make sure
- 44:57Speaker 2: it worked across all skin types and skin concerns.
- 45:00Speaker 3: I'd love to double click for a second on the
- 45:03Speaker 3: idea of just getting started with your skincare routine, because
- 45:07Speaker 3: I think that's something with that so many women struggle with.
- 45:10Speaker 3: So for you, when you just got started with your
- 45:12Speaker 3: skincare routine, were there like one or two things that
- 45:15Speaker 3: you really focused in on that you felt made a
- 45:17Speaker 3: major difference for.
- 45:18Speaker 2: You, Meaning like pre Covey just generally like, yeah, I
- 45:24Speaker 2: would say, what even before we started, Covey was pairing
- 45:30Speaker 2: the products back, meaning not using so many things like
- 45:34Speaker 2: I thought I needed way more than I did. And
- 45:39Speaker 2: I would also say that consistency really made a difference
- 45:42Speaker 2: for me, I think, I mean, I know a lot
- 45:44Speaker 2: of people probably go through this, but I would go
- 45:45Speaker 2: through moments where I was doing all the things, layering
- 45:47Speaker 2: on all the skincare, like you know, stripping my skin
- 45:51Speaker 2: probably like crazy, and then I would go through spouts
- 45:53Speaker 2: where I wasn't taking off my makeup before I went
- 45:55Speaker 2: to bed. It's like pick a lane, you know, Like,
- 45:57Speaker 2: but I knew that when I was consistent and use
- 46:00Speaker 2: like simple products that like were worked, well, that was
- 46:04Speaker 2: when I started to like really see a difference in
- 46:07Speaker 2: my skin.
- 46:07Speaker 1: And still to this.
- 46:08Speaker 3: Day, yeah, yeah, I know, the taking off the makeup
- 46:12Speaker 3: before bed thing like if you do nothing else, that
- 46:14Speaker 3: has been the one lane that I have been successful
- 46:17Speaker 3: in so far. And yeah, admittedly that's a big step
- 46:21Speaker 3: from you know what I used to do, which would
- 46:24Speaker 3: be not do that. I'd just be like, oh, I'm
- 46:26Speaker 3: too tired for this. You're too tired for thirty seconds
- 46:29Speaker 3: of a makeup wipe and some some soap and some
- 46:31Speaker 3: water and like call it a day.
- 46:34Speaker 4: I guess this is what they call adulting.
- 46:36Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly, exactly.
- 46:39Speaker 3: What I'd love to home in on right now is
- 46:41Speaker 3: talk to me about your last year. Talk to me
- 46:45Speaker 3: about what life has been like for you in the pandemic,
- 46:47Speaker 3: because obviously Covey recently launched, but everything shifted a year ago,
- 46:52Speaker 3: So how did that impact you?
- 46:54Speaker 4: First personally, and then we'll kind of bring it back
- 46:57Speaker 4: to the brand.
- 46:58Speaker 2: Side personally, Like I'm professionally, my life changed so much
- 47:02Speaker 2: because I was used to like literally being in a
- 47:05Speaker 2: different country like every other week. I was traveling constantly
- 47:09Speaker 2: before the pandemic for work, so that in the beginning,
- 47:12Speaker 2: like most things completely shut down, and that was super strange.
- 47:17Speaker 1: And at first I.
- 47:19Speaker 2: Really liked being in one place for an extended period
- 47:21Speaker 2: of time. I won't lie, because I was always away,
- 47:24Speaker 2: you know, I had just gotten married like a year
- 47:26Speaker 2: prior or, Like I was like, oh my god, this
- 47:27Speaker 2: is the first time ever were like in the same
- 47:29Speaker 2: place for an extended period of time and enjoying that.
- 47:32Speaker 2: But you know, then brands started asking me to shoot
- 47:35Speaker 2: content for them, so I was literally getting like racks
- 47:38Speaker 2: and racks clothes like delivered to me wherever I was,
- 47:40Speaker 2: and I was like shooting catalogs myself, like doing that,
- 47:44Speaker 2: which was interesting and kind of fun because I really
- 47:47Speaker 2: had to test like all of my skills like shooting
- 47:50Speaker 2: art direction, hair makeup, like I was doing it all
- 47:53Speaker 2: and I was kind of like, I can.
