Beneath the surface: a series that reveals the deeper beauty of models
What words come to mind, when you hear the word “model?” Most likely, words like “beautiful,” “tall” and “skinny” right?
Through this series, I would like to remove the surface-layer, from the often superficial view that we all have of models, and show the person behind the glossy photos. Through a series of interview questions, I would like to reveal a type of beauty that is often overlooked — inner-beauty!
This time I had the pleasure to interview the inspiring and beautiful Elles Ottens for my writing series: “beneath the surface: a series that reveals the deeper beauty of models.”
Elles is from the Netherlands and is 25 years old. She is a TEDx speaker, empowerment coach (certified as life coach, hypnotherapist and RTT therapist) and has 7 years of working experience in the fashion industry as a model.
After having worked full-time as a fashion model for many years, Elles is nowadays mainly focusing on her career as an empowerment coach. It is her mission to help ambitious models break through limiting beliefs, gain confidence in their own abilities and follow their purpose.
How did you start modeling?
I got scouted seven years ago at Queens day (we used to have a queen in The Netherlands). I was at a party and a man asked me if I wanted to work for him. It was crazy, because I was living in this tiny village, where only 500 people are living and already two months later I was living in Los Angeles, Hollywood. From a village with cows to Hollywood, I’ve got to admit that I felt pretty cool changing my Facebook location back then (smile).
Favourite place you have been to?
I really like Los Angeles a lot, just because it was such a life-changing experience for me. I also love Istanbul, but I think it’s because I made so many friends there. It was the first place where I really earned my own money and started to be more successful in the modeling career. I had my Ex-boyfriend there, lots of friends, I started to speak the language; it played a big part in my experiences.
I think top is Barcelona, Istanbul and Los Angeles!
What are your interests, passions, etc? How do you spend your free time?
I spend my free time reading, meditating, doing sports, taking foot baths (smile) with epsom salt, in a nutshell; lots of self-care. My passions involve creating new projects. Last years I organized lots of park clean ups and I am currently working on some new projects. I’ll tell you more about this on my Instagram page soon.
What is your most loved and most hated part of modeling?
Most loved part is that you meet so many people. You know it’s funny; I think love and hate is so correlated, basically I love the adrenaline of never knowing when you get a big job, it makes it very exciting.
At the same time, I also hate it because it doesn’t give any kind of stability. It’s a love and hate relationship, I guess.
What I don’t like about as well is that a lot of brands are not sustainable!
Many times the workers don’t get paid enough, the Image that the fashion Industry portrays is just too much perfection.. And besides that we all know that the fashion industry is pretty bad for the environment too…
I really want to focus on the brands with a meaning.
You are an empowerment coach, hypnotherapist & RTT (rapid transformational therapy) therapist. Can you share a bit of journey of becoming it?
I always knew I was very fortunate to have the ability to work as a model, I deeply felt that I could do more and that I WANTED to do more. I wanted to do something meaningful; I wanted to add value to the world. But what to do? And where to start? These were questions in my mind I couldn’t answer and often made me feel very restless and insecure. Lost, even…
I felt like there was more to me than what I was doing. But was I really willing to abandon a life that so many people could only dream of? Or was my need for a purpose stronger than the comfort of the exhilarating life as a model? Could I do both? I felt like it was a crossroad.
The only thing I truly knew was that I didn’t want to resort to a traditional 9–5 job. I wanted something as unique as the life I was living as a model — unconventional, exciting and desirable — just with more purpose, identity and meaning.
I set on a journey to find that balance and clarity for myself and build a purpose-driven business of my own. And that’s what has lead me to do what I do now: helping models find direction and purpose in life, gain confidence in their abilities and embrace doing what they love.
Helping models find clarity, break through limiting beliefs and finally go for the things they want makes me feel the happiness I wish other models to achieve, too. After all, who are we to not go after what we desire in this one precious life?
Do you have a routine that helps you ground? If yes, please share?
I use daily little habits to ground myself and to stay positive.
These habits might change from time to time, but 99% of the time I have some kind of routine (and the 1% of the time I slip, I can feel my mood slip as well;).
At the moment my routines are:
Daily gratitude + proud journaling. Which means that every day I write down something that I am proud of, and that I am grateful for.
10 to 20 minutes of listening and sometimes also saying affirmations out loud.
Do you have any suggestions for our readers?
It is all about what works for you though. I highly suggest a morning and evening routine to start your day strong, and to finish your day calm and peaceful.
When you experiment with different kinds of routines, you will find out what works best for you.
