Looks arent everything. Believe me Im a model Cameron Russell

hi my name is Cameron Russell and for

the last a little while I’ve been a

model actually for ten years and I feel

like there’s an uncomfortable tension in

the room right now because I should not

have worn this dress so luckily I

brought an outfit change this is the

first outfit change on the 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’ll find out later

on Twitter I’d also note that I’m quite

privileged to be able to transform what

you think of me in a very brief ten

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 a sweater over

my head because that’s when you’ll laugh

at me so don’t do anything while it’s

over my head alright so why did I do

that that was awkward well 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 in 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’s 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

fearless means being honest and I am on

this stage because I’m a model I’m on

this stage because I’m a pretty white

woman and my industry we call that a

sexy girl and I’m going to 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 just say oh I was scouted

but that means nothing the real way that

I became a model is I want a genetic

lottery and I am the recipient of a

legacy and maybe you’re wondering what

is a legacy well for the past few

centuries we have defined beauty not

just as health and youth and symmetry

that were 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 people in the

audience who are skeptical at this point

and maybe there are some fashionistas

we’re like wait Naomi Tyra Joan Smalls

Liu Wen and first I commend you on your

model knowledge very impressive 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 that was hired and of

the 677 models that were hired only 27

or less than 4% were non-white the next

question people ways ask me is can I be

a model when I grow up and the 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

United States or the inventor of the

next Internet or a ninja cardiothoracic

surgeon poet which would be awesome

because to be the first one

if after this amazing list they still

are like no no camera and I want to be a

model well 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 Mizell saying that you want

to be a model when you grow up is 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 cardiothoracic surgeons it can

just be distilled right into 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 for 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 three hundred

four hundred five hundred times it will

look something like this and hopefully

less awkward than that one in the middle

that was I don’t know what happened

there unfortunately after you’ve gone to

school and you have a resume 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 ten 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 a very first

picture that I ever took and it’s also

the very first time that I had worn a

bikini and I didn’t even have my period

yet I know we’re getting personal but uh

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 this shoot my friend got to come with

me here’s 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’s me today and I hope what

you’re seeing is that these pictures are

not pictures of me they are

constructions and they are constructions

by professionals by hair stylist and

makeup artists and photographers and

stylist and all of their assistants and

pre-production and post-production and

they build this that’s not me okay so

the next question people always ask me

is do you get

free stuff I do have too many Aiden

shields 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’s what we don’t like to

talk about I grew up in Cambridge and

one time I went into 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 read 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 men and there

are only 177 thousand young black and

Latino men in New York so for them it’s

not a question of will I get stopped but

how many times do I get stopped when

will I get stopped when I was

researching this talk I found out that

of the thirteen-year-old girls the

United States fifty-three percent don’t

like their bodies and that number goes

to 78 percent by the time that they’re

17 so the last question people ask me is

you know what does 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 one

we’re 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’m

insecure because I have to think about

what I look like every day 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 a group

of models because they have the thinnest

thighs and the shiniest hair and the

coolest clothes and 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

out here and say look I’ve

sieved all these benefits from a deck

stacked in my favor and it also 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 oppression

when I’m one of the biggest

beneficiaries but I’m also happy and

honored 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’d had more agency in 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’s a takeaway 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