Whisked Away at 18, She Didn't Know She Was a Supermodel | Kim Alexis

So my very first interview was with a good friend

of mine who is Larry the Cable Guy.

Larry the Cable Guy?

Yes.

Oh, I love Larry the Cable Guy.

So I though, okay, this is my brand new podcast and I'm, I wanted

to get some aspect of health in there.

So I do this whole interview.

"How'd you start?" His name's Dan, Whitney.

So it was like, "how did you go from being a comedian as Dan

Whitney in Orlando to world known?

And so we're talking at the end, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna ask you this question.

And I didn't preface like I'm gonna ask every guest this, So I said to him, I

said, "So what's your favorite meal?" He goes, "Beans and weenies." And he says,

And this is how you make them and this is what's in it and this is what it looks

like when it comes out." And I'm like

- Scott Leese: Oh my gosh.

[everyone laughing]

My gosh.

So I'm like, "I am never asking that question again on the air."

Intro Band: Lean in closer. This is your time.

Hit record on your crooked

life. What's your story?

(Hey!) Say the words out loud!

Mike & Scott gonna crack that crowd.

What's your story? (Hey!) Turn it up, let's go!

Every voice. Every scar.

Every road. What's your story?

Mike and Scott.

Let's talk.

What's up, everybody?

Welcome to another episode of the What's Your Story podcast.

I'm Scott Leese.

This is my good friend and partner, Mike Lindstrom.

What's up, buddy?

I'm excited about this one.

You excited?

I am excited about this one.

We're talking to a fellow podcast host today.

I know.

I'm excited for a lot of reasons, but the podcast world, that's the

things we get to talk about for sure.

we're probably gonna learn a little bit.

She's gonna school us.

I just heard that she's done 30 million plus

- Mike Lindstrom: It's incredible.

…views in the last month.

People don't do that in a year, you know that.

It's incredible.

It's fantastic.

Yeah.

Kim Alexis is gonna join us.

She's a former supermodel.

And one of the things that I learned in my research process that I didn't

know is she's from near Buffalo.

Which my family is from Buffalo, New York, Niagara Falls, whatnot.

So I got super excited just about that.

Maybe I'll ask you if you watched the game last night or not, but she also

is the host of the Unexpired podcast.

She's done a lot of amazing things that we're gonna get into.

So thanks for being here with us.

Yeah.

We appreciate it.

Thank you for having me.

We start off every show with every guest by just saying, give

us the quick two to three minute, which is impossible, of course, but give us

the quick little, elevator pitch on

- Kim Alexis: To me, I say it's the…

…your background, what's your story?

it's the dash between like born death, when you're

- Mike Lindstrom: Yes, yes, the dash.

Yes.

…on the tombstone.

The dash.

I'm the dash right now.

Yeah.

So I got a mini dash.

raised outside of Buffalo.

It was Lockport.

And, I thought I wanted to be a pharmacist.

I was swimming five and a half hours a day, taking college calculus,

trying to prepare for college.

Though I should make extra money.

Got discovered in a modeling school.

I literally though they were kicking me out because I'd show up with wet

hair and felt like a fish out of water.

I didn't understand fashion.

I was just a tomboy.

Thought I had my whole life planned.

And then this little guy in the corner of this modeling school, is staring at me.

And I go into the owner's office and instead of saying, Get out of

here." She said, Would you like to go to New York to model?" I said, No.

I'm gonna be a pharmacist." [everyone laughing] So I kept putting them

off and finally they said, Can we just take pictures? We just wanna take some

pictures and send them to New York." So I'm like [posing] doing these pictures.

I still have them.

They're hysterical, but

- Scott Leese: Did you know how to pose already?

No.

I was learning it in this class.

You had to take a class before you could even start modeling and making money.

So my dad put money into the school to figure out how to learn.

And this is 1978, so this was very much charm school.

Yeah.

Mm.

And so I think I knew how to pose, but when I look

at them, they're very dramatic.

I'm very over the top and everything.

[everyone laughing] Anyway, so this was probably March and John Casablancas came

to Buffalo and came to my class where I had been thinking I didn't belong

and signs me to a year deal and then parades every other girl from the class

in front of him with me standing next to him saying, What do you think about her?

Is she pretty?

Should I take her?" And I'm like,

Oh my gosh.

Wow.

So I finished up high school.

