Image is Powerful: Cameron Russell at TEDxMidAtlantic

Cameron Russell has spent the last decade posing as a supermodel. By answering some of the most common questions people ask about her career, she shares her thoughts and feelings about being a model.

Hi. My name is Cameron Russell

and for the last little while
I've been a model.

Actually for 10 years.

And I feel like

there is an uncomfortable tension
in the room right now,

because I should not have worn this dress.

(Laughter)

So, luckily I brought an outfit change.

This is the first outfit change
on a TED stage,

so you guys are pretty lucky
to witness it, I think.

If some of the women were really horrified
when I came out,

you don't have to tell me now,
but I will find out later on Twitter.

(Laughter)

I'd also note that I am quite privileged

to be able to transform
what you think of me

in a very brief 10 seconds.

Not everybody gets to do that.

These heels are very uncomfortable,
so good thing I wasn't going to wear them.

The worst part is putting
this sweater over my head

because that's when
you'll all laugh at me

so don't do anything
while it's over my head.

All right.

So, why did I do that?

That was awkward.

(Laughter)

Well...

(Laughter)

Hopefully not as awkward as that picture.

Image is powerful,

but also image is superficial.

I just totally transformed
what you thought of me in six seconds.

And in this picture I had actually
never had a boyfriend in real life.

I was totally uncomfortable
and the photographer was telling me

to arch my back and put my hand
in that guy's hair.

And of course barring surgery, or the fake tan

that I got two days ago for work,

there is very little that we can do
to transform how we look.

And how we look, though it is superficial

and immutable has a huge impact on our lives.

So today, for me, being fearless

means being honest,
and I am on this stage

because I am a model.
I am on this stage

because I am a pretty white women.

In my industry we call that a sexy girl.

And I am gonna answer the questions

that people always ask me
but with an honest twist.

So the first question is,
"How do you become a model?"

And I always say,
"Oh, I was scouted,"

but that means nothing.

The real way that I became a model

is I won a genetic lottery
and I'm the recipient of a legacy.

And maybe you're wondering,
"What is a legacy?"

Well, for the past two centuries
we have defined beauty

not just as health and youth and simetry

that we're biologically programmed to admire,

but also as tall slender figures

and femininity and white skin.

And this is a legacy that was built for me

and it's a legacy that I've been cashing out on.

And I know there are pople in the audience

who are skeptical at this point,

and maybe there are some fashionistas
who are like,

"Wait -- Naomi, Tyra, Joan Smalls, Liu Wen,"

and first I commend you
on your model knowledge,

very impressive.
(Laughter)

But unfortunately I have to inform you

that in 2007 a very inspired NYU PhD student

counted all the models on the runway,

every single one who was hired,

and of the 677 models that were hired,

only 27 or less than 4% were non-white.

The next question people always ask me is,

"Can I be a model when I grow up?"

And first answer is,
"I don't know,

they don't put me in charge of that."

But the second answer and what I really

want to say to these little girls is,

"Why? You know, you can be anything.

You could be the President of the United States,

or the inventor of the next Internet,

or a ninja cardio-thoracic surgeon poet,

which would be awesome because
you'd be the first one." (Laughter)

If after this amazing list they're still like,

"No, no, Cameron, I want to be a model",

then I say, "Be my boss",

because I'm not in charge of anything,

and you could be
the editor-in-chief of American Vogue

or the CEO of H&M
or the next Steven Meisel.

Saying that you want to be a model
when you grow up

is a akin to saying that you want to win

the Powerball when you grow up.

It's, you know, out of your control,

and it's awesome
and it's not a career path.

I will demonstrate for you now
ten years of

accumulated model knowledge,
because unlike

cardio-thoracic surgeons
it can just be distilled

right into it right now.

So, if the photographer is right there

and the light is right there like a nice HMI

and the client says,
"Cameron, we want a walking shot."

Well then this leg goes first,
nice and long,

this arm goes back, this arm goes forth,
the head is at three quarters

and you just go back and forth.
Just do that.

