YSE Beauty Founder Model Molly Sims on Leaving a Job with Dignity

Kentucky-born model Molly Sims never met a biscuit she didn’t like. Her southern charm brought her to college at Vanderbilt University, where she made the boldest move of her career: quitting her pre-law studies to become a full time model. Molly was in her early 20s, alone, and homesick halfway across the world. But with placements on the cover of Sports Illustrated, French Vogue and more, it’s safe to say she made a name for herself.  

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Molly shares: 

• Why southern sorority culture wasn’t for her 

• How her mother encouraged her to think beyond the US for her career + life experience

• What she’d want her daughter to consider before modeling 

• The secret to building resilience and the “thick skin” that helped her survive the industry

• How confronting her mental health challenges helped her be OK with work curveballs

On Coping with Loneliness Abroad

Molly: There were hours on the phone with my mother and my dad and like: I can't do this. I've got to come home. I'm so lonely. I want to go back to school. And then she would just say, okay, just give it a few more days. I think not having an outcome was really good for me. And that's where she really helped me be okay with where I was. 

On Advice to Younger Listeners of the Show

Molly: If anybody's listening to this podcast and they're younger: take chances, say yes, because you never know where yes is going or where it will lead you. Then you'll learn to say no in certain ways of not being taken advantage of or owning your own. Dig deep, work really hard, and don't always go in with the outcome. Try to go through the ebbs and flows and up the mountain and down the mountain because that's where your lessons are learned. 

On Confronting the Criticism of her Industry 

Molly: When everything became about how I looked, it really played heavy on me. Because you can be thin as a size 8 or a size 10, but I needed to be a size zero. And even though I hated my height up until high school, it was hard at that moment. But I didn't really think about, “Oh my God, I'm 10 pounds overweight or I'm 25 pounds overweight.” It just became very obvious when they would tell me: you're too fat. You're never gonna work. It was so jarring to who I was that it just almost put me under. I didn't know my nose was crooked until finally I asked the photographer. He would say, “Go a little bit to the left or go a little bit to the right.” And I would finally, I asked, “Is everything okay? Like, should I not be looking kind of like straight down the middle?” And he goes, “No, don't ever look straight down the middle. Your nose is crooked. Just go to the left or go a little bit to the right.” And I never realized in 21 years.