I was 17 when I graduated end of June.

Went to, New York City mid-July when I turned 18.

And two days later I was in Rome.

I did the Italian Bazaar Collections.

And so four days after that, I had the cover of the magazine.

And within months I had a cover at Glamour when I went back to New York.

It takes three months from when you shoot a cover for them to come out.

And I had my first national makeup ad within three months

and everything just steamrolled.

Wow.

It just started going very fast.

after a year, my college said, "Hey, do you wanna come back?" And I'm like,

Oh my gosh, it's been a year already.

No, [laughs] I'm gonna stay where I'm at." So my career just took off on its

own and, branched off into many areas.

By 23 or so, I had a contract with Ultima Two, which was a Revlon contract.

Excuse me.

I replaced, Lauren Hutton.

That's a big deal.

And they wanted me to go into acting and I'm, way too practical.

So I'm like, "You want me to say what? You want me to do what?" So I realized

that was not for me and I more or less had to try and go in a different direction.

But they taught me a lot, voice lessons, acting lessons.

at 27, Revlon got bought.

So I was pushed aside and then it's now what?

And realized that even though I was 27, I already had a brand.

And in the late 70s 80s we didn't know about brands.

Right.

Right.

We really didn't quite understand it.

So I had to figure out why can't I fit back into this modeling anymore?

And so I transitioned into broadcasting.

I was with William Morris, and within a day, I went to a meeting

and had a job at Good Morning America as the fashion correspondent.

So they hired me one day, the next morning I was live on TV.

My goodness.

[laughing]

Talk about jumping right into the fire

- Kim Alexis: Exactly.

…over and over actually.

And I did that for three years weekly.

I was living in Florida.

I had a son.

I'd travel back and forth every single week.

I don't know how I did it, but I did do it.

And, loved broadcasting.

I loved the idea of speaking and being able to talk and interview

and pull things out of people.

I learned how to conduct live interviews on TV.

Joan Lunden taught me that.

And I worked with Charlie Gibson.

So there were two great people.

It was just wonderful.

then I went into speaking and I was living in Florida and had all these

children, two more sons after that.

So I had three sons, lots of sports mom, hockey mom,

-, Scott Leese: [laughing]

football, all of lacrosse, all that.

my life turned busy with them.

And now I'm reinventing and coming back into it.

And I realized what's my passion and it's really pulling interview

material out of other people.

So that's how I landed with my podcast a couple months ago.

So what was the original thought of the podcast?

to me, I love being on TV.

I love hosting shows, and I've hosted numerous other shows all around.

And so this is almost like we get our own mini TV show.

Mm-hmm.

I wanted to show I believe in myself and I can do it.

And then now you can see what I do and hopefully that generates more work.

So that was the thought behind it of just doing where my passion was.

My topic though, I thought because I'd just gotten an

integrative health certification, I thought it would be on health.

I though, oh my gosh, I'm gonna dive deep into health because my message is how do

you stay looking thinner and longer and beautiful and vibrant and staying healthy?

And so my message was, how that works.

And I though, okay, well, I'll just interview all these

people and talk about health.

And my producer looked, he says, Mm, I'm hearing that you're really

fascinated with how people got from A to B and all those parts in between."

Yeah.

So that's where I'd ended up.

What about, what about the name?

Yeah.

Unexpired?

What's the

- Kim Alexis: Number one

- Scott Leese: …meaning and story behind that?

Because, Mike, so many people have been doing podcasts

for so long, many names are taken.

Yes.

And I knew I wanted one word and I knew it had to talk

about relevance, beauty, to me, that was encompassing as a message.

So 'Unexpired' to me is, "Hey, I'm still around and I still have something to say."

and that's your story too, you're, you're

around, you're still relevant.

That's, you have a brand that you've parlayed into this part of your career.

That's fantastic.

Yeah.

Yeah.

you skipped over something though real quick.

[everyone laughing] A lot

- Kim Alexis: I only have the dash.

Yeah, a lot, by the way.

I only had

two minutes.

So replacing Lauren Hutton, I gotta hear this.

Like that's a moment in time where you're going, What?" walk us through that.

I don't remember a lot.

I never met her, so I don't feel… I think her contract had already ended

and they were just looking for someone.

I was so busy working back then.

We didn't have any feedback from people.