- 47:54Speaker 1: Do this, just let me figure this out. So then
- 47:57Speaker 1: I went through that phase.
- 47:58Speaker 2: But I think creating content for brand and became a
- 48:00Speaker 2: trend in something that like I kind of was open
- 48:04Speaker 2: to very much so and then things really started heating
- 48:08Speaker 2: up with Covey, like you know, six months ago, seven
- 48:11Speaker 2: months ago, and we're like, oh my god, we're like
- 48:12Speaker 2: really really close to our launch day, like this is
- 48:14Speaker 2: really happening. And then I was purely focusing on all
- 48:18Speaker 2: of that and getting things ready for that.
- 48:20Speaker 4: Wow.
- 48:21Speaker 3: And so now are you at the point where you
- 48:24Speaker 3: are going back into studios?
- 48:28Speaker 4: Are you shooting more.
- 48:29Speaker 3: Like what has started to happen for you as the
- 48:32Speaker 3: world is kind of starting to get back to where
- 48:34Speaker 3: it used to be.
- 48:36Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely feel it starting to come back. So yes,
- 48:39Speaker 2: the options meaning like jobs are starting to roll in again,
- 48:43Speaker 2: and you know, I think we're finding our new normal,
- 48:46Speaker 2: meaning like people are getting tested before going to work,
- 48:48Speaker 2: like everyone wants to get tested and to shoot and
- 48:50Speaker 2: to do all of that. Travel jobs are kind of
- 48:53Speaker 2: starting to pop back up again. Like I can definitely
- 48:56Speaker 2: see the light at the end of the tunnel a
- 48:58Speaker 2: little bit, but it's definitely with you know, being cautious
- 49:01Speaker 2: and doing the right thing.
- 49:02Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 49:02Speaker 3: I got my first invite yesterday for a media trip
- 49:07Speaker 3: to go to California.
- 49:09Speaker 4: And in my mind, it's so interesting.
- 49:11Speaker 3: I mean I used to, like you, I used to
- 49:13Speaker 3: travel all the time, and I would get those trip
- 49:15Speaker 3: invites like to a day, and it's just so interesting
- 49:19Speaker 3: to me to see where everyone's head is at, and
- 49:22Speaker 3: you know, what are certain brands thinking of requiring to
- 49:25Speaker 3: do for something like this, And who are the brands
- 49:28Speaker 3: that are like, we should do something like this, and
- 49:30Speaker 3: who are the brands that are like, we.
- 49:31Speaker 4: Will not do this ever again.
- 49:32Speaker 3: So yeah, it's it's super interesting to see, like what's
- 49:35Speaker 3: going to happen from here on out.
- 49:37Speaker 1: I'll be very very curious.
- 49:39Speaker 2: Yeah, Like even with like events and like gatherings and
- 49:43Speaker 2: all of that, Like it'll be interesting to see like
- 49:45Speaker 2: what direction brands and people go in because now we've
- 49:48Speaker 2: all gotten really used to doing everything remote so.
- 49:51Speaker 3: Right, right, and the budgets are shifting as well, so
- 49:53Speaker 3: like is it smart to have this budget?
- 49:55Speaker 4: Like why why are we bringing these people here?
- 49:58Speaker 3: If we can do this in this different way, it
- 50:01Speaker 3: just has completely changed the way that we think about
- 50:03Speaker 3: how we used to go about absolutely everything. Where do
- 50:07Speaker 3: you miss traveling to the most?
- 50:11Speaker 2: It's a good question, honestly, I think like eure Upe, Paris, London,
- 50:17Speaker 2: you know the places where Like, honestly, years ago, I
- 50:20Speaker 2: didn't love traveling there because I would always only be
- 50:22Speaker 2: there for like a day and a half, and like
- 50:24Speaker 2: would go home and I'd always be like, oh, like
- 50:26Speaker 2: I have to go.
- 50:26Speaker 1: To Paris again for like one day.
- 50:28Speaker 2: But now I'm like, oh, I would love to go
- 50:30Speaker 2: to Paris for like one day right now and like
- 50:32Speaker 2: go get a croissant and like walk around, like and
- 50:34Speaker 2: then go back to New York.
- 50:35Speaker 1: It would be pretty great.
