Episode 99 | Leading in the Business of Hot with Amy Taylor

Amy Taylor  00:03

The Model industry has figured out that as long as you’re good looking, people like to look at beauty, and that doesn’t necessarily just have to be a six foot tall, 16 year old. That said, the beauty standards are still unrealistic. I was joking. I’ve been slightly hungry for 35 years. I don’t like it, but they still like usually thin, and even when they like curvy, it’s curvy in the right places, which might involve surgery or corsetry, or, you know, you are someone else’s fantasy. When they’re looking at that photo to buy that bottle of perfume.

Voiceover  00:03

Welcome to the “Lead at the Top of Your Game” podcast, where we equip you to more effectively lead your seat at any employer, business, or industry in which you choose to play. Each week, we help you sharpen your leadership acumen by cracking open the playbooks of dynamic leaders who are doing big things in their professional endeavors. And now, your host, leadership tactics, and organizational development expert, Karan Ferrell-Rhodes.

Karan Rhodes  00:36

Hey, there superstars. This is Karan, and welcome to another episode of the lead at the top of your game podcast. So, you know, one of my guilty pleasures is following the entertainment industry of all types, you know, sports, celebrities, models, actors, you name it. It’s clickbait for me. I’m the advertiser’s dream when it comes to entertainment. So when I had the chance to actually invite a leader in her own right, who’s a model and who survived over 20 years in this industry. I had to jump at the opportunity, and I’m so pleased to have on today’s show, Amy Taylor, of we’ll just say Amy Taylor modeling. She has a site, Amy Taylor, and owns all the copyrights to all of that. She’s absolutely fantastic. And she’s been on the covers of many publications such as muscle and fitness Playboy, a ton of them, as well as also being inside Sports Illustrated in GQ. She’s been on billboards in Times Square. And if those who are on the YouTube channel and version of this, you’ll see why, because she’s absolutely drop dead gorgeous, and I can say that comfortably as a woman, she’s just fabulous, and I so admire her longevity and her insights into the modeling industry. And she’s going to give us a sneak peek into the good, bad and spicy of the modeling industry. So welcome to the podcast, Amy. We’re so happy to have you.

Amy Taylor  02:00

Thank you so much. It’s so fun to chat with you.

Karan Rhodes  02:02

Oh, thank you. Well, you know, I’m dying to pick your brain and learn about, like I said, the good, bad, and spicy of the modeling industry. And I’m sure our listeners are too, but before we do that, we always love to learn a little bit more about our guests. So for as much as you feel comfortable, would you mind giving us a sneak peek into your life outside of modeling?

Amy Taylor  02:24

Yeah. So I’m a daughter, a sister, a friend, a neighbor. On a typical day, like, if I’m not working or traveling or something, I’ll I hang out a lot with my dog. I live in Manhattan, so tiny apartments, not a lot of parklands, so I usually have to take him somewhere so that he can bully some squirrels and get some nature, and me too, get some nature. And then, you know, I we have a million cultural events, places to eat, so maybe I’ll grab lunch and or dinner with some neighbors and friends. There’s always something to do in New York. That’s, that’s why one lives here. Yeah, I do have to stay fit, and I like to, so a day’ll typically involve at least some form of exercise. Also the city is your gym. You walk a lot here, yeah, and then just the standard stuff errands, life, there’s a lot of back end computer work in what I do, booking shoots. I have a publicist and all the typical staff, webmaster, lawyer, CPA, all those things. But I do a lot myself, because I like to. So just kind of the typical day, and a lot of other days I’m traveling somewhere, either for business or pleasure. And then on shoot days, it’s a lot of sleep the night before, lot of hydration, so I don’t look any wrinkly than I want to, and after shoots, it’s a it’s a big carb heavy meal, no better meal than pizza after a shoot,

Karan Rhodes  03:41

I bet you’re probably craving it like nobody’s business. And can I just say, there’s one thing about you I read in your bio, I’m a little jealous about you being a pilot. How cool is that?

