Simone (Fernandes) Saint Laurent was born in Piracicaba Sao Paulo, Brazil. When she was in her teens, she was discovered by a famous scouter for The Elite Model Look, a national competition by Elite Model Agency in Sao Paulo.
She soon moved to Europe, first Germany, then France. She has been working with a lot of the best designers and fashion brands around the world, from Cape Town to Berlin, from Monte Carlo to London, and from Milan to Paris. When fashion designers selected 10 models to do an exclusive fashion show for the Queen of England, Simone was chosen to take the lead.
Among others, she has worked and done runway shows for: St. Emile, C&A, Eres, Marithe Francois Girbaud, Issey Miyake, Diesel, Salvatore Ferragamo, Cavalli, Patricia Pepe, Chopard, de Grisogono, John Richmond, Gianfranco Ferre, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce Gabbana, Versace and Valentino.
No stranger to charity, Simone is a fervent supporter of philanthropy. She regularly supports charity events such as the Amber Lounge Fashion Charity Gala at the F1 Grand Prix in Monte Carlo. Most of all, Simone has been supporting the renowned World Peace Foundation (www.world-peace-foundation.org) from its inception as a global volunteer. The World Peace Foundation was founded by her husband and has been named “The most influential peace gathering in history” by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu.
Video
All content on this site is copyright of Women Fitness and no part of any article found on this site may be reproduced without an express permission and highlighted, do follow link crediting http://www.womenfitness.net/ or preferably the original page as the source. This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2016 Women Fitness
Simone Saint Laurent is an exceptionally talented and beautiful fashion supermodel. She is in conversation with Namita Nayyar, President Women Fitness.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: You were born in Piracicaba Sao Paulo, Brazil. When you were in your teens, you were discovered by a famous scouter for The Elite Model Look, a national competition by Elite Model Agency that took start your career in modelling. This propelled your modeling career to the height where you have been at the top of the world of fashion and glamour modeling and has also was being featured as lead model to do an exclusive fashion show for the Queen of England. Tell us something about this fairy tale journey?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: I always dreamt of becoming a model since I was a child. However I was often bullied at school because growing up in Brazil, the society does not support people with exotic looks such as mine even though one would expect otherwise given the exotic nature of Brazil and the high percentage of darker-skinned women with curly hair in Brazilian’s population.This is why I never thought I would be able to realize my dream of becoming a model in this lifetime. Because of people’s negative comments regarding my exotic hair and looks at my school, I never thought I would be able to realize my dream of becoming a model in this lifetime and I thought I was the ugly duckling. My life changed completely when a scouter of the famous Elite Model Agency came to visit my school and picked me as one of the top contenders for the Famous Elite Look of the Year contest.The scouter whose name is Newton Oliveira helped me a lot and told me that I would have all the right ingredients to become a successful international fashion model in Europe, the US and abroad. That’s how my journey started. When I was 17, I moved to Germany because part of my family lives there and started to work as a model shortly thereafter. Things started slowly at first, but after a few months I was selected to be the model for the trailer of “Beauty Queen” for the biggest German TV network. After this, my bookings started to sky rocket and I was selected as the model to lead the runway fashion show for Queen Elizabeth of England when she came to visit Germany.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: You moved from Brazil to Europe and to different countries for your professional career. For a model adjusting to new countries with their own cultures it must be difficult and then to adjust with modeling career in a new foreign land, what advice you can give to fellow models in a similar situation?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: I would always recommend doing a little bit of research first before moving to or working in another country. It’s basically all about understanding cross-cultural differences. In short this means that you have to have a solid knowledge of the cultural identity of another country so that you can really tune into the individual differences and take them into account when communicating to the people in a foreign country. This will allow you to settle in much faster and to establish lasting bonds and efficient communication.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: You are world leading media personality, model, philanthropist and a brand ambassador. How do you manage such a remarkable multi-dimensional lifestyle?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: When I was a child, I learned from my father that it is very important to structure your life and apply discipline when it comes to making plans and reaching your goals, this also involves rigorous time management and scheduling. From my husband who is wearing even more hats than I do, I learned that a certain champion’s mindset is critical when it comes to efficiently organizing yourself and adhering to a strict schedule. This allows you to fit in a variety of activities and interest while still performing at an optimum level and achieving world class results.
Videos
Ms. Namita Nayyar: What exercises comprise your fitness regime or workout routine which you may wish to share?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: First of all, sports and exercise are a fundamental part of my life because I am hyperactive. On the other hand, I see sports as a very constructive way to express my energy. My actual exercise and fitness regime and workout routines revolve around unique sets of exercises and routines that I have put together for myself which any women can use without having access to a gym or fitness machines.