- 50:37Speaker 4: Would be pretty pretty great.
- 50:38Speaker 3: Okay, So at the top of this episode, I talk
- 50:40Speaker 3: to you about how I know that my girlfriend Kara
- 50:44Speaker 3: is totally fangirling over this episode. Do you remember when
- 50:47Speaker 3: you had a moment where you first kind of fangirled
- 50:50Speaker 3: over somebody else that you were in the same space with.
- 50:54Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's such a good question.
- 50:57Speaker 2: I think, like, honestly, when I first started doing I've
- 51:00Speaker 2: been with them for a really long time, and Adriana Lima.
- 51:03Speaker 1: Was one of the other models.
- 51:05Speaker 2: I mean I grew up looking at her for as
- 51:07Speaker 2: long as I could remember, like in Victoria's Secret and Enabling,
- 51:10Speaker 2: and then I was just like shooting next to her,
- 51:12Speaker 2: and I remember being like, this is very strange. That
- 51:19Speaker 2: was definitely one of the moments where I was kind
- 51:20Speaker 2: of like, wow, I can't believe I'm working with people
- 51:22Speaker 2: like this, like that I'm even at this level, Like
- 51:24Speaker 2: this is nuts.
- 51:26Speaker 3: And in your career, I mean, again, you've been such
- 51:29Speaker 3: an established model in this space for so long, over
- 51:32Speaker 3: the last you know, twelve fourteen years of being such
- 51:35Speaker 3: an active player in this space. What has been one
- 51:40Speaker 3: of the and I'm sure there are so many, but
- 51:42Speaker 3: the greatest lessons that you have learned in this journey.
- 51:46Speaker 2: Greatest lessons that I have learned, I think because I
- 51:49Speaker 2: spent so many years like as a model, people tell
- 51:52Speaker 2: you how to look, how to dress, how to talk,
- 51:55Speaker 2: you know, how to be, and I kind of got
- 51:57Speaker 2: very used to just taking direct and not giving input,
- 52:03Speaker 2: not really taking control myself. I feel Like one of
- 52:05Speaker 2: the biggest lessons that I learned is like, if you
- 52:08Speaker 2: want to do something like a you can, and you're
- 52:10Speaker 2: pretty much the only person who can do that for yourself,
- 52:14Speaker 2: like to kind of just take control, take the reins
- 52:17Speaker 2: a bit more like if you want to get something done,
- 52:20Speaker 2: like start with yourself doing it. You know, even when
- 52:23Speaker 2: I first started creating content, I remember I felt really overwhelmed,
- 52:26Speaker 2: like I need a videographer and an editor and a
- 52:29Speaker 2: this and a that, And it's like, actually, no, you
- 52:32Speaker 2: can do all of that. You just have to figure
- 52:34Speaker 2: it out and do it yourself for a bit and
- 52:36Speaker 2: then maybe you can graduate. But like, why don't you
- 52:38Speaker 2: just start with you.
- 52:40Speaker 4: You've obviously graduated.
- 52:41Speaker 2: Now sometimes, but no, not always, like in terms of
- 52:46Speaker 2: that side of things, like creating content for myself and
- 52:49Speaker 2: now even for Covey, like creating ads and like some
- 52:52Speaker 2: of the stuff that I'm doing now, I just do
- 52:54Speaker 2: it myself sometimes a because I really like that part
- 52:56Speaker 2: of the process. It's like so cathartic for me. I
- 52:59Speaker 2: love editing. I love putting things together even more than
- 53:02Speaker 2: I like being in front of the camera, which was
- 53:04Speaker 2: shocking for me to find out I didn't realize that
- 53:06Speaker 2: I was like, wow, I actually really like sitting in
- 53:08Speaker 2: front of a computer screen for sixteen hours, like.
- 53:10Speaker 1: Editing a video. This is so fun actually, But yeah,
- 53:15Speaker 1: I would say that's one of the main lessons that
- 53:18Speaker 1: I learned.
- 53:18Speaker 2: But I think also like to keep pushing forward is
- 53:22Speaker 2: something that I always tell myself consistently, and that sounds
- 53:26Speaker 2: really simple, but I feel like, you know, you have
- 53:28Speaker 2: moments where you're uncomfortable or self doubting, or something didn't
- 53:31Speaker 2: come out perfectly, whatever it is, but it's like, stop
- 53:34Speaker 2: dwelling on that, like, just keep moving forward and keep
- 53:37Speaker 2: moving things forward in the direction that you want to go.
