Whitney Thompson; Plus-size supermodel, spokesperson for NEDA and creator of "Supermodel".

My goal is to encourage and inspire you to celebrate your miraculous, exquisite, and unique body. I want you to resist the negative messages being sold to you by the media. You are beautiful. You are unique. Here, we want to help you remember that.

If I can convey one message to you:
Healthy is Beautiful. Beautiful is not a size, not an age, and not a procedure. Healthy is beautiful."

“Beautiful” is celebrating the characteristics and qualities of your body, while nourishing and exercising
it to be as uniquely healthy and fit as only you can be. We are all created differently and I want you to stop trying to fit into a mold that someone else has defined as "beautiful". No one size will ever be accepted by everyone and it's important to accept that we are all different. I want you to be the best that you can be.

Your comments are welcome here, even if we don't agree. I appreciate all comments as long as they don't hurt others.

Always remember, life is too short to not live like a SuperModel!


Monday, April 4, 2011

Why Start a Company After ANTM?

        People always want to know what prompted me to start my jewelry and candle company, Supermodel. Did modeling not work out? Did I always plan this? So many questions and they are all answered here. Feel free to comment with other questions and I will gladly answer them as well!

         I created my jewelry and candle company, Supermodel because I wanted to be in control of something. Modeling is a fun job and I love it, but you don’t get to make any decisions. Someone tells you where to be, what to wear, how to look, what to do, etc. I’m not a control freak or anything but when the biggest decision you make is how you take your coffee, you might want to rethink what you’re doing. I have a good friend that has a jewelry company and she suggested that I start working on something similar. She really pushed me into it, picking out all of the pieces and constantly mailing me samples wherever I was in the country. It didn’t really click until I moved from New York to Los Angeles and that’s when I dove into the company. I added massage candles because I had never seen anything like that before and it was something that I became passionate about. Suddenly I was designing logos, naming new scents, picking out containers, talking to lawyers and creating a real company. It felt good to have something in my life where I could control every aspect while continuing to model in my spare time. 
        The recession had just hit and I decided that I wanted everything to be made in America. It would cost a lot more money, but it would be worth it for the quality of the company. As a model, you have to put your name on things that you don’t like sometimes. My company would be something that I could be proud of. Everything is handmade in New York City and we ship orders all over the world.
        I knew that once SuperModel.com was up and running I would want a way to give back to the reason I had been able to create it. I didn’t win Top Model because I was pretty. I won because I had a message. I wanted people to feel better about themselves. The media has made us believe that “skinny” is the same thing as “healthy”. The average American Woman is a size fourteen, but size six is considered plus size and even some size four is considered too fat to model. With all of these unrealistic expectations swirling around us all of the time it’s no wonder that anorexia kills more people than any other mental illness. I had my father contact the National Eating Disorder Association to tell them that Supermodel would be donating a percentage from all candle proceeds to them. They responded by asking if I would be a spokesperson for them and I, of course was thrilled to accept. 
         Modeling is still my number one priority. I love traveling to exotic locations and shooting with interesting people, but it’s nice that even when I come home I have SuperModel waiting for me. I love to make people feel more beautiful! I love that I sell good, quality products and that I get to be involved enough to send autographed pictures along with my orders. I look forward to expanding the company to a lingerie line as well as a shoe company and who knows from there? What’s most important to me is helping people look, live and feel like a SuperModel.
          Please check out all of our products as well as appearances and what’s new in my life at www.ShopSupermodel.com!

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