Amy Taylor  03:53

Yeah, so, so my grandpa, my mom’s dad, was an aviator in the Air Force. She was an Air Force brat. Lived on base all over the country. I think it might be in my blood. My mom tells me, when I was a baby, I was obsessed with flying. It’s still true. It was a hobby. I went to undergrad at Cal and then I did an MBA in Los Angeles, worked other jobs all the while. I still modeled part time, because you can do it as well as being in school or working another job. That’s fine, a lot of people do. And so I was flying after my MBA, I worked for this oil company, a small one, and I flew for a hobby, and then I wanted to fly bigger, faster stuff, so that becomes a ludicrously expensive hobby, which I could not afford. So in the Great Recession of 2008 when there was basically no work, nothing to do, yeah, I took off to Mesa, Arizona, and I got serious about flying. I got my commercial tickets, my flight instructor stuff, and then I taught in at North Vegas airport, not McCarran, not the big airport, but another one that’s north of the strip. And then I taught in LA and then I’ve moved out here, and I’m looking to start teaching here. I’m learning the airspace, and I’m on the line with somebody here. I’ve also flown cargo for a company that was in Burbank, California, but I’ve never flown for airlines, because that’s that’s full time. It would. Allowed me to model, which I still enjoy. So it’s kind of it’s something I love. Every time we rotate off the runway, I can’t believe it’s real. It’s a miracle. And so I wanted to do something with a little more advancement, and I just can’t afford to do it as a hobby. So yeah, so I flew on the line part time to to get somebody else to pay the bill.

Karan Rhodes  05:21

Well, you’re my shero on that one. That’s a dream of mine down the road, hopefully one day. But I’m so happy that you took the leap and and did it. That is just amazing. Just absolutely amazing…

Amy Taylor  05:32

I taught a lot of women who once they learned they could make that plane behave, they learned that a lot of things in their life go the way they want,

Karan Rhodes  05:39

I bet.

Amy Taylor  05:42

Yeah, as women, I’ll tell you, we have a better safety record than men.

Karan Rhodes  05:46

There you go. More reasons. You all, if anyone is like me, and that’s a dream, well, you know, let’s consider it. You know, we only have one life to live

Amy Taylor  05:55

There any airport near you. You can take a discovery flight and just see if you like it. It’s not expensive, and they’ll take you up and go around in the pattern, take off and land, and you can see if you enjoy it or not.

Karan Rhodes  06:05

What a great way to start that’s amazing, and something that you can do while modeling as well. Well, let’s jump into modeling. So share with us a little bit about how you got into modeling, and what areas of specialty Do you love. I mean, because there’s a broad industry of modeling, right?

Amy Taylor  06:23

For sure. So, yeah, it came, like a lot of people, it found me. I was 14, and in a mall with my dad, and like, the guy who scouted me, you know, you think it’s like some creep, pervert, and there are plenty of those, but this wasn’t. He was a real photographer who owned an agency. He was Northern California. So there wasn’t a ton of opportunity, like in Paris, New York, LA, Atlanta, but there was, like the runway shows in the mall, small clothing tags and catalogs for small makers in like San Francisco area. So I started to do that as a teenager. My parents were very careful that the guy was on the up and up came with me to shoots, because I was a teenager, and I guess I got lucky that it it was for real, and so I did a lot of that. And then I didn’t keep growing my whole family’s tall, and I stopped at barely five six, so the runway and editorial ended up not available to me because I’m not tall enough. So I did more clothing. And then kind of got into the fitness thing when I moved to LA for grad school, because it’s kind of a fitness culture, and I looked like that. Did the glamor I’ve done Playboy FYI fans, Playboy has not been nude for a long time, and none of the covers I’ve done have been nude. I mean, they’ve been they’ve been sexy for sure, yeah, not naked. And there’s nothing wrong with naked. There’s nothing wrong with them.

Karan Rhodes  07:38

No, not at all, right,

Amy Taylor  07:40

But it wasn’t for me. So I navigated into like, glamor in my 20s and 30s, which is pretty common when you’re kind of super sexy and young ish, but not a kid, and then fitness, and then, as I’ve gotten into my 40s, it’s been more glamor and clothing, and that genre will go into gray modeling, where it’ll probably be more fashion magazines, Stills, and then broadcasting. I’m a chatty lady, so I like to do broadcasting.