We were just… We'd stay in our apartment, travel to wherever we had to

work, and then come back at the end of the night, sometimes working 12, 15 hour days.

So I had my head down.

I wasn't really studying, paying attention to much of anything.

So they're like, "Oh, well, Revlon wants you for this contract." I'm like, "Okay."

So I signed it with my agency and later realized the agency is going to have

a long-term relationship with Revlon.

Uh-huh.

Will they have a long-term relationship with Kim?

I was only there for like another four years.

So I think the contract was probably more skewed towards helping the Revlon people.

And so it was interesting that, yes, it was a, a good contract, but I

probably, if I'd spent my own money to have someone represent just me, it

might have been a little bit different.

Was it hard to figure out what things to say yes to

and which things to say no to?

I would assume you had all these opportunities

- Kim Alexis: I remember…

…coming your way.

Yes.

And what we had, they were called bookers.

Okay.

So they were the girls at the agency that would get the calls or make calls.

Back then they used to make them, believe it or not.

Like, Hey, we've got Kim here.

She's got some free time.

Would you like to use her?" so they were busy with me.

I would have up to 14 job offers a day.

Oh my gosh.

Yeah.

That's incredible.

So it was

- Scott Leese: Obviously you can't do all of them.

No.

And I think I really leaned on my gut.

I leaned on some people in the business, like my, I had

one favorite booker, Dottie.

And so I'm like, "Well, which one would you do?" Some were career

building, some were because it was a good networking with a photographer.

sometimes it was going to a location because you were sick of being

in the winter in New York City.

I'm like, Okay, a trip to Bermuda, sure." [hosts laughing] So.

Who is coaching you long?

I mean, you had obviously professional help in contracts and such, but

who was, who was guiding you?

No.

You, from the moment you pretty much walk into the agency, you

have to be your own advocate.

you may have people at the agency that would look out for you, but it ultimately

comes down to, especially after hours.

you're in charge of yourself and where you go and what you do and what you

say yes to and what room you walk into and which parties and all of that.

So yeah, you can, there's a lot of room to get into a lot of trouble.

great question though that just came my way the other day.

I was doing a speaking event in the keynoter.

he's a professional negotiator.

This guy's worldwide.

He's amazing guy.

And he showed a clip of Meryl Streep, talking most recently when she

took the role of Devil Wears Prada.

Ah.

And she said that at the, it was the first time

in my career, at that point, I think she was 53, 54 years old.

They made me the offer of what it was, and I said no.

And they couldn't believe it because they really wanted her for this role.

And they said, "Well, come back.

what's, what's the number?" She, they said, "Double it." And so they're

like, Done." And she said it was the first time in her career, her whole

career that she advocated for herself

Oh.

Because she always relied on an agent or someone else.

And she said, women in the industry, acting, modeling, w

were not taught that, right?

Yes.

So this whole empowerment around how you advocate for yourself.

Yes.

How's that for you?

How did you can relate with that story, right?

as I look back, I was, I graduated probably like June 20th.

I was in New York July 17th.

That's less than one month.

So while I'm home, I'm under my parents care.

I had school with certain hours.

I had coaches that would tell me what to do, when to do it,

teachers with which homework to do.

Then within one month, you go to New York City and you can do

what you want, when you want.

it should have been liberating, but to me it was very confusing.

I'm like, wait, [scoffs] I need someone to like direct me.

Yeah.

What about discipline?

you're talking about New York, young age, parties, 70s and the 80s.

Yeah.

Studio 54.

Yep.

Yes.

All that stuff.

I did all that.

I found… I was very self-reflective and I think I would say, okay,

why am I feeling this way?

Why am I crying?

I did a lot of crying the first two years.

I just didn't feel like I belonged there and I couldn't understand what it was.

I'm like, okay, well, maybe I just don't understand fashion or maybe

I'm, standing up too much for myself or I don't really wanna go and

hang out with those drunk people.

So I couldn't quite get it, but I kept trying to say, where am I peaceful?

Where am I happy?

And it was home locked in my apartment by myself with my makeup off.

Whoa.

Yeah.

you just did a Page Six interview that came out about

Oh, she was so trying to get the dirt.

I still haven't read that, but [laughing] I had

You probably don't wanna read it, but you talk about

drugs and harassment that transpired and overdoses and things like that.

you were there at such a young age.

H how do you say no to that?