How do you take care of your physical and mental health?
Mental health, definitely meditation, affirmations and gratitude. Physical health, I like to work out; I like to see that my body is getting more toned. I mostly work out three times a week, I eat healthy lots of veggies and beans. It comes very naturally to me; I don’t really need to think of it anymore; I created a habit.
Do you have a “key“ or something to tell yourself to feel beautiful?
I think what gives people a lot of charisma is kindness, listening, being pure and daring to be yourself. I think that’s the most beautiful thing that you can be, because than you really connect with people on a deeper level.
In general, always be mindful of what you are saying to yourself. The way you feel about yourself depends highly on how your self talk is. On days when you are not feeling well about your appearance, listen to affirmation audio’s focused on a positive body image. And always remember, confidence is the most beautiful trait you can have.
The mantra I like to use on days that I don’t feel comfortable in my own skin is: I am enough.
In which way has modeling influenced who you are?
Good question… I think it pushed me to build up my self-esteem, because many times when you don’t get jobs or you feel rejected, you doubt yourself. If I wouldn’t have worked on my self-esteem, I would feel way too low about myself.
I think without modeling I wouldn’t be pushed so much to the low points and I wouldn’t have done my best to work on my self-esteem, because it wouldn’t be as necessary. I am grateful that it gave me the low points and pushed me there for more.
Also, I think it helped me to become more conscious, because if you are doing all these castings, there is a lot of time to wait. I read a lot of self-help books and it was very good for my personal self-development.
If you could name some lessons, you have learned from your experiences, what would they be?
Beauty is about your energy! When you go to a casting there are so many beautiful people, but just some of them are getting chosen. I think it’s the one with the nice beautiful and radiant energy. We are all beautiful, so they need to make a selection. Give your beautiful energy!
Also… You are not your work! I really had to learn this through not getting jobs, I started to identify myself with my successes. I felt so low, so I had to learn to not identify with my achievements.
People don’t value for your achievements rather for the person you are, right? Who cares in the end if you have walked for Dolce&Gabbana if you are not listening or be kind to them.
You mentioned that you like to read self-help books. Which books have influenced you the most?
“Man’s search for meaning“ by Viktor Frankl, it really influenced me in a way that if he can keep his mindset positive or at least objective or neutral, in such a very intense situation… than I should be able to always control my mindset.
Another book is “The Power of Now“ by Eckhart Tolle. It again made me realize that nothing is good or bad, just the meaning we attach to it. If we just observe the moment, then we don’t need to feel good or bad… just to be. Just be the observer.
I read a lot of books… I like to read sometimes empowerment books for example “You are a badass“ by Jen Sincero, just to get some extra motivation.
If you could have a conversation with “younger you“, what advice would you give yourself?
Don’t doubt yourself, like yourself the way that you are, you are doing amazing! You will figure it out, go with the flow and keep going the way you are, but don’t overthink it. Flow with it!
Do you have any advice for people?
Share your vulnerability. Everybody is insecure!
We always feel like people have it all together, which makes us feel very disconnected. Share your thoughts, share your vulnerability, share your insecurities. I feel like we all have the same ones…
If we all act like we have it together and if we don’t share it, it makes us feel very disconnected. Those vulnerabilities make us connected on a deeper level. It’s okay to be imperfect, it’s okay to be human, and it’s okay to share those thoughts.
Especially in our Industry. It looks like we have it all together, but it’s so not true, because no one has it all together. It’s nice to show the real side too!
Any last thoughts you would like to share?
For models, don’t fall into the ‘I can’t make a difference’ trap. We can all make a difference and we can really influence the industry if we want to.
I think it’s very important to change the industry from the inside out.
Whatever you can do, it doesn’t matter if it’s small or big, just do it! May it be posting a selfie without makeup, just to show girls that we don’t look like the photoshopped pictures. Or when you share a bikini picture, don’t only share the pic with the best angle, share more ‘real’ pictures.
I believe that as models it is important to think more deeply about what messages we want to spread. Do you care about sustainability? Ask the designers you work with about their sustainability policy, even if it is just to make them think…
Do you find body diversity important? Share more about it. Try to collaborate with brands that stand for body positivity.
If we all stand for what we believe is important, we can create a beautiful ripple effect. Let’s not only be models, let’s be role models.
Find out more about Elles Ottens on her Instagram profile @ellesottens. Her website is launching soon!
Check out her TedxYouth Talk @Uden: https://youtu.be/8H0uhLxbvQ0