Karan Rhodes  08:03

I think you’d be fantastic at it. I mean, I know you’ve already dipped your toe in the water with that, but yeah, I’m chatty as well as you could tell we were talking before and having such a great time. Then we went…better start this podcast. But yea…

Amy Taylor  08:18

Plus, streaming networks, they always need people already extroverted, so we’ll see where that goes or doesn’t go. But yeah, there’s a lot of genres, and I’ve enjoyed all of them. I enjoy being around creative people, the sort of right brain the crew is the stylist and the makeup people and the lighting, and that’s those are talents I do not have. And so people fascinate me to see what they can create. They see in a way I just don’t.

Karan Rhodes  08:43

So let’s get into to thank you for that number one and sharing that perspective. And let’s talk about a little bit about some of the good and bad of the industry as well. I had when we were starting to right before the podcast, I had shared that I have a, you know, few friends that are are seasoned, as we love to say for us that are over 40, but she’s in her 70s. I believe she’s thin, naturally thin, naturally gorgeous. She does have gray hair and everything, but she has said that while previously, it was tough for, you know, models of a certain age or actresses of a certain age, now there seems to be a little bit more inclusion. And she’s booked for a lot of, like, background roles and TV or or commercials and photo shoots where they want, you know, great looking older individuals. And I remember just following, because I’m just a, like, I said, an entertainment junkie. People were telling back in the old my old days, they were saying how hard it was to get in and how you had to be, you know, literally, 10 pounds and all of that back in the olden days, if you will. So it can you give your perspectives on, you know, how it used to be versus how it is now. And what are some things that models of today? They have to watch out for?

Amy Taylor  10:01

Yeah, so we’re getting there. As we all are making strides with our efforts toward diversity and inclusion. You know, whether that’s age or race or body shape or, you know, mental diversity, and I think the world needs us all. Mother Nature is a degenerate gambler rolling dice in a casino. She doesn’t just one thing. She creates a lot of stuff. Look at the world, and humans need to catch up and appreciate diversity, because that’s clearly what God or the ether favors. We’re just kind of stupid and judgy and scared of diversity, but we’re getting there, and modeling is getting there. It’s got a long way to go. It can shrink. There’s I found as I get into my late 40s, there’s this odd anger on the part of some people of, how dare you still want to model like you? Like, there’s this sort of Yeah. Like, shame on you for still wanting to be alive and relevant. You should just go roll over and die and again. Not all people act like that, but the ones who do, I’ve actually asked them, like, what is it about? Like, age older people that bugs you so much. This is a person who is far younger because you too will age if you don’t die, ya weirdo.

Karan Rhodes  11:09

Yeah.

Amy Taylor  11:11

And this person said, he said, Look, we’re all just scared of death. I said, okay, yeah, sure. It’s the great unknown. We don’t know what the next adventure is. I hope it’s good. We’re all gonna find out.

Karan Rhodes  11:20

Yeah,

Amy Taylor  11:20

But, ummm, that seems like a you problem if you’re afraid of aging and death, because aging is a gift. I mean, even if I might like to be able to get no sleep like in my 20s, I wouldn’t want to be in my 20s, I like it better now.

Karan Rhodes  11:32

I do too. I do too.

