We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Sulavon Bollinger. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Sulavon below.
Alright, Sulavon thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Do you feel you or your work has ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? If so, tell us the story and how/why it happened and if there are any interesting learnings or insights you took from the experience?
Have I or my work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized? Well… that is a huge understatement from my perspective.
Within 3 years of my pivoting from a successful fine art model for academics back in 2007, I was already working with massive corporate studios and conglomerates overseas, both as a talent, budding digital marketer, and an effective entrepreneur. That was also in addition to balancing my academic career. In international markets, it was perceived as “lazy” if you were only focused on one skill and only marketed for that one skill. I may add, that in most other markets, talents are trained to sing, dance, act. model. and many are also athletes as well on top of those skills. Some are also academics when not actively performing. Most people in international markets speak multiple languages because it’s considered uneducated to not be multilingual.
Whereas, in the United States, at the time, the booking agents and mother agencies couldn’t get over the fact that I was petite: I was 5 ft 2 inches tall. Oh, my! Ironically, they had literally just removed all of their petite representation from the mother agencies, in the late 1990’s and early 2000’s. That was when the economy was strong prior to the economic recession. Female models below 5 ft 8 inches (172cm) were considered non-existent in the fashion industry. While 5ft 8 (172cm) was somehow considered “petite” after the petite representation had been rescinded. So, if you will, imagine how it felt to land all of these massive opportunities — and praise — for being awarded an up-and-coming fashion talent in Asia, then succinctly being told, “You are NOTHING.” and ” You aren’t a ‘REAL MODEL’”. REAL MODELS are tall, white, blonde, and blue eyed or tall, tan, and Eurocentric in appearance. It was a constant up-hill-battle with the American fashion industries abhorrent brainwashing. I mean, really, like there weren’t and still aren’t millions of other equally beautiful standards of beauty in this world? (Yes, I’m being slightly facetious and mildly sarcastic. So… I carried on, while constantly ping-ponging between being dubbed a horrendous fashion industry leper and some sort of giddy space Faerie making strides in her own orbit entirely.
It was laughable! I laugh even to this day at how ridiculous it was and sometimes still is! Then I laughed even harder that in 2017 when I won another couple awards, was injured, and then promptly insulted for “letting myself go” and told to “lose the rolls” and “you’re not a real fashion model. You’re too fat.” because I was “fat”, when I had to attend a red carpet event and my dress looked tighter than it was prior to the medication. Unfortunately, I was still dealing with long-term injuries from the car accidents, the medicine was intended to help me with pain and another to gain weight. I had been severely underweight for years as a fashion model which was starting to cause health issues at the time. I had gone from 97 lbs to 129 lbs from 2016 to 2017. Now I’m 115 lbs to 120 lbs, which is considered a healthy BMI.
Are there any interesting learnings or insights that I took from the experience? I’d say being 12 years ahead of the industry was slightly bizarre, but as I mentioned above, it’s given me excellent observational humour material. I’m not upset. I’m more amused! I’m already off on my next business ventures while the pack are still perplexed; “Wait, where did the MFW Petite Fashion Model Winner go? I could have sworn she was standing right here a moment ago.”
On a more serious note, I’d say that most people are not always as informed as they claim to be. So, when you are interacting with such people it’s a teaching moment. As such, you teach by example and then you flutter off. Let them decide for themselves if they want to carry on with the hypocritical behaviors or if they are genuine in their proclamation of “progressive” modernism. If they are genuine, then they will actively make room for others long-term and not as a marketing fad to promote themselves. Nor will they exhibit a holier-than-thou attitude to those that do not have a similar perspective. If the intention is genuine, they will stand the test of time and it won’t change with the whims of the market.
Sulavon, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
I am an Award-winning Petite Fashion Model, Voice Actress, Gamer, & Host of OTT show Sulavon’s SheShed on WWTVN-WOTV. When active as a talent, I’ve won recognition for work as a pioneering Petite Fashion Model in the American Market and served as the title holder for Miss Fashion Week Petite Los Angeles, California 2017. I also have experience behind-the-scenes and in other industries outside of modeling and entertainment nationally and internationally. My goal is to go intergalactic next! (Yes, I’m being slightly facetious! *playful wink*)
I am most proud of our team at Team SheShed, Strategic Partners, Sponsors, and our audience. Without Shea, Team SheShed, our Strategic Partners, Sponsors, and our audience, we wouldn’t be here right now and on to Season 7 and beyond! We also recently won an OTT TV media award for our show from MogulTV.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
I wanted to share an organization for newer models that didn’t exist when I started my journey. This organization may help them on their journey as creatives. It’s called the Model Alliance. The CEO is named Sara Ziff. She created the second advocacy group to create an ongoing network to assist models when navigating the modelling industry. The group before her was shot down in 1998, but her group came to be pre-metoo in 2012. I was invited by her to partake in a study, to foster the push for basic regulation and guidelines that were non-existent until more recently. As well as to combat trafficking. There is a wealth of knowledge to be had for newer models, so don’t be shy!
Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?
There are 3 books that have significantly impacted my management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy by the names of “The Astronaut’s Cookbook: Tales, Recipes, and More” by Charles T. Bourland & Gregory L. Vogt; “V-Oh! Tips, Tricks, Tools and Techniques to Start and Sustain Your Voiceover Career” by Marc Cashman; and “the Full Spirit Workout: A Ten-Step System to Shed Your Self-Doubt, Strengthen Your Spiritual Core, and Create a Fun and Fulfilling Life” by Kate Eckman.
I may be a wee bit biased considering I do know 2 of the 3 authors personally, but each of these books are quite practical and can assist one in a practical manner. They are neither hypothetical or theoretical and can be applied instantaneously.
I’d also like to add a video in addition to the books I’ve listed. The video is Brandon Bruce Lee’s final interview on the set of the Crow in which he quotes “Sheltering Sky”: https://youtu.be/Tzx4y4gxods
“Death is always on the way, but the fact that you don’t know when it will arrive seems to take away from the finiteness of life. It’s that terrible precision that we hate so much. But because we don’t know, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that’s so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. Perhaps not even. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless.”
― Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky
I am a huge fan of his sharing this quote by the amazing Paul Bowles. It resonates with each and every one of us. Myself included since 2013, 2016, 2018 and again in 2021….
Contact Info:
- Website: https://worldwidetv.tv/program-group/6db1467480cd4420a329f0f7f0091cf1
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sulavonssheshed/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sulavonssheshed/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sulavon-bollinger/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TSheshed?s=03
- Youtube: https://vimeo.com/user117649655
- Other: www.sulavon.com https://www.instagram.com/sulavon_2 https://www.reddit.com/user/TeamSheShed/ https://vimeo.com/user117649655
Image Credits
Eric Tetrault (SheShed image on SheShed banner & SheShed logo) Jayne Rios (WWTVN and WOTV logos) Keren Ben Ami (Headshot of Sulavon in blue shirt) River Clark (Beauty campaign headshot)