When I started modeling, they tried to pay black models less than they paid Caucasian models. I turned down those jobs because I knew what I was worth.
I did a shoot with massive iguanas in Costa Rica when I was modeling back then. They were like little dinosaurs, and they sat right across my arms and by my face. The guy told me not to make any sudden movements because they had enormous claws. The guy said he would rip my skin if he attacked.
Modeling is a tough job, your co-workers are your rivals, it really puts a damper on your perspective of other girls.
I was inspecting eyeglass lenses for a while. And I worked as a concession girl in a movie theater. And I was ironing before that. I always had some kind of a job. And then I started modeling.
I started the cosmetics in 1994 after I stopped modeling, out of my frustration as a woman of color not finding what I needed.
When I started modeling, it was like, 'Oh, she's too dark,' and I kind of looked at them like, 'You're too daft.'
Be a warrior when it comes to delivering on your ambitions. And a saint when it comes to treating people with respect, modeling generosity, and showing up with outright love.
Modeling was not an endgame for me. I didn't particularly enjoy the act of it.
You want to accomplish everything; there's no limits to what you want to do. You want to do movies. You want to do modeling. You want to be an entrepreneur - you want to enter every aspect of the entertainment business.
The entire time I was modeling, I was trying and failing at businesses. In fact, we would have started our business much sooner had I been more successful.
I almost had to exhaust myself at modeling before I could say, 'O.K., I'm ready for school.'
Early in my modeling career, when I was a teenager, I really took care of my skin. I didn't get too much sun exposure, and I moisturized.
When I first started modeling, they used to bleach my eyebrows all the time.
I was the first child at four at a modeling agency, so I had an advantage.
The industry has died as far as modeling has gone, and I'll tell you why. Magazines are featuring the Halle Berrys and Sarah Jessica Parkers, all the actresses. Makeup companies are featuring all the celebrities. All the models have died.
Even after they had stopped modeling for Playboy and had settled down with other men to raise families of their own, Hugh Hefner still considered them his women, and in the bound volumes of his magazine he would always possess them.
I love acting. I do it as a hobby. If I was able to have that as a career... Hopefully the fashion thing is a stepping-stone. I was so worried when I started modeling that it would hinder my chances of acting.
I was discovered by Paul Marciano of Guess when I was actually, like, two years old. And so I started with Baby Guess; I did Guess Kids, and then I stopped because I was a really competitive horseback rider and a club volleyball player. I went to Junior Olympic qualifiers for volleyball. So, I kind of stopped modeling.
What people want to know is, OK, what's after modeling? It's not just OK anymore to model until you're 25 and then stop and be a housewife.
Fortunately, most human behavior is learned observationally through modeling from others.
