morethanmodel

Today on the podcast we have Sanne Vloet. Sanne started as a competitive gymnast and at the age of 14 and was discovered while taping for the hit television show, “Holland’s Got Talent.” After graduating high school, she left home to begin her modeling career in Paris, London, & Milan. After moving to NYC, Sanne was cast to walk for legendary designer Ralph Lauren, which opened the door to her later success as the face of countless fashion brands and walking in many fashion shows including the Victoria Secret Fashion Show. 2019 goals include continued collaboration with fashion and tech brands while focusing on creating content for her digital media platforms.

Shaina Danziger is a model-turned-director. With an international modeling career spanning more than a decade, she has worked with some of the top fashion houses and magazines in the industry, including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Glamour, Fendi, Balenciaga, Issey Miyake, and Trussardi. I recently saw a new series on the Vogue Magazine youtube called “The Models” which is a four part docs-series shedding light on the complex power dynamics models face at essentially every level of the modelling industry. Soon after I found out Shaina was behind that series! I was so happy to see a publication as big as vogue, and truly as central to fashion as vogue creating this type of real, raw and gutsy content and I knew I had to have her on this podcast. Her directorial work can be seen at Amazon Prime, Rolling Stone, Vogue, Conde Nast Live, People, NME, and NY Daily News.

Today on the podcast we have my pal Katy Syme. Katy is a model, mentor and lover of all things food. She grew up in Bedfordshire, England, and started modeling full time in 2012, having graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Liverpool. She moved to London, where she continued her long term love affair with theatre, art, people, and eating. Moving to New York in 2014, having left her comfort zone of her beloved England, she felt a little lost with no friends, no clients, and no plan of what to do about it. From there, the idea of Artemis was born - a mentoring service, and information resource for girls moving through the modeling world. Her intention is to provide community, confidence and kindness through shared experience. 5 years later, she’s still modeling, still eating, and Artemis is a fully-fledged service.

Today’s guest is Ash Chew. Ashley Chew is a model and Fine Artist in New York City. After studying Fashion Design at Kent State University, she went on to work in production and creative for New York Fashion Week, Midwest Fashion Week and Miami Swim Week, where her curiosity for modeling and diversity started. Ashley and I met speaking on a panel about diversity in fashion for the New York Times Student Journeys program and I knew I needed her on this podcast right away! As the founder of BlackModelsMatter a movement that promotes diversity; and as a working model, she uses her platform to assure that more models of color are seen in print and on the runways. Today we’re going to talk about her viral movement: #blackmodelsmatter, the work she’s currently doing in diversity and also her opinion on more recent stories of the continuing difficulties designers and models of colour are facing.

Olivia Angel has been modeling for 9 years and has been based in NYC, Chicago, and LA. She has a degree in Communications and Public Relations from the University of Cincinnati. Olivia has always felt like she’s had a really good balance between industry life and real life. Olivia continues to model full-time while also substitute teaching. She’s considering going back to get her Masters in Education at Northwestern University next year.

Daphne De Baat - @daphnedebaat by morethanmodel

Jason Gorskie is a corporate consultant, functional coach, personality profiler, and NLP practitioner. Jason graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Science, Technology, and Society. After graduation, he moved to Europe to compete internationally on multiple professional soccer teams. During his five years overseas, Jason began to study neuro-linguistic programming and Jungian personality profiling, and is now certified in multiple practices. He has advised executives and professional athletes on how to improve their working relationships and enhance the overall quality of their lives. Over the same period, he’s provided professional training on improving relationships, conflict management, communication skills, as well as other related topics. Jason is currently working with Sanne Vloet on creating a social-emotional learning workshop for children in the community. Jason has modeled for clients such as Express, Nautica, and Northface.

Jacqueline Gould is a mentality coach, self-worth enthusiast and founder of YOUR INNER BABE, where she works one-on-one with clients of all ages to help shift their mindset from that of self-doubt to self-love through self-discovery. Growing up, Jacq struggled deeply with her own confidence. She started YOUR INNER BABE to help others learn to own their inner struggles and turn the whole damn thing around. YOUR INNER BABE bridges the gap between feeling alone and feeling supported. Together, she and her clients unwrap what gets in the way of prioritizing their own happiness, and kick the inner drama to the curb, paving the way to unrestrained acceptance.

Taylor is a Plus-Size Model, Designer and Entrepreneur. She has modeled for major brands and publications from Kohl’s to Bustle. Taylor is the founder of White Flower Designs (WFD) - a high-end accessories brand that raises awareness and funds for Alzheimer’s Disease in honor of her grandmother. She is currently finishing her final semester at University of Cincinnati in the fashion design program. She is also in the beginning stages of launching a size-inclusive, destination inspired swim line called, Nomads Swimwear, while simultaneously giving body positivity talks to high school students, actively working to grow and expand WFD and preparing to spend several months on stay modeling in Australia. @whiteflowerdesigns @nomadsswimwear

Today our guest is Christine Vi! Christine graduated with a degree in bioengineering with an emphasis on mechanics and robotics. She held board positions on the Society of Women Engineers and Engineering Design Team alongside the engineering makerspace to give tours and host events to raise awareness about STEM careers for young girls. Christine’s modeling work has ranged from a print shoot for Real Techniques to walking for Zac Posen. She won Miss Chicago Chinatown 2018 and is currently working on Model’s Menu, an account she created to challenge the stereotype of the model diet.

