Runway Model

Let me tell you everything I am not:

I am not 5'8" or taller,

I am not a size 4,

I am not 110 pounds or less,

I am not 25 or younger, and

I have do not have a single connection to a famous fashion line.

Yet, I want to walk a runway. Why....because it looks exciting and fun. Kind of like a bride walking a down an aisle minus the future spouse at the end! So I've asked myself do I need to walk a runway in NYC during fashion week or Paris or Milan for it to matter? For it to mean that I accomplished my goal? For it to "count"?

Do I need to wait for Calvin Klein to call me and tell me I am good enough? If I need their approval to hire me and do what I want to do, I guess, I will have to die waiting. I do not anticipate them calling me anytime soon. Nor do I anticipate Revlon or Covergirl sending me an email to be in their next campaign in my near future. It would be super fun but I'm not going to sit here holding my breath.

When is it ok for you or I to do what we want with our time?

Without someone else's permission.

Without society saying it is good enough.

Should I wait until nobody is watching me and then chase my dreams so if I fail nobody will know? Or should I just live my life and do what my heart tells me is right? It doesn't matter if I walk a runway for Chanel or for the Church down the street at a fundraiser. It just doesn't matter. What matters is that my eyes are staying focused on what I want to do not on what other people deem is "good enough". I feel good knowing I helped someone show off their products and at the same time I got to do something I think is fun.

Something to think about....

Is there something you dream about doing but feel like you need to do it on the elite level in order to be good enough. To feel like you accomplished something. For instance...Do you want to get in shape but too afraid to take the first step because you are too far away from the finish line? Do you want to write a book but only if its a national best seller or do you just have a story you want to tell?

I always go back to Mat and United Wholesale Mortgage (known by the parent company United Shore locally). If Mat waited to get into the mortgage business until he was the best wholesale mortgage bank in America then he would have never even tried. Because when he started at UWM over 15 years ago they weren't even ranked in the top 500 in the country in his business. It took years. It took years where nobody knew who he was or what they were doing over there in an old grocery store space in Birmingham, MI. Where they were quietly hustling away building a wholesale mortgage company with just a dozen or so people. They were over there changing the way an entire industry does business. They were going against the grain and trying new strategies that others in the industry thought were a waste of time and money.

They were dreaming up ways to make their partners (the mortgage brokers nationwide) successful first! They were changing the entire business model. They were reimagining what an office should feel like for its team members and how to make the culture positive and upbeat and beyond contagious. They were not getting tripped up counting nickels and dimes but looking at a bigger picture. With their team members success and with helping their clients succeed and flourish then they too would grow. Fast forward to 2018 with a team of over 2,700 people and they are the #1 largest wholesale mortgage company in America since 2015. They are in over 600,000 square feet of the most amazing state of the art employee focused work center. And to top it off they are the 5th largest retail and wholesale combined Mortgage company in America only behind Wells Fargo, Quicken, Bank of America, and Chase. And from what I can tell they will be breaking into the top 4 in the near future.

That being said.....Rome wasn't built in a day. My goals are to live my life and do what I love regardless of what we are told growing up is a success. I will keep my eyes on what feels good in my heart not on what others believe is good enough. I will ignore the eye rolls and judgement. Because one day when I am on my death bed I will know that I have no regrets. I will know that I did it all exactly the way I wanted to.

If you have something you dream about....I suggest you get busy living! If you wait for someone to tell you its ok to chase your dreams then you will never get the chance to try. Give yourself that chance. Tell yourself as I tell myself and remind myself it is ok to try. It is ok to fail.

That being said I will be walking the runway at this year's Fashion Show at Temple Israel on November 14th at 7pm. Hope to see you there! It will be my first ever runway and I can not wait! I will be wearing local lines and local boutiques. I am super excited!

I am 5'6" tall,

I am a size 6 or maybe an 8,

I am 125 pounds,

I am 38 years old and a mother of 3,

and.....November 14th is the perfect time to start walking on a fashion runway for me!