This is crucial for me, as for so many other women, because when you’re leading a very active lifestyle and especially when you are travelling a lot, you often do not have access to the best fitness machines or maybe even a gym. This is why it is important to have unique set of routines that produce outstanding and world class results and transform your body to be in the best shape you can be while not being dependent on machines or hard to get fitness equipment. These exercise routines comprise a mixture of aerobics, yoga, ballet fitness and functional exercises.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: Do you take some special diet or have a strict menu that you follow to remain healthy and physically fit?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: I believe that we are what we eat and therefore should pay a lot of attention to what we consume on a daily basis. This is why I consume almost only organic and 90% vegan foods. The public perception of models is that they do not eat, while it is true that a share of models have their problems with eating disorders, the majority of models do eat well and regularly because otherwise they will not be able to perform at their jobs and to prevail in a working environment that is very demanding for the body and at times put a lot of strain on the body as well.Unfortunately, there are an increasing number of incidents among teenage girls when it comes to eating disorders. I am very saddened by this fact and hereby want to encourage all teenage girls that it is absolutely crucial to treat your body like your best friend and give it all the proper nutrients, food and exercise the body needs. This is the only way to not only stay healthy but also perform at an optimum level.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: You have glowing skin and gorgeous hair. Do you take some kind of skin treatment to keep it young and glowing and secondly what you do to your hair to make them look so stunning?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: My hair and skin routines are very straight forward and simple. I believe in the power of natural ingredients, this is why I try to use these as much as possible in my beauty routines. For my skin I use natural masks made with honey and avocado for instance. For my hair I use Brazilian hair care products because given that a lot of Brazilians have similar type of hair I find the products in my home country to be most effective for me.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: Tell us about one of your memorable experiences at a runway show from Cape Town, Berlin, Monte Carlo, London, Milan or Paris? How did you feel about being selected as a lead model to do an exclusive fashion show for the Queen of England out of Top 10 models?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: One of the highlights of my international career was certainly the fashion show for the Queen of England. It was a great honor to be selected as the lead model for this exclusive fashion show and to meet Queen Elizabeth face to face. Another experience that had a fundamental effect on me at the very early part of my career was to do a fashion show with Naomi Campbell because she inspired me at a very young age to charter my own course and realize my dreams in my own unique way and especially to persist and never give up! She gave me the strength, power and determination to become the next generation of black top models.
Videos
Ms. Namita Nayyar: Advice and motivational words to the inspiring and budding fashion model girls, who all are your fans and shall like to know from you for their climb to the ladder of success in the field of modelling?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: First of all, be yourself and be true to your own unique energy. Number 2 is learn from other people in the business especially the ones who are at the top. Then be humble and nice to everybody you work with. And last but not the least, have discipline and focus.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: You have been associated with World Peace Foundation (www.world-peace-foundation.org) from its inception as a global volunteer. The World Peace Foundation was founded by your husband and has been named “The most influential peace gathering in history” by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Desmond Tutu and number of other charities which are all dear to your heart, tell us how you have been able to achieve and quench your thirst of giving back to the society through this endeavour of yours?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: I was there at the birth of the World Peace Foundation when my husband started the now world renowned charity purely based on a vision and from scratch without having a great network in place or a great name. Its been very important to me to always give back and make sure that we make the world a better place. I truly believe that anyone can make a difference in his or her own sphere of influence, whether it’d be big or small, whether it’d be in a local community or on a global scale. What counts is the initiative and the heart-felt desire and compassion to improve other people’s lives and leave a legacy behind that will have a positive impact on the next generation to come.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: You have done bold photo shoots and runway shows for St. Emile, C&A, Eres, Marithe Francois Girbaud, Issey Miyake, Diesel, Salvatore Ferragamo, Cavalli, Patricia Pepe, Chopard, de Grisogono, John Richmond, Gianfranco Ferre, Jean Paul Gaultier, Dolce Gabbana, Versace and Valentino. How are you so body confident and advice to your compatriots?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: To be honest, I did not start out body confident. As I explained before, growing up in Brazil was not easy for me when it came to my outside appearance because of the racial bullying that went on when I was young. Unfortunately, contrary to the popular image that Brazil enjoys worldwide as being the country of body confident people, if you are a woman or person of colour and especially if you have curly exotic hair like mine, life is not easy growing up in Brazil.
On the one hand, you see people dancing in the streets to the rhythms of the carnival and they come across as being very body confident but on the other hand, what people outside of Brazil do not see is that the weight of racial discrimination weighs heavily on everyone’s shoulders. I only started to develop real body confidence when I moved to my family in Germany and when I started modeling. Germany actually gave me a completely different outlook on my physical appearance because Germans love the exotic looks I have. While in Brazil, women spent millions of dollars every year to straighten their hair.
In Germany and in many other countries I’ve been to because of my work, people compliment me on my exotic looks. An advice to my compatriots, a funny thing happened when I went back to Brazil to visit my friends and family after having built up the body confidence I have today and after having shed the heavy burden of a past of racial discrimination, the same people who would criticize me and ridicule me for my exotic looks suddenly started to see me as beautiful and were impressed by the exotic beauty they were seeing.
However, nothing in the outside appearance had actually changed; the only thing that changed was my inner mental attitude towards my body and towards accepting me for who I was while finding a true beauty and self-confidence within. That’s probably the biggest advice I could give to anyone, change your inner perception of yourself and the world’s perception of you would change as well.
Ms. Namita Nayyar: What do you wish to say about the website Womenfitness.net and message for its visitors?
Ms. Simone Saint Laurent: I’m very grateful that a website like womenfitness.net exists and what I love most about it is that it is in authentic tool of highly useful information that empowers women to not only be strong leaders themselves but also inspire others to change their body image and appearance both from the inside and the outside.I believe that true beauty and true fitness comes from within so I am very grateful that a website like womenfitness.net has the courage to conquer unchartered territories and empower a new generation of strong, proud, fit, and beautiful and body confident women leaders worldwide.To know more about Simone Saint Laurent, check out: http://www.simonestlaurent.com/To get all the latest news follow her on Instagram:
Women Fitness Team thanks Simone Saint Laurent for giving us her valuable time for this interview and quenching the thirst of her fans to know more about her and making this interview happen
Videos
All content on this site is copyright of Women Fitness and no part of any article found on this site may be reproduced without an express permission and highlighted, do follow link crediting http://www.womenfitness.net/ or preferably the original page as the source. This interview is exclusive and taken by Namita Nayyar President womenfitness.net and should not be reproduced, copied or hosted in part or full anywhere without an express permission.
All Written Content Copyright © 2016 Women Fitness