Amy Taylor  11:34

For some reason it makes some people angry that you’re okay with aging. That said we’re pushing, we’re getting there. The Model industry has figured out that as long as you’re good looking, people like to look at beauty, and that doesn’t necessarily just have to be a six foot tall, 16 year old. That said, the beauty standards are still unrealistic. I was joking. I’ve been slightly hungry for 35 years. I don’t like it, but they still like usually thin, and even when they like curvy, it’s curvy in the right places, which might involve surgery or corsetry, or, you know,  You are someone else’s fantasy. When they’re looking at that photo to buy that bottle of perfume and that fantasy, they want to think of themselves as this glamorous creature who’s better looking. That’s why there’s Photoshop and filters. And it is. We’re not quite there yet. Makeup still a thing. Hair, it’s but it’s better than it used to be. The exploitation and abuse. As I get older, I’m getting into some advocacy for workers rights, because modeling is an industry of a lot of people who are young and poor are the workers, and a lot of the people who own the clothing lines and the businesses are a lot older, a lot smarter, a lot richer, a lot more powerful, and so there are a lot of abuses, both sexual there’s creeps, there’s underpayment, there’s harassment, there’s a lot of nonsense that goes on. And I think we can do better on workers rights for models, but, but it’s a legal issue because a lot of them aren’t even 18, but there’s people making strides in this. Some of my former, retired models are doing great things in advocacy to address these issues, and I hope in the coming decades that we do better by the workers. We’re trying the obvious one, of course, particularly in editorial and runway, where the look is very thin. But even in fitness, are eating disorders. It’s a real problem. And there’s this pressure to lose weight, to be thinner. In fitness, to be more lean, and that in that creates some very disordered eating and even even drinking habits that are definitely not good. Yeah, lack of diversity that was a bigger problem in decades past. As they say, demography is destiny. The demographics of America are changing for the better, and so you are seeing a more diverse representation of beauty, and I’m very excited to see that continue beyond my lifetime. There’s so many definitions of beauty, yeah, and it’s all lovely, and so let’s have it all. Why not? We’re definitely getting that one. We’re making great strides on we still have a way to go when they put some steps blonde with light hair on a magazine. It still does sell more covers because you kind of see the bright yellow hair first, like when you’re scrolling light colors, you know it’s the color wheel. Light colors come at the eye. Dark colors fade away. Unfortunately, light colored hair still just shows, but that is changing, and hopefully it’ll continue to do so.

Karan Rhodes  12:07

Augmentation, or something Now. Amy, do you just manage yourself, or do you have other people that you manage as well?

Amy Taylor  14:23

I employ a lot of people, but I am a sole proprietorship. I don’t have any official employees, but I employ a webmaster. I obviously lawyer, CPA, financial advisor team, but I do have an assistant who’s the one you spoke to, who helps book stuff for me, and then I have a publicist who talks to editors for me, because sometimes I also shoot my own photos that I own the rights to, and we shop up like stock, okay, yeah, that’s something you can do. And you can actually make more than just signing away your rights to some photo that a magazine got a pull letter and hired you for. So I do both. And so yeah, I don’t have. Formal employees, you know, W twos and 401, KS, but I have many independent contractors that work with and for me,

Karan Rhodes  15:07

Fascinating. Now, do you have an agent? And if you don’t, what made you not want an agent, which I know a lot of models use,

Amy Taylor  15:16

Yeah, I’ve been contacted. I still get contacted by 10 or 12 agents a day. I have not, because most of them want an exclusive, and I have found that nobody can do better for me than I can,

Karan Rhodes  15:25

Well, good for you!

Amy Taylor  15:26

however, because I was short. The agencies that really are the big heavyweights, like elite and the other giant ones that are 100 years old, they didn’t call me because I’m not tall enough for editorial. If they had called, I may have signed, but the the agents that called me, they couldn’t do better for me, and they were always shoving me toward doing like, more nude, more smarmy, more again, less than I could do for myself.

Karan Rhodes  15:54

Right. So you took your career in your own hands to try to kind of manage that. It sounds like that worked well,

Amy Taylor  16:02

Agencies are great and not for just for models, for makeup artists. The clue ta agency, it will book them, but some crew like to stay independent and book their own. You do have to keep hustling when you’re on your own, especially because, since I have all the people that work for and with me, I have quite a bit of overhead. That’s the way I decided to do it, because just nobody ever could do better for me, but that’s that’s not the same for everybody. I know models who have like, a husband and kids and they’re super busy and they just want to go to shoots and they don’t want to do all the back end stuff. So for them, an agent who does all that, and even if they make less take home, is probably better for them. And that’s fine.