And I'm asking almost from a parental perspective.

Mike and I have four teenage boys who are all about like 18 to 16 years

- Kim Alexis: Yeah.

…of age.

And I'm imagining if my kids went in that environment, how would they

- Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

…make the right decisions?

And did I prep them enough for that?

Exactly, yes, as a parent.

when I look back, I think because I grew up being so valued for being s

a good student and being into a team with discipline and if I put enough

work in how I would see results from winning or whatever it was, I

felt that the sports really helped.

It helped develop me as a person to say, "Hey, I have enough

self-respect to not do that."

Mm.

Like that just… And there was very much for me,

I think because I wanted to be a pharmacist, cause and effect.

You do this, you take this pill

- Scott Leese: Oh, maybe you understood it from a different

perspective than other people.

You take this pill, this is your

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

…what's gonna happen.

You do this or show up at this party, this is what's gonna happen.

Who was like the first person you could remember that was like

super famous and you were like, "Oh my God, I can't believe it." When you were

on the come-up, you're at these events.

look, I mean, supermodel.

come on, it's a sexy thing.

we didn't have that term when I first started.

Yeah.

So in 1978, 1980, it probably, if we research, it probably

came up in like maybe 84 or so.

So at this point I already had my Revlon contract.

And I remember asking, "What is a supermodel?" And they said,

"You are darling." I said,

[laughing]

"Really?" And they said, "Yes." And I said,

"Oh." Cause I, we didn't know.

Right.

We were just busy working.

So who were some of the famous people that you remember meeting?

You're like, "Oh my gosh."

[laughing] we ended up… When you're starting to get famous and

in the spotlight, you'd help with a lot of other charity events where you

see other people from other industries.

And I think that's where I noticed them.

It was probably Muhammad Ali.

Wow.

Yeah.

And he was just a very quiet… He had a little glint in his

eye and he wouldn't say a word.

He'd just be like… And then he'd do like this little thing where he would

try to hover his feet and you'd, and then he'd just kind of smile and look at you.

[laughing] That's what I remember.

He was just very

- Mike Lindstrom: Did you ever talk to him la because he was

from the Valley before he passed.

Did you ever talk to him later in life?

No, and I didn't know about Scottsdale till 10 years ago.

Yeah, okay.

I came here to work many a time probably, but, to live, no.

Yeah.

I never though I'd live in the desert.

I was an East Coast girl.

Yeah.

Yeah.

you played golf?

Golf yeah, I saw that.

…a pretty serious golfer as a junior.

I golf just for charity and to raise money.

I'm better at yacking it up and talking to them and saying, "Oh, nice putt,"

versus my long drive or anything else.

But, I am involved in a lot of different charity events, and I

do it to help whoever needs help.

Yeah.

So go back to the Phoenix part.

So what was the draw when that moment in time said, "Well, Phoenix

is the next place, that's the next chapter." tell us about that.

I met my husband and I met him in Colorado right before I

was moving to, back to New York City.

So this was 10 years ago.

And, I was living in Colorado for a moment, like four years, and

then decided I'm all healed from my divorce because I divorced.

Yeah.

And I'm gonna go back to New York and make my name.

And that's where I was be you don't know where to go.

You don't quite know how to get back into a business that left you by the wayside.

Yeah.

So it's been, and that's where my drive for asking

other people, How'd you do that?

How did you get there?" So to me, that's what's fascinating is that whole

journey of going, starting somewhere, drifting off, and I let that fame

go for a while just to be a mother.

Yeah.

I just wanted to make sure my kids that I was around for my kids.

you have a, that energy about you.

When I first met you, I thought I knew who you were from afar, from

friends that said, but you just have that energy about you, a vibe.

it's a positive vibe.

You have that vibe.

[laughing] I try to just… I enjoy being happy.

Yeah.

I think it's much better to be peaceful.

I make sure that I am around things, people, situations that make me

peaceful because I don't like drama.

I don't like dealing with all that.

I don't understand how to help other people that are in that.

It's not my strengths.

how do you marry that with building something from scratch?

Like you're building this podcast and you're building the business

and you said you're putting yourself back into this industry

Yes.

And whatnot.

I realized very quickly what I am not good at, and I am not good at that.

But I married a man who's brilliant.

So he has been the one that's done all the behind the scenes.

he was in real estate development and I'm his raw piece of land.