- 53:40Speaker 4: Love that piece of advice.
- 53:42Speaker 3: Right now, people look at your Instagram or see you
- 53:46Speaker 3: in an advertisement, they see a woman that is obviously
- 53:50Speaker 3: stunning and also on social has more than two point
- 53:53Speaker 3: two million followers. When you look in the mirror, what
- 53:56Speaker 3: is it that you see looking back at you?
- 53:59Speaker 1: Oh my god, that's a really good question. It depends
- 54:05Speaker 1: on the day. I'm not gonna lie.
- 54:07Speaker 2: Sometimes and especially lately, look in the mirror and I'm like,
- 54:11Speaker 2: I feel so proud of myself, Like I'm just like, wow,
- 54:14Speaker 2: I'm so different than what like I try to reflect
- 54:17Speaker 2: on who I was, like five or six years ago,
- 54:19Speaker 2: when I felt so confused and lost and felt like
- 54:22Speaker 2: I didn't have purpose. And now I'm literally looking in
- 54:24Speaker 2: the mirror and I'm like, I'm everything I never thought
- 54:27Speaker 2: I was going to be. Like I'm like engaged, I'm interested,
- 54:31Speaker 2: I'm being challenged, I'm trying new things, Like I feel
- 54:35Speaker 2: excited about what I'm working on, Like I'm like, go you,
- 54:38Speaker 2: like I'm so proud. But then sometimes when I look
- 54:41Speaker 2: in the mirror, I think, like, what the heck are
- 54:44Speaker 2: you doing? Like you don't actually know what you're doing,
- 54:48Speaker 2: and are you even happy?
- 54:49Speaker 1: And like what's happening? It really depends.
- 54:52Speaker 2: And then sometimes I just see like the kid in
- 54:54Speaker 2: me that's just like wow, like you're doing really cool stuff,
- 54:59Speaker 2: Like think about you know who you were when you
- 55:01Speaker 2: were like five or six years old, and like where
- 55:03Speaker 2: you grew up and what you thought you were going
- 55:05Speaker 2: to be doing.
- 55:07Speaker 1: Yeah.
- 55:07Speaker 4: No, I love those takeaways. It brings me.
- 55:09Speaker 3: I have this quote board on my wall that says,
- 55:11Speaker 3: remember when you wanted what you have now, And I
- 55:14Speaker 3: go back to that all the time because please, Like
- 55:17Speaker 3: we've talked about the apartment search, like I dream. I
- 55:20Speaker 3: think you just constantly are in a place where you're
- 55:23Speaker 3: hoping to level up. Right. It's like you get to
- 55:25Speaker 3: this one thing and you're like, okay, but what's next?
- 55:27Speaker 3: And you get to this one thing and then you're like, okay,
- 55:29Speaker 3: but what's next? And what's so important and something I
- 55:32Speaker 3: have certainly learned along the way is to like make
- 55:35Speaker 3: sure to take a moment and take pause, because you
- 55:40Speaker 3: have to celebrate the hurdles that you've jumped and the
- 55:43Speaker 3: progress that you've made to get to this point right here,
- 55:46Speaker 3: right now. And it may not be, you know, the
- 55:48Speaker 3: top of the mountain, but it's really freaking dope that
- 55:52Speaker 3: you got to a place where you're like on the
- 55:54Speaker 3: journey and you're on your way up exactly.
- 55:56Speaker 2: Taking that moment for like self reflection is super important.
- 56:00Speaker 2: Hard though living in a place like New York, plus
- 56:02Speaker 2: with social media, you're always kind of focused at what's
- 56:04Speaker 2: everyone else doing, But like taking a moment to look
- 56:07Speaker 2: inward is important.
- 56:09Speaker 3: We talked earlier about the struggles you had dealing with
- 56:15Speaker 3: your size and then getting to a place where you
- 56:17Speaker 3: felt really comfortable in your own body. For someone that
- 56:21Speaker 3: can share those sentiments, for someone that is struggling to
- 56:24Speaker 3: get into a place where they do feel at home
- 56:26Speaker 3: in their body, what piece of advice would you offer
- 56:29Speaker 3: to them?
