How to make healthy choices: a conversation with Kim Alexis
12/21/23 • 26 min
Kim Alexis is one of the most recognized faces in the modeling industry. She’s been on the cover of over 500 magazines, appeared in six Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues and has walked the runway for top designers around the world. She’s written 11 books, both fiction and nonfiction, but is mainly known for her clean-living eBooks. Now in her 60s, Kim is a passionate advocate for the importance of making healthy choices in all stages of our lives--what we eat, how we take care of our bodies, what we put on our skin. In short, how we care for ourselves, mentally and physically. Look for Kim’s clean-living column in Men’s Journal.
How to find Kim and more on her clean-living research:
Her website
A few helpful sites for figuring out what products are made of:
Transcript:
Debra Hotaling (00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling. Our guest today, Kim Alexis, has appeared on the cover of over 500 magazines. She's one of the most recognized faces in the modeling industry. You've seen her on Mademoiselle, Vogue, Glamour... you name it, she's been on it. And as a teenager I was obsessed with all of those magazines. She's a passionate advocate now of being mindful about making healthy choices in how we exercise, what we're eating, the product that we're putting on our faces, how we're thinking about ourselves mentally and physically. And it isn't just for folks in our stage of life, it spans our lifetime. She's a passionate advocate for this, and she's going to tell us more about creating a lifestyle around clean living. Kim, welcome.
Kim Alexis (01:01):
Yes, thank you for having me.
Debra (01:03):
So you are a passionate advocate for healthy living and this came from your own journey. Tell us how you got to this place.
Kim (01:13):
It probably started when I was young because I thought I wanted to be a pharmacist. So I had that whole thing of cause and effect that everything affects something else. I was fascinated with how that worked. Probably in pharmacy school, if I'd gone that way instead of into the modeling business, I would've switched to the natural and naturopathic way of being. But that passion stayed with me, especially as my business was looking your best at all times. And it's hard to do that when you're constantly inundating yourself with bad choices, whether it's what you eat, what you wear, what you think about, who you hang out with, how late you stay up, all that had in effect. So I learned that it was important that I had to take care of the outer in order to also feel good on the inside.
Debra (02:06):
Well, I imagine being a model is like being like any other elite athlete, you really have to keep everything fine-tuned, right?
Kim (02:14):
Yes. And a preparation is very big. So the day of a shooting, you've already done it. If you're not ready the day of the shoot, it's too late.
Debra (02:23):
But clean living, that word gets bantered about so much. I don't even know what it means anymore. Ca...
Kim Alexis is one of the most recognized faces in the modeling industry. She’s been on the cover of over 500 magazines, appeared in six Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues and has walked the runway for top designers around the world. She’s written 11 books, both fiction and nonfiction, but is mainly known for her clean-living eBooks. Now in her 60s, Kim is a passionate advocate for the importance of making healthy choices in all stages of our lives--what we eat, how we take care of our bodies, what we put on our skin. In short, how we care for ourselves, mentally and physically. Look for Kim’s clean-living column in Men’s Journal.
How to find Kim and more on her clean-living research:
Her website
A few helpful sites for figuring out what products are made of:
Transcript:
Debra Hotaling (00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling. Our guest today, Kim Alexis, has appeared on the cover of over 500 magazines. She's one of the most recognized faces in the modeling industry. You've seen her on Mademoiselle, Vogue, Glamour... you name it, she's been on it. And as a teenager I was obsessed with all of those magazines. She's a passionate advocate now of being mindful about making healthy choices in how we exercise, what we're eating, the product that we're putting on our faces, how we're thinking about ourselves mentally and physically. And it isn't just for folks in our stage of life, it spans our lifetime. She's a passionate advocate for this, and she's going to tell us more about creating a lifestyle around clean living. Kim, welcome.
Kim Alexis (01:01):
Yes, thank you for having me.
Debra (01:03):
So you are a passionate advocate for healthy living and this came from your own journey. Tell us how you got to this place.
Kim (01:13):
It probably started when I was young because I thought I wanted to be a pharmacist. So I had that whole thing of cause and effect that everything affects something else. I was fascinated with how that worked. Probably in pharmacy school, if I'd gone that way instead of into the modeling business, I would've switched to the natural and naturopathic way of being. But that passion stayed with me, especially as my business was looking your best at all times. And it's hard to do that when you're constantly inundating yourself with bad choices, whether it's what you eat, what you wear, what you think about, who you hang out with, how late you stay up, all that had in effect. So I learned that it was important that I had to take care of the outer in order to also feel good on the inside.
Debra (02:06):
Well, I imagine being a model is like being like any other elite athlete, you really have to keep everything fine-tuned, right?
Kim (02:14):
Yes. And a preparation is very big. So the day of a shooting, you've already done it. If you're not ready the day of the shoot, it's too late.
Debra (02:23):
But clean living, that word gets bantered about so much. I don't even know what it means anymore. Ca...
Previous Episode
Find your one wild and precious life: a conversation with Diana Dunbar Place
Poet Mary Oliver writes, “tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” It’s a question Diana Dunbar Place is obsessed with. She’s the founder of Third Act Quest which helps guide folks as they’re figuring out this second arc of life—how we live, work, play and serve. We talk about leaps of faith, rising strong from lightning strike moments (looking at you, cancer) and connecting the dots to live a true and beautiful life.