And so we're, [hosts laughing] we're redeveloping Kim!

[everyone laughing]

That's a great analogy.

He's an entitlement guy, so yeah.

So

that's funny.

Never heard that one before.

I've never heard that.

That's a new one.

Raw piece of land.

[everyone laughing]

Thank you!

I love it!

That's great.

I gotta ask, social media.

Gotta talk about this, especially in, with what you did growing up.

What if you had all that now?

social media at that time, if you had a phone in your hand when you

were 17 years old, can you imagine?

Like, how would the world be different?

How do you reconcile social media and you're… I mean, you're promoting

yourself, you're on the podcast.

Yeah.

What's your relationship with social media?

How are you using it?

that's a loaded question and it's filled with

a lot of different facets.

So back in the day, I think if I had had a camera and the ability to take

behind the scenes photos or whatever, I would have millions of followers.

[laughing] Right?

Yeah.

so many things that we lost.

But I was also, on a side note, and get me back to where I was going, because of

my business, we got to see everything.

My business was recorded.

I have pictures of it.

So you know I worked hard.

You see boxes and boxes and boxes of old magazines.

Yeah.

There's… all the proof is right there.

Yes.

Yes.

And it's like, oh, oh yeah.

Or someone will say, "Well, who did your hair and makeup?" I don't remember.

I mean, I would sometimes work three different covers.

I could do three magazine covers in a day.

They normally take about four hours.

So it was just, it was a whirlwind in some ways.

so that would've been great.

Yep.

Yep.

I was very late to the game because I didn't like that, "Look at me."

Mm-hmm.

"Here I am. This is what I'm doing." And that's

when I first saw social media.

I'm like, "Oh my gosh, I'm not doing that. I'm not one of those people,

right?" But then I realized that it is very much needed for this day and age.

Number one, 10 years ago when I was still trying to model in New York

City, when I'd gone back to New York City, you would go to these casting

calls and instead of bringing your book with, Here's my tear sheets, here's all

the covers I've done, here's all the national ads I've done," they're like,

What are your social media numbers?"

Yeah.

that's what you're gonna use to book somebody?

what about history and how they look?

Yeah.

And so that didn't matter anymore.

So the whole value system changed of what was important.

Do you think that's made it harder or easier for

people to break into this industry?

It's made it different.

I remember I was in, when I was living still in Colorado, I was

trying to get back into broadcasting.

And so I went to… I had my broadcast agent make a meeting and went into

this newsroom and they're like, Sure.

We would love to hire you to give us pieces.

Go film them, write them, edit them, and bring them to us packaged, and

we'll put it on and pay you X amount of dollars." I'm like, Wait, what?"

[laughing]

Because I'd been this princess.

And when I was in New York City for all those years, I had the best photographers.

I had the best hair and the best makeup and editors.

And everyone was doing those things for us.

Everyone stayed in their lane, and everyone was very professional.

those days are gone.

Mm-hmm.

So now it's like amateur hour.

Everyone can do everything, and it's good for some people, and it's not

good for the ones that really were trained, that really are professional.

And you could probably hear a hint of

Dilutes the talent pool

- Kim Alexis: …pissed-offedness in there.

Yeah.

[laughing]

Yeah.

So what about when, like, you knew a big magazine's coming out, the

cover's coming out in a week or whatever.

are you the kind of person that would, look at it and be excited about it?

Are you the kind of person that's the other way, "I don't wanna look at it.

I don't wanna watch it." You hear actors all the time say,

"I didn't watch the final movie.

I don't, I don't like my voice." And I'm like, "You're an actor.

How do you not watch your own, your product?" What were you

like when it came to that?

I would see them only on the magazine stands, and one year, one month,

by the way, I had eight on the stands at

- Mike Lindstrom: At one time?

…one month, yes.

That's crazy.

Crazy.

I also had the makeup ads.

If you did one makeup, you didn't do another.

I did, like, three or four at the same, in the same magazine.

It was bizarre.

I don't know how that worked.

I don't know why I got away with it, but I did.

So I would look at them and say, Oh, that's the cover they

chose." Or, "Oh, that was the expression." Or "Oh, that's the

- Scott Leese: So you didn't know beforehand.

No, you never do.

It's always called a cover try.

Okay.

you know, basically when it's coming out at, like,

middle of the month or whatever it is, but I wasn't waiting for it.