- 56:30Speaker 2: Like, one of the key things for myself was that
- 56:33Speaker 2: how I looked that morning, or how I thought I looked,
- 56:35Speaker 2: or the number on the scale or how my pants
- 56:37Speaker 2: fit would literally, you know, change my mood and how
- 56:42Speaker 2: I approached the entire day. I gave so much power
- 56:45Speaker 2: to that part of me, to the way that I looked.
- 56:47Speaker 2: And I think my piece of advice would be that
- 56:50Speaker 2: if you find yourself kind of spiraling or getting really
- 56:53Speaker 2: focused or down on how you look and letting it
- 56:56Speaker 2: impact you in these really intense ways, to maybe not
- 57:01Speaker 2: focus so much on like making those thoughts or those
- 57:04Speaker 2: habits stop. For me, what made a really big difference
- 57:06Speaker 2: was like what new things can I focus on instead
- 57:09Speaker 2: of this? You know, what can I bring into my
- 57:12Speaker 2: life that will take you know, so much of the
- 57:14Speaker 2: focus off of like how I look today? What else
- 57:17Speaker 2: can I focus on filling my life with? Like other
- 57:19Speaker 2: things that challenged me, engaged me, you know, occupied occupied
- 57:23Speaker 2: my time and my energy. Made a really big difference,
- 57:26Speaker 2: and it kind of allowed me to naturally shift away
- 57:28Speaker 2: from being like what do I look like today? What
- 57:30Speaker 2: how do my pants fit? Like? What's going on? They're
- 57:33Speaker 2: like I think when you're in those zones where you're
- 57:35Speaker 2: so hyper aware of your body, like the only way
- 57:38Speaker 2: to get away from that is to like fill your
- 57:40Speaker 2: life and your thoughts.
- 57:41Speaker 1: With other things. But I know it's easier said than done.
- 57:44Speaker 4: Oh totally.
- 57:45Speaker 3: And something we didn't even touch on was how you
- 57:47Speaker 3: were moving your body over you know, the past ten
- 57:51Speaker 3: or twelve years. Just give me like a sneak peek
- 57:53Speaker 3: a little bit into how you do that on a
- 57:55Speaker 3: regular basis and maybe what that evolution has looked.
- 57:58Speaker 2: Like, meaning like my reallyationship with working out and all that. Yeah,
- 58:03Speaker 2: so I think like many women, you know, I when
- 58:06Speaker 2: I first started working out and I was in more
- 58:08Speaker 2: of that unhealthy stage in my life, all I did
- 58:11Speaker 2: was cardio. I was obsessed with cardio, hours of it,
- 58:15Speaker 2: like until I was so drained I had to take
- 58:17Speaker 2: a nap in the afternoon. And I kind of approached
- 58:20Speaker 2: exercise like that until like twenty fourteen, twenty and fifteen,
- 58:24Speaker 2: Like I just would do like at least ninety minutes
- 58:26Speaker 2: of cardio like every day.
- 58:28Speaker 1: I thought that was it.
- 58:29Speaker 2: And like also as a model, like I didn't do
- 58:32Speaker 2: anything else because people would always scare you and say, like,
- 58:34Speaker 2: if you lift weights, you're gonna get muscle and that's
- 58:37Speaker 2: going to look bad and you're going to look bulky
- 58:39Speaker 2: and manly and.
- 58:39Speaker 1: Like muscles are bad. So for so long, I like.
- 58:42Speaker 2: Totally stayed away from anything like that, which I regret
- 58:45Speaker 2: so much, which was so silly. And then I actually
- 58:49Speaker 2: met my husband and he kind of introduced me to
- 58:50Speaker 2: lifting weights, which I was terrified to do it first,
- 58:53Speaker 2: and then I absolutely loved it, Like it totally changed
- 58:56Speaker 2: my body. It changed how I felt about my body.
- 58:59Speaker 2: And now like lifting weights and like not even doing
- 59:02Speaker 2: that much cardio is more so where I find I
- 59:05Speaker 2: found my happy place.
- 59:07Speaker 4: How'd you meet your husband?
- 59:09Speaker 2: So I met Kyle on a flight from New York
- 59:12Speaker 2: to Colorado.