Karan Rhodes  16:38

That’s interesting, and I’m just curious about what are your recommendations for? Maybe those that are starting out in the modeling industry, and they’re having to really think through their finances, right? Because there’s a lot associated with being a model. How can one be successful in the industry and not end up broke, I guess that’s the question.

Amy Taylor  17:03

Yeah. Well, the old tentative, no matter what you do, live beneath your means.  You know, I didn’t live in Manhattan when I was in my 20s. I would have been homeless. So and actually be aware of lifestyle creep as you get older, too.

Karan Rhodes  17:07

Yeah,  Yeah,

Amy Taylor  17:16

There’s a lot of industry gatekeeping. However, there’s a lot of diversification now, where models can build their own brand on social media, and brands come to them based on their following and their popularity, not just their face and body. Yeah, you gotta be good looking, of course. But if you’re fascinating to people and the market’s very pure, some people just have that star quality, you can build your own brand. I think it’s important to focus on your individuality, because that’s what keeps people interested, is you know, what are you doing that others don’t what in what way are you? You your story, your uniqueness. I think embracing that, instead of trying to fit in a mold and being confident about it in your abilities, does set you apart. Social media didn’t exist when I was first a model. There were gatekeepers that told you who you’d work for, and now you can, you can try it yourself. Then, of course, the little things that are true of any job. You know, be professional. You always show up on time. Don’t be late. Don’t be a flake. Get your sleep the night before. You know, when you’re young and you want to party all night the before shoot, don’t do that. You’re gonna have puffy eyes. You’re gonna look like garbage on set. Yeah, your reputation in the industry matters everything’s a small world. People talk and I think Cindy Crawford, this iconic model from the 90s, she said, Indeed, she was good looking, but the way she got rebooked was she was always on time, and a lot of models couldn’t even do that. So she

Karan Rhodes  18:36

So that really differentiated her from being on time and being reliable, right?

Amy Taylor  18:40

Well, in the corporate world, 80% of success is showing up.

Karan Rhodes  18:42

Yeah, it’s it.

Amy Taylor  18:44

So the obvious, take care of your health and well being nothing matters if you’re not healthy. And stay on trend, updating fashion trends, posing techniques. It sounds really goofy, and it kind of is, but you practice, you need to know your angles and your light. You need to know which way you look. Great. Because when you’re on set, everybody just wants to wrap and go eat. So like you gotta, if you’re a real pro, even if you just met these people, even if you don’t like them, you need to be giving them hundreds of images that are all keepers as quickly and easily as you can, and the easier you are to work with. It’s a business. They’re trying to sell a product, so do your job,

Karan Rhodes  19:18

And you are that product, right?

Amy Taylor  19:21

Or, the product is, and you’re trying to make it look good, right? I mean, you stand differently in a pair of flowy Palazzo pants, as you do in a tight bandage kind of dress, right? You need the mechanics of modeling. You need to know. You need to, you know the if the light’s different, if the feel is different. I mean, you and you can practice all that at home. It seems weird and goofy again to do it at home, but that’s part of the job, so that you’re not learning on set and wasting everybody’s time. You know, time is money. Then,

Karan Rhodes  19:48

So, if we can quickly ask you, since a lot of us aren’t obviously in this industry, what is a day in the life at a typical photo shoot? So the highlight

Amy Taylor  19:57

So, you’re heading to set at the call. Time that they’ve given you on the call sheet, your bare face, you’re in clothing that is not going to make marks on your skin. So, like, no jeans, like

Karan Rhodes  20:07

Interesting.