I was busy working on the next

- Scott Leese: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

…bunch of things.

But I would see it and I'm like, "Okay, well, that's the look they

used, or that was this." mean, a lot of it back then was very, very close.

You might have just a tiny bit of hair, even though they'd worked

on your hair for, like, an hour.

[laughing]

But, yeah.

So I would just be studying it and trying to just improve.

How's modeling changed to now?

If you look at what… you still probably know people in the industry.

You can see it from afar.

There's many things that have changed.

The biggest thing I think is that, the actresses have taken the makeup ads, the

hair ads, the skincare ads, the covers.

And so those used to be ours as models, and also the editorial.

So we could do… Editorial is more art.

You don't get paid as much, but you're put in places where then, different companies

can come and hire you for more money.

So you do editorial in order to get other bookings.

And so for me, I see that it's… it's just definitely changed where we used

to have all those things, and that would make part of what a woman was, a

model was, and then there was runway, and then there was more athletic or

outdoors or whatever, or bikinis.

[laughing] So that was another aspect of it.

So when we were allowed to do all those, now it seems like people have specialties.

Yeah.

can we switch over to the podcast again?

I wanna, I wanna hear about the, some of the guests and maybe your format because

we got, we gotta talk about podcast.

We gotta talk about

- Kim Alexis: Yeah, format.

Even teach us something.

Yeah.

So what's your… Tell us a little bit about what goes into it.

how do you do it?

Like you're… we told you before off camera, we batch ours.

We'll shoot 13, 14 in two days.

That takes us for three months.

Everyone's kinda got a different approach.

Tell us a little about what's your, what's your thoughts?

I think I'd be staring at a wall drooling by the end of

the first [laughing] two days.

so for me, we work out of a studio here in Phoenix, and,

each episode is from 30 minutes.

And I've had guests where I couldn't wait to see that 30-minute sign

like… [hosts laughing] Oh my gosh.

[guests laughing] Have you had any of those?

Uh, maybe.

Yeah.

Like one or two word answers and you're like, "Oh

my goodness, I'm asking about your life. Give me something."

Yes.

if… We've probably had more of the opposite.

Yeah.

Where you ask somebody a question and 30

minutes later, you're like…

[laughing]

We didn't get to ask any other questions.

we used to, we used to start with "What's Your Story?"

But we never really framed it.

So people would just keep talking and talking.

And I'm not gonna name names but you can't cut them off.

Someone's really in the depths of talking about their childhood

Yes.

And you're at the four minute mark, you're like, "Man, I guess

we're gonna have to fix it in post."

Yes.

Yes.

So…

Yeah.

And then you try and find a natural place to cut.

I'm like, "Oh my goodness, breathe. [laughing] Take a

pause." so we do anywhere from 30 minutes to a little over an hour.

Yeah.

I try to take them through where did you start?

What were you thinking when you were young?

And then develop their whole person.

How'd you get to where you are?

And it might have been very quick.

sometimes it is, long and drawn out and it is one, sport, one career, one profession.

But many times, people start somewhere and it's like, I didn't realize till I was in

my 50s or whatever that this is where my passion is, or this is what I'm enjoying

doing now." So it's… each person, of course, as you know, is very different.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Do you, do you find common threads?

Like, everybody's story involves resiliency, everybody's story involves

taking risks and things like, that?

There's probably five main things.

One is preparation, if you're talking about your athletes.

Okay.

one is showing up and just saying yes.

Mm-hmm.

And that's a big one for many people.

Putting yourself out there.

it's sometimes.

I mean, I had

Yeah.

a woman and she's like, "Oh, I was just in an elevator and

minding my own business." And someone said, "Would you like to do this?"

And she's like, "Sure, why not?" And it would lead to a whole new… I'm

like, " How did you do that?" Sometimes you're scratching and clawing and like

Yeah.

Putting it out to, like, hundreds of people.

And I guess when I look back, my modeling career was very quick like that.

I was given the opportunity.

I just had to show up.

I had to make it work.

You just had to say yes.

I had to say yes.

Yeah.

But many other jobs and careers, it is, it's their

attitude, it's their drive, it's their showing up, it's their, just intent.

Everything is very important.

Modeling, that does, it didn't really, that wasn't valuable.

It didn't really matter.