- 59:14Speaker 4: Oh this gifts every time.
- 59:16Speaker 3: I love to ask people this because I'm just still
- 59:18Speaker 3: hunting for my life partner. So I'm like, Okay, maybe
- 59:21Speaker 3: maybe the next flight, maybe they are. Maybe the next
- 59:24Speaker 3: time I go for a run, like something's gotta happen here.
- 59:28Speaker 1: They're out there.
- 59:29Speaker 4: They are, they are, I know they are. What excites
- 59:33Speaker 4: you right now?
- 59:34Speaker 1: Oh?
- 59:34Speaker 4: Man?
- 59:35Speaker 2: What excites me right now is building covey and like,
- 59:38Speaker 2: I just have so much fun waking up and thinking
- 59:41Speaker 2: like what can I do for my like new baby
- 59:44Speaker 2: business today, Like it's just so fun and there's endless
- 59:48Speaker 2: things to do, but it doesn't feel like a burdening
- 59:50Speaker 2: to do list. It's like all these opportunities and fun
- 59:53Speaker 2: things to tap into and new things to learn and
- 59:56Speaker 2: new ways to approach things. So that's for sure what
- 59:59Speaker 2: excites me right now.
- 1:00:00Speaker 3: All right, final question, You have an opportunity right now
- 1:00:04Speaker 3: to offer yourself a piece of advice. Looking back on
- 1:00:08Speaker 3: the hurdle moment when you were eating the apples and
- 1:00:10Speaker 3: running yourself into the ground and seemingly not all that happy.
- 1:00:15Speaker 3: You have an opportunity right now to offer yourself some
- 1:00:17Speaker 3: words of wisdom.
- 1:00:19Speaker 4: What are they?
- 1:00:22Speaker 1: I think that they would be.
- 1:00:25Speaker 2: To stop being so hard on yourself, Like you have
- 1:00:32Speaker 2: to be kind to yourself. And I know that sounds
- 1:00:34Speaker 2: so generic, but it's like, I think we are all
- 1:00:38Speaker 2: our toughest critics. You know, we speak to ourselves in
- 1:00:40Speaker 2: a way that we would never speak to anyone else,
- 1:00:43Speaker 2: like a friend, a family member. And I think at
- 1:00:45Speaker 2: those times, all I did was beat myself up and
- 1:00:47Speaker 2: like wonder why I was so sad and like.
- 1:00:50Speaker 1: Felt so out of swords.
- 1:00:51Speaker 2: So I think the main key thing would be, like,
- 1:00:54Speaker 2: you need to find ways to be kinder to yourself,
- 1:00:57Speaker 2: like mentally, physically and emotionally.
- 1:01:00Speaker 4: I love that, And thanks so much for your time today.
- 1:01:03Speaker 4: This was so fun.
- 1:01:04Speaker 1: Yeah, of course this was so fun.
- 1:01:07Speaker 2: I felt like, you know, really going back down memory lane,
- 1:01:10Speaker 2: Like even now when you revisit those moments, I'm like, gosh,
- 1:01:13Speaker 2: like I've processed this even more since the last time
- 1:01:16Speaker 2: I've talked about this.
- 1:01:17Speaker 3: Oh for sure, for sure. Tell me tell the hurdlers.
- 1:01:20Speaker 3: How do they keep up with you? How do they
- 1:01:21Speaker 3: stay in the loop with you? Where do they go
- 1:01:23Speaker 3: on YouTube? Give me all the details?
- 1:01:25Speaker 2: Yeah, so my YouTube channel, Emily de Tonado, Instagram, Emily
- 1:01:29Speaker 2: de Donado, TikTok If you want Didnado, Emily, I'm all over.
- 1:01:36Speaker 3: Is there an Emily Denonado on TikTok that's not you? Yes, unfortunately,
- 1:01:40Speaker 3: oh my goodness, doesn't she know? No offense, no offense
- 1:01:44Speaker 3: other Emily Denonado. But we were just looking for consistency
- 1:01:49Speaker 3: over here. I'm over at Emily Abodi and at Hurdle Podcast.
- 1:01:53Speaker 3: Another hurdle. COCKERD catch you guys next time
- 1:02:03Speaker 2: In hir