Amy Taylor  20:08

You’ve got your undergarments and shapewear in every kind of color, nude, white, black, for whatever you’re going to be wearing. Sometimes, like, I’ll bring us a couple sets of hair extensions if they want to add those, because I know it matches whatever my exact shade is at the time. Stylists will bring them, but they might be janky or not matched, so it’s good to have your own. And you’re usually signing the release and getting in the chair, and then hour and a half of that, meanwhile, stylists are setting up, looking at the backgrounds or the location to see where they’re going to shoot, where the lights will go. And then when you step in front, you know, yeah, ready. You spend the most time with the makeup artist, so it’s nice. Of course, you want to be pleasant to work with. You want to network wisely, because everybody talks, and if they like you on set, they’ll recommend you for other stuff, right? And then, if it didn’t go well, it’s really important to handle rejection gracefully that day and after I’ve shot stuff that stayed in the can or went onto the cutting room floor and never went anywhere. And it’s important not to have a tantrum about it, because it’s really not about you. You’re there to do a job, and if it’s a diverse kind of clothing or product or modeling that you haven’t done, it’s okay to take direction. Some photographers like to give a direction. Some don’t. It’s important to ask them how they like to because that tends to be the kind of boss on the set that day and and then, yeah, save your money, because you’re going to do a lot of go sees, and you might not get another paid job for now. So again, like I said earlier, it can be glamorous on the shoot day, but you know, then you wipe the makeup off and take the subway home and realize that nobody cares about you, and that’s not anymore you were, you were a hired gun for a few hours.

Karan Rhodes  21:43

So, I’m curious, Amy, what are your plans? I mean, you, you mentioned, you know, you’re a model over 40. You still, you know, get booked and reach out a lot. What are plans for? Amy Taylor, moving forward.

Amy Taylor  21:57

I mean, I don’t know. I could retire tomorrow if I felt like it, like I said, I’m enjoying a little bit of broadcasting. There’s, like, streaming networks in this town, a lot of them, like comedy or I don’t really like the politics stuff. I tried some, and it makes me gives me stomach pain. I don’t want to argue with people, so I don’t think I’m gonna get into, like, the BloodSport debate kind of stuff. I don’t like it, but I have aging parents that are on the other coast. If things go a certain way, I will need to be closer to them so, and that could happen anytime. I’m not going to just stay around, you know, having fun and working in Manhattan and not take care of my family. They brought me into this world. Me and my sister are going to take them home, n

Karan Rhodes  22:37

Nice.

Amy Taylor  22:39

So at some point I’m going to, I’m surely gonna need to go back to Northern California, and I don’t know exactly when, that’ll be

Karan Rhodes  22:44

Sure

Amy Taylor  22:45

But I’ll be ready to pull that trigger when that time comes, depending upon how it goes, my family is the most important thing in the world for me. They don’t love that I did the cover of Playboy, but they love me in spite of all my flaws and nonsense. That’s a that’s a grace that I don’t deserve, and I cannot repay.

Karan Rhodes  23:04

I bet you deserve it. They love you, no matter what.

Amy Taylor  23:09

Families it for me and not for everybody, and that’s fine. A family can be who you built your friends, that’s fine. But, but for me, my blood relatives are number one. So, so where my life goes, that’ll be my first priority, and beyond that. So I’ll probably live in Northern California within the next few years. But again, I’m not exactly sure how that’ll go. Maybe I’ll retire, maybe I’ll go teach yoga or become a dog walker. I don’t know. We’ll see.

Karan Rhodes  23:35

The world’s your oysters, so you’ll see what comes your way, right?

Amy Taylor  23:40

Fall in love again. I just got out of that about a year, a year and a half, two years ago, and I’m trying to date. It’s hell out there. If your partner irritates you, just stay with them, because it sucks up.

Karan Rhodes  23:49

That’s what my daughter says. It’s tough on the dating scene out there. I mean, I’m luckily even married, but she’s like, Mom, it is. It’s rough out in these streets trying to date someone.

Amy Taylor  23:59

Just if it’s not terrible, just be like, All right, whatever. I joke. If I find love again, that may change things. But if not, I’ll have love. I’ll have a million little old lady friends. We’ll have little tiny dogs. We’ll just be crazy. Wear pearls to bed, go have tea all day. I mean, I’m sure that I won’t be lonely whatever.