Ana Tanaka has not one, not two, not even three but FOUR companies under her belt and of course..is ALSO a model. Ana was born in Bolton, North England and started modeling at the age of 15. She’s now based between London and LA, travelling frequently to other destinations like NYC. Her first company: @wearejaperia was a staffing agency with talent from models and dancers to DJ’s and production. Her second company: @wekoko is a wildly popular online marketplace known for featuring adventurous and creative pieces for the risk taking, festival-going fashionistas. Her third and newest company: @femmecre8tive which she co-founded with her best friend Nancy Gomez is a full service production house offering an array of services from photo and video production and more - and they’ve worked with big names like IMG, Puma, NYFW and Yeezy to name a few. Her last company @eightbytanaka isn’t yet launched, so listen up to hear all about that!

Brittnee is a Canadian and International model having worked with brands from Hanes to Old Navy. She's a role model and a strong believer in practicing self-love. You may also know of Brittnee aka “Queen B” who was a fierce competitor on the Canadian Reality Television Show “Big Brother Canada”. She ultimately made it to the top four and set some serious records for secret power wins and HOH reigns. Brittnee is the proud dog mom of a mini-dachshund named Stephen, and a lover of all things Foodie. She has a food blog with her partner called “Oh Kale Try It” where they share their quirky takes on food around the world. Be sure to check it out on Tumblr and Instagram @ohkaletryit. You can find her traveling the world, working towards her dream of Hosting Breakfast Television and working on inspiring self-love every day.

Heide started modeling at age 13 in FL and eventually acting school brought her to NYC where she’s been ever since. Throughout her career, Heide always looked for ways to use modeling to do good things for the world and in 2011, she co-founded Models 4 Water with Georgie Badiel.In 2014 Heide went to Haiti with her friend Hana Mayeda to help teach English with the incredible non-profit English in Mind. While on that trip, she met non-profit, REBUILD Globally (which incubated the ethical fashion company deux mains, who she designs, models and produces for). Since then Heide has developed a passion for ethical and sustainable shopping and and she now sitson REBUILD's BOD and in 2016 led their team in hosting an artisan marketplace and wellness event at Madison Square Garden. Currently Heide is operating a blog Space For Anything, that also serves as a space for models to book appointments with me if/when they feel like they need a little extra support, whether it's help with communication, help solving a problem, or just someone to talk/cry to. It's something she really believes is lacking in the modeling industry, and her studies in psychology at Columbia inspired to bring such a support system where she felt it was really needed. Lastly, she recently began working as the showroom manager for ADAY, an amazing sustainable clothing startup whose mission she fully supports.

Amelia has been modeling for 17 years and has worked for clients such as Google, TJ Maxx, & Kohl’s. Outside of modeling, Amelia is a ghostwriter, entrepreneur, & mom to Delilah. She has ghostwritten 7 books, including 4 best seller and she has served as a content strategist or editor for many other successful books. Amelia is the owner of Pithy Wordsmithery a marketing content agency that helps people find the right words for their books and businesses.

Amber has been a model for 16 years and despite being a model all that time, she was never able to find a bra in her size that was also in her style. She decided to take matters into her own hands, and retake control of her body. She researched and developed a lingerie brand called Liberté, designed to be stylish luxury lingerie for women with larger cup sizes (30C - 38G). Her kickstarter campaign raised over $30,000 and her 6 piece collection is set to launch later this month!

Kristina Cheraneva was born in South East Siberia in Russia. She's been quite the nomad for the last 5 years having lived in living in Bali, Thailand and the United States. Kristina started modeling in Bali in 2013 but before that, she had explored and found a passion for many different types of art; painting, jewelry, design, but mostly dance and performance art. One of her proudest accomplishments is co-founding a dance theatre in Moscow. With her performances there, she was able to create a deep sense of connection not only within herself, but with her audience through the complete spectrum of emotion. These experiences helped her to discover the healing power of dance. Since then she has been developing “Authentic Embodiment” a conscious dance practice that helps people connect deeply with their bodies through expression of movement. Using her experience and knowledge in the arts and modelling she founded “Mindful Models”, a social movement on a mission to bring mindfulness into the fashion/entertainment industries through a holistic approach to well-being.

My guest today is Courtney Phillips. Courtney has been a modeling for 7 years and is represented by Ford Models. Courtney is an entrepreneur, a creative and is the co-founder of ROYAL media, which is a transmedia company that amplifies the unheard voices of Black life as a means to inspire, inform, and deepen empathy of the black community - A movement she catalyzed because she recognized the immense need for diverse cultural representation at broader scales. As a creative, Courtney desires to curate unique, original spaces that give breath to more inclusive manifestations of authentic being.

Dani is a full-time model in NYC, but hails from Canada just like me! Other than modelling, Dani is also a health coach and a basketball enthusiast. She’s organized many workout and basketball related events in NYC but is currently focused on her “Lady Ballerzz” which is a basketball style workout for women! She also recently started a youtube channel with a friend that’s dedicated to all things basketball! I don’t want to talk too much about it though, I’d rather you hear it from her! Click play to listen to her episode!

Larissa Drekonja is the founder of Neon Coat. An amazing app offering free deals and cool offers to models all over NYC. Being a model herself, she understands the power of a following and the need for models to have a supportive community. Through Neon Coat, she addresses both of these things. We hope you enjoy this episode!

Anne Therese is a model activist from Sweden. She has a college degree in Business and International Marketing and she was midway through her masters in Branding & Integrated Communications at City College of New York when she decided to pause her studies and fully focus on her own business and her mission as a role model. Her passion is speaking for those who can’t speak for themselves: the animals, nature and our oceans. She wants to be a model that uses her voice to help promote brands she believes in and and speak up for ways of living that she thinks is beneficial for people and for the planet as a whole. She has always been a passionate environmentalist and is so happy that she is now dedicating her full time to help promote this cause. Anne also has a podcast called - Hey Change, Finding Happiness in New Realities with Anne Therese - and she is the co-founder of the Ethical Talent & Modeling Agency called Role Models Mgmt. Anne currently lives in San Francisco with her boyfriend.