Transcript:
Debra Hotaling (00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling. The American poet, Mary Oliver has this terrific line. I'm going to read it to you. “Tell me what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?” And it's a question our guest Diana Place is absolutely obsessed with. She's the founder of Third Act Quest, which helps guide folks as they're figuring out the second arc of their life, how we live, how we work, how we play, and how we serve. Diana, welcome.
Diana Place (00:40):
Well, thank you Debra. I'm glad to be here with you.
Debra (00:43):
And before we talk about what we're doing, let's talk a little bit about how we got here, how you got here, what were the circumstances that got you started with Third Act Quest?
Diana (00:57):
Okay, so it was pretty clear to me. I'd spent a long career, as I call it, dancing on the edges of my passion. And I was in the process of building a business I'd been working on for about four years, and I was, that productivity junkie was alive in me and then all of a sudden, I call it the most what started as what I saw as three coinciding life disruptions. I later called lightning strike moments, right as I was about to turn 60, I got a cancer diagnosis, a pretty bad one. At the same time, I had to shut down that business. I was preparing to empty nest as my daughter headed off to college and I was turning 60. So I got through it and it's in the rear view mirror for me now. But what was the day? I will remember the day I decided to start Third Act Quest.
Diana (02:15):
These lightning strikes just like if lightning hits a beach, it turns into crystals. These lightning strikes completely cleared my deck and I sat thinking about life. And when you've almost lost it, you realize it's preciousness. So I started saying to myself, this is my third act. Okay, what am I going to do? I Googled it, saw this really cool talk by Jane Fonda talking about her third act, and I decided in that moment that I was going to share the stories of women who were living really beautiful, meaningful, joyful third acts into their late fifties, sixties, seventies, and in some case, eighties. So I started a series of annual storytelling events. But along the way I decided too that there was so much need for support and inspiration. I also did a number of other things, workshops and retreats like that. But it really started in that moment. And I like to say that when I look back on it, I see it as one of the greatest gifts of my life to have these three coinciding things that really literally stopped me in my tracks. And there was a great aha coming out of it as opposed to what I guess could have been a feeling of fear and complete remorse and victimhood. So I really feel grateful now for that moment. But thanks for asking. It is as clear as today is to me, that moment.
Debra (
Next Episode
Trying Rusty Ballet: Jess Grippo
Jess Grippo is a force of nature: author, a TEDx speaker and founder of Dance Again, a New York City dance studio that offers a welcoming space for rusty dancers and newbies alike. One of her most popular offerings is Rusty Ballet where, she says, “creaky joints and cranky people are welcome.” We talk about how she came up with the idea of Rusty Ballet, why rekindling creativity saves us and the one thing we can all do now to start (or start again) dancing.
Here's how you find Jess Grippo:
Sign up for free 13-day dance series
Transcript:
Debra Hotaling (00:04):
Hello and welcome to the Dareful Project. I'm Debra Hotaling. Jess Grippo is a lot of things. She's an entrepreneur, a TEDx speaker, a dancer and founder of Dance Again, a New York City and online dance space that offers dance classes for rusty dancers and newbies. In fact, she offers classes called Rusty Ballet, where “creaky joints and cranky people are welcome.” Jess, welcome!
Jess Grippo (00:38):
Thank you so much, Debra. Thanks for having me on.
Debra (00:41):
So ground us on Dance Again. Where did that start?
Jess (00:47):
Sure. Well, it started with my own personal journey back into dance after having quit when I was about 19 years old. I was very serious about ballet when I was younger, but decided to go to regular college and study and do other things through my twenties. And I found myself in my late twenties with that inner dancer calling to me being like, don't forget about me. But yet I personally was way too intimidated to just step foot into a random dance class. I lived in New York City. A lot of the classes, even if they're labeled as a beginner class, they just seem fast and advanced and just, I was not in practice at the time. And so for me at the time, I just was like, well, I'm going to figure out my own way to do this. And it started out with dancing alone in my room a lot and kind of making quirky dance videos. This was way before TikTok existed, and I just started to find my own expression and my own movement through dance. And as time went on, I was like, all right, well, I think I've nailed the alone part of dancing, so let me see if other people want to join.
Jess (02:02):
And I started to kind of put word out there, and that was the origins of Dance Again. And the intention was that while it's really easy to find at least New York, LA, the major cities, you can probably find a professional-ish adult dance class in other places. Maybe you can't even find that. You can probably find a Zumba class or something, dance cardio based. But it seems like the cardio workout focused dance classes are the more accessible things. But I was really, I didn't want to just go in and work out and sweat. I wanted to feel like a dancer again. I wanted to learn choreography and express myself and all those things. And so that was really the intention of filling in that gap of let's create a class and a studio eventually that was that middle ground. That was something where could feel like a dancer again, have a class that wasn't so technical or fast paced that they felt like, ah, I don't know how to keep up, but also not just a cardio class. And that was the birth of Dance Again. And here we are many years later.
Debra (03:21):
Love th...
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