Karan Rhodes  24:19

I’m sure you won’t, either. You know, there was one other thing I want to make sure I touched base on during our conversation. And I know you’re very passionate about, you know, sustainability and ethical issues in modeling. And you know, I remember I didn’t never connect sustainability with modeling before. So what kinds of environmental concerns are related to the fashion industry, and how can models speak up and speak out about it?

Amy Taylor  24:46

Yeah, that’s a great question. And there are a lot of problems. So fast fashion, you know, our grandmothers wore stuff for decades and repaired it, and fabrics were made things were made better, and they were made to last. And the fast fashion world driven by the fact that people photo. Wrap themselves all the time and don’t want to wear the same stuff twice. Yeah, I understand that girly New York, Atlanta fashion girlies who want to be in a different outfit every time I get it. But that’s created like chemical problems in the processing, landfill problems in the disposal. There’s been some great companies that have been involved in the rental space, you know, the rent, the runways and all those, yeah, it’s not perfect. And I think there are some wonderful models that are challenging the unsustainability of fashion. They’re talking more about thrifting and sharing clothing with your friends and renting and doing what you can to not contribute to the environmental damage the clothing business is causing.

Karan Rhodes  25:39

Oh, interesting. I, you know, I’ve read a lot of articles, and, you know, seen a lot of, you know, folks talk on like YouTube and things about like, and I know I’m mispronouncing it, but Shein all those that are the those that fast mass produce and the quality of them, and so I’ve heard a few things about the sustainability concerns around those as well. But I was just curious, you know your your perspective,

Amy Taylor  26:02

Well, the labor issues, the reason your sweats are $2.50

Karan Rhodes  26:06

Child labor overseas, right?

Amy Taylor  26:08

Yeah, there’s abuse. There’s abuse of a human there’s abuse of the earth. There’s, you know, nothing’s free, folks.

Karan Rhodes  26:13

No, it is. You may not know. I want to see where it comes from and how it’s produced.

Amy Taylor  26:18

I get an outfit that’s basically disposable. I’m not shaming us. We’ve all done it, yeah, but the the motto is, buy less and buy quality. And if you buy capsule investment pieces, they’re not as memorable. A great black dress. You can wear it more than once, ladies, it’s not that big of a deal.

Karan Rhodes  26:34

Many times

Amy Taylor  26:36

We do. I mean,

Karan Rhodes  26:37

I’m not a fashionista at all. My daughter is, you are. I’m T shirts and flip flops kind of gals. So

Amy Taylor  26:44

I mean, I went and walked my dog before this. So I’m wearing like, I try to buy investment pieces and wear them for years, if possible, because I don’t want to participate in that. But my niece, she’s 19, and she likes to thrift and it’s a big in a big part, because she loves the Earth. She’s a surfer in California and, yeah, try to do her little part, if she can.  A lot

Karan Rhodes  27:05

of the young Gen Z’s and stuff they love thrifting, that’s a new big thing now. So that’s all

Amy Taylor  27:10

And all businesses that cause environmental degradation can and need to do better. The oil business had its problem. Technology has its problem. You know, there’s too much

Karan Rhodes  27:20

Almost every industry you could point to something that there that could be better to your point. So whatever your sliver of the world, that’s where you need to focus and have advocacy around definitely

Amy Taylor  27:30

New Yorkers. They eat outside, standing up, and then they just throw the box, just throw it on the street. And that’s why we have a rat problem.

Karan Rhodes  27:39

That’s one thing that, I mean, I love New York I’ve been millions of times, and naturally have to, and I do consulting. That’s the one downfall. I because I can’t stand critters. I mean, bad critters like that, rats and rats drive me insane.

Amy Taylor  27:56

We made a trash buffet for them every night. So what did you expect, New Yorkers? So, yeah, yeah, there’s, it’s odd New Yorkers complain about the filth, but then they they don’t deal with the way they do in Tokyo or other cities.

Karan Rhodes  28:08

Oh my gosh, our mayor totally different. Yes,

Amy Taylor  28:12

Our mayor’s trying to tell people like, Hey, hello, trash can weirdos.