And I learned that even when I was, like, back in school, it was good

grades, fast swim times, right?

Who cares in New York when you're modeling if any of that?

That, that value system changed to this, which I'd never

focused on when I was younger.

So that can be interesting also.

Where is your value?

Where do you get your value from?

Yeah.

Have you interviewed any models yet?

Yes.

Yeah?

Yes.

What'd you learn on the, being on the other side of the couch

Kathy Ireland is such a businesswoman, and she can talk

and be very sweet, but when she gets down to business, she's like this.

I mean, she's just very intent.

And it was very nice to see.

So Carol Alt, was great and, but she went off into acting and especially in Italy.

And so she was like Miss Italian, actress.

We're in, in somewhere different parts of Italy.

how do you feel about some of these women who are doing

the no makeup kind of movement?

I can't remember what it's called, like Pam Anderson.

Yes, yes.

I think that if they wanna do that, that is perfectly fine.

Does that feel scary for, for you?

No.

No.

No.

No.

No.

I walk around most of the time with no makeup on.

sometimes Jeff will be at an, somewhere and he's like, This would make a great

little video for social media." I'm like, I don't have any makeup on."

[laughing] And so we'll do it anyways.

And I'm like, "Are you sure that looks okay?" But to me,

that was never that important.

And I actually had a hard time when they'd take over an hour to do my makeup.

I'm like, Oh my gosh, could you just be dumb?

Like,

- Scott Leese: Yeah.

… Kim Alexis: how many different ways could we put three

different colors of lipstick on?"

It'd be hard to sit still that long.

Oh my goodness.

I couldn't do it.

Yeah, no way.

And then for your hair.

So that's why I think some of these women are rebelling because of all that time

we had to spend in the makeup chairs.

Yeah.

It's like, give me that time back

- Kim Alexis: [Laughing]

…to do whatever with my life.

Yeah.

and many women, especially if, if someone's getting married, they're

like, Oh, you know, I got pampered.

I had my makeup done." I'm like, "Ugh."

Yeah.

[laughing] I don't want it.

I'm done in five minutes." I look in the mirror and I'm like, I don't know.

I don't know what else to do." I'm like, "Just that's good enough."

I think, I think men, we don't appreciate that enough.

I know my wife, she was doing, I was a TV analyst, for a while with KTAR and she

would go on camera a lot and she would be in there for an hour and 15 minutes

every morning, hair, makeup, and I'm just like, shave my head every 34 days

to, barely shave and I'm off to work.

I just can't imagine that's your whole life, is how you look.

were you ever self-conscious of, I probably shouldn't do that, or

maybe I'll get too sunburned, or maybe I'll get hurt if I do that

because your look is your brand.

Did it limit you?

Yes, it did.

And even so much, I got in trouble once for cutting my hair.

So I was, it was over Christmas.

They'd booked me for a job over in Italy.

And so I went home to Buffalo for Christmas and I looked at my sister.

I'm like, Why don't you cut my hair?" And my hair was always pretty much

long, so she cut it to about here.

I go to Italy and that photographer just read me the riot act.

I'm like, "Oh, I guess it's not my own body, I have to check in."

Did they put it in your contract or something like

No, there's no contract.

Okay.

It's just a booking.

but I realized I think I'd better keep that same look.

They book you to look a certain way and I totally chopped it off.

Wow.

I can't imagine.

Someone told me to grow my hair.

Come on.

Well, I mean, to be fair, you probably can't.

It's off the brow.

I can't.

It's off the, it's off the table.

Thanks, man.

Thanks, appreciate that.

What if someone said I'll give you, big contract

if you grow your hair out?

Do the Rogaine?

Fly over to, fly over to Turkey and get a

hair transplant or something.

Yeah, no.

this is part of the brand.

I'm joking.

[everyone laughing] So give us a favorite story about… See, brag on one of

your guests or a couple of your guests.

Good stories have come from the podcast where you were… You know

that moment when you're interviewing someone, you're like, whoa,

this is this is deep right here.

Yeah.

So Justine Bateman, and that goes back to the not putting on any makeup.

So she wrote a book called Face, and it was about the pressures in

society and how everyone expects you to do Botox and keep up with this

looking 30 instead of our actual age.

And I have not done Botox or any of that stuff.

So for me, I was like, Oh, I understand this.

It's right up my alley." And she was just very intense.