And then you look back at your imaginary friends
(Laughter)

three hundred, four hundred,
five hundred times.

It will look something like this
-- (Laughter) --

hopefully less awkward than that one on the middle,
that was --

I don't know what happened there.
(Laughter)

Unfortunately, after you've gone to school

and you have a resume
and you've done a few jobs

you can't say anything anymore, so --

if you say you want to be
the President of the United States,

but your resume reads
"Underwear model 10 years"

people give you a funny look.

The next question people always ask me is,

"Do they retouch all the photos?"

and yeah, they pretty much
retouch all the photos,

but that is only a small component
of what's happening.

This picture is the very first picture
that I ever took

and is also the very first time
that I had worn a bikini,

and I didn't even have my period yet,

I know we are getting personal,

but, you know, I was a young girl.

This is what I looked like with my grandma

just a few months earlier.

Here's me on the same day as the shoot

-- my friend got to come with me --

Here is me at a slumber party a few days
before I shot French Vogue.

Here's me on the soccer team
and in V Magazine.

And here is me today.

And I hope what you are seeing is that

these pictures are not pictures of me,
they are constructions,

and they are constructions by professionals,

by hair stylists, and make up artists
and photographers and stylists

and all of their assistants,
and pre-production,

and post-production,
and they built this.

That's not me.

OK, so the next question
people always ask me is,

"Do you get free stuff?"
(Laughter)

I do have too many eight inch heels

which I never get to wear,
except for earlier,

but the free stuff that I get
is the free stuff

that I get in real life and that is what

we don't like to talk about.

I grew up in Cambridge and one time

I went out to a store
and I forgot my money

and they gave me the dress for free.

When I was a teenager
I was driving with my friend,

who was an awful driver,
and she ran a red and of course

we got pulled over,
and all it took was a

"Sorry, officer" and we were on our way.

And I got these free things
because of how I look,

not who I am,
and there are people paying a cost

for how they look and not who they are.

I live in New York, and last year

of the 140.000 teenagers
that were stopped and frisked,

86% of them were black and Latino
and most of them were young man.

And there are only 177.000
young black and latino man

in New York, so for them it's not a question

of "Will I get stopped?" but

"How many times will I get stopped?
When will I get stopped?"

When I was researching this talk
I found out that

of the 13 year old girls in the United States

53% don't like their bodies.
And that number

goes to 78%
by the time they are 17.

So the last question people ask me is,

you know,
"What is it like to be a model?"

and I think the answer
that they're looking for is

if you are a little bit skinnier
and you have shinier hair

you will be so happy and fabulous.

And when we are backstage
we give an answer

that maybe makes it seem like that,

we say "It's really amazing to travel" and

"It's amazing to get to work with creative inspired

passionate people,"
and those things are true,

but they're only one half of the story,
because the thing

that we never say on camera,
that I have never said on camera is

"I am insecure."
And I am insecure because

I have to think about
what I look like everyday,

and if you ever are wondering, you know,

"If I have thinner thighs and shinier hair,
will I be happier?"

you just need to meet group of models, because

they have the thinnest thighs
and the shinniest hair

and the coolest clothes
and they are the most

physically insecure women
probably on the planet.

So when I was writing this talk
I found it very difficult

to strike an honest balance,
because on the one hand

I felt very uncomfortable
to come here and say,

look I received all these benefits from a deck

stacked in my favour.

And also I felt really uncomfortable
to follow that up with

"And it doesn't always make me happy".

But mostly it was difficult to unpack

a legacy of gender and racial opression

when I'm one of the biggest beneficiaries.

But I am also happy and honoured to be up here

and I think that it's great I got to come,
you know, before

ten or twenty or thirty years had passed and

I had more agency on my career,
because maybe then

I wouldn't tell the story of how I got my first job,

or maybe I wouldn't tell the story
of how I paid for college,

which seems so important right now.

If there is a take away to this talk,

I hope is that we all feel more comfortable

acknowledging the power of image

in our perceived successes

and our perceived failures.

Thank you.

(Applause)