Karan Rhodes  28:20

Well, I know we’re closing out on time, unfortunately. Amy, this has been fabulous having you on but before I let you go, you know we always love to ask our guests which of the leadership tactics I write about in my book really resonated for you, and you were so kind to share that leading with strategic decision making really resonated with you and for my new listeners out there. Strategic decision making is just what it is. It’s all about making good decisions yourself or leading a good decision making process with others. And so curious minds want to know. Miss Amy, why does strategic decision making really resonate with you? I bet I can guess being in modeling, because it’s probably full of making decisions all day, every day, on different aspects. But I’d love to hear it in your words.

Amy Taylor  29:03

 Yeah. I mean, your book is so great that it talks about that. And yes, your world is more from the corporate office world, but even if one is self employed working with big corporations, you make a lot of decisions as a model when you’re young and you’re you don’t have the leverage. You’re not the one with the power. But it’s very important to remember life is long, and even though you want the job, not all money is good money, and if somebody’s being creepy or pushing your boundaries on set trying to sneak photos of you changing that it happens that you can stand up for yourself. And yeah, it’s play chess, not checkers, dude. You know, if you think a little longer term about what will happen later. And no one’s saying you operate, you know, with fury and make the set an uncomfortable place. But I think being a good representative of yourself and your future is vital, and if not, if you’re under 18, you know your parents can help you. If you’re over 18, you can bring a friend to set. I’ve done that. Shot with a creepy photographer. Once I threw the makeup artist 20 bucks and told her, don’t leave till I leave.

Karan Rhodes  30:05

Excellent.

Amy Taylor  30:05

And nothing happened. But he was a creep, and I just wanted to make sure he couldn’t be a creep. And so that preventative thinking of, you know, don’t take jobs that might harm you later. Right now, you can have another job if you need a other stable income or, you know, curb your expenses, I think, in general, to the point of your book, it’s hard to think long term when you don’t know the path. But if you can try to play chess mentally of where could this go, you can make decisions that are less in the moment and less made out of any kind of desperation or short term thinking,

Karan Rhodes  30:39

I love that. I love that. Well, Amy, we’re gonna have a ton of information about you, your bio or and where people can find you in our show notes. But I always love to give air time to our guests that you can tell the listeners your themselves, so yourself. So can you please share where folks can learn more about Miss Amy Taylor,

Amy Taylor  30:59

oh yeah, I’m just pretty much all the socials. I’m Amy Taylor NYC

Karan Rhodes  31:05

NYC, and she has a fabulous website to you all, so we’ll have a link to that as well in the show notes. But thank you so much, Amy, for the gift of your time and continue doing what you’re doing, because you’re a superstar in my book, in your area of modeling, and it’s fantastic. You satisfying my own little curiosity about the good, bad and spicy in modeling.

Amy Taylor  31:27

There’s a lot of all of that, and it’s an honor to talk to you. I hope there will be more organized and ethical structures for models, you know, unions and workers rights. And as I stay in an old battle ax in the business, I’m going to continue to work for that, because we need structures that that help workers rights in the same way the corporate world has been ahead of us.

Karan Rhodes  31:49

Absolutely. And I hope for that too. All right, well, and thank you to listeners for the gift of your time as well. It’s been great having you. We know there are literally millions of other podcasts you can be listening to so we do not take your time lightly. Please be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast and just share it with just one friend so that we all can do better about leading at the top of our own games. Thanks so much. And see you next week. And that’s our show for today. Thank you for listening to the lead at the top of your game podcast, where we help you lead your seat at any employer, business, or industry in which you choose to play. You can check out the show notes, additional episodes, and bonus resources, and also submit guest recommendations on our website at leadyourgamepodcast.com. You can follow me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn by searching for the name Karan Rhodes with Karan being spelled K a r a n. And if you like the show, the greatest gift you can give would be to subscribe and leave a rating on your podcast platform of choice. This podcast has been a production of Shockingly Different Leadership, a global consultancy which helps organizations execute their people, talent development, and organizational effectiveness initiatives on an on-demand, project, or contract basis. Huge thanks to our production and editing team for a job well done. Goodbye for now.