She's very, very smart.

And when someone's super smart, you feel like you gotta keep up with the questions.

Yeah.

And so she kept me on my toes as far as matching her,

just to her intensity about how important these things were to her.

And she was so well received and on the other end, so not well received

by people who felt, "If I wanna have something done to my face and

if I wanna look 30, I'm going to." Nobody's telling you that you can't.

So people get very, very defensive about their looks.

All you can do… For me, I feel like I'm just representing this is what you can

look like at 66 without doing any surgery.

Right.

And that's all I'm saying.

You wanna do it?

Go for it.

I don't care.

Yeah.

You do you, right?

Yes.

How do you handle the haters or even the

vitriol that we get sometimes?

You're in the modeling world.

people are critical.

Yes.

They're very

Oh, you did look so good in that shoot.

How do you handle that?

Yeah.

Some people are like really sad how age, catches up to you.

Like, okay.

[everyone laughing]

Brutal.

they're brutal.

And some said, "Why don't you get some neck cream for Justine?" Or,

or it could have been me, who knows?

but you just let that slide.

I put things in compartments.

I learned very young, okay, put that up there.

I'm not gonna deal with it.

Because it didn't help me and benefit me any, unless maybe it's, if enough people

say it, maybe it's something I need to work on, if it's something internal

or my personality or something else.

But if it's my looks, this is what I am, this is what you've got, and this

I'm not changing for you or for anybody.

Do you ever engage them?

Any, ever, like, comment back or

you I say, Wow."

Is that what you, that's your move, the wow?

That's… I'm like, " Wow."

My move is the clown emoji.

It is the clown face.

Oh, there you go.

Then I get negativity.

Clown face, clown face.

They probably don't get it.

[everyone laughing]

It's probably true.

They probably, number one

- Scott Leese: Joke only for myself.

But

- Kim Alexis: Yes.

…but 'wow' is good, a good one too though,

because it's kind of vague.

It maybe pisses them off even more.

What do you mean that's all you gotta say is, wow.

It's appropriately passive aggressive.

And if they're talking about your appearance, some once or twice

I'll go and peek at what their picture is, sometimes it's not even on there.

Mm-hmm.

So you don't know if it's a bot.

so it's not worth engaging.

But other times I'm like, You're not even showing your picture,

so you're criticizing someone else." So it's not worth the time.

Speaking of

- Mike Lindstrom: Yeah.

…bots and technology, how does the modeling world reacting

and responding to, AI models, AI actors and actresses and all that?

I honestly don't know.

I'm not really

That's gotta feel pretty good, actually, to not

have to pay attention to that.

I'm not in the modeling world anymore.

It's only my observations from here in Arizona looking back

at the New York City world.

Cause you were talking about how actresses have eaten some of

those jobs that models used to have.

Yes.

Now there's a huge movement of AI, avatars.

I don't know if I'm using the right words or not, but, I could easily see how they

start to take over some of that world.

Right.

And if they do, then we have to move on and

- Scott Leese: We adapt.

…adapt and go in another direction.

I think it would be crazy and weird.

And there's so many things I think that are coming out that

we're gonna have to deal with.

Hmm.

Do you have any, shares on any future guests that are any "good gets"

as we say in the podcast world?

[laughing] I've got Olympians that are coming on.

I've got, race car drivers.

I'm thinking because I've taped, probably I've got about 25 in the can.

Yeah.

So I'm reviewing and going back of who it was,

actors, big actors and, comedians.

So you're big on, because you do your stuff like this.

You have a studio and you're having somebody come in the studio with you live.

Have you done any things virtually?

Yes.

Yeah?

Yes.

So you'll pivot to that?

I have, yes, if they're busy.

And then for three, so I did Jay Leno, Justine Bateman, and Esai Morales.

Esai was the bad guy on the Mission Impossible movies.

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Great guy.

So he's on this week.

so for me, we did those out in Glendale.

Oh, okay.

We flew to Glendale.

And so now

Oh, LA.

I'm sorry.

Glendale in Southern California.

Got it.

Okay.

Yeah.

And so for Futures, we're thinking maybe Nashville, because we've got songwriters

and different people we know, plus I've got different singers coming out.

and then also I've been invited to go to the Blair House, which is in DC.

Mm-hmm.

Did you know even what the Blair House is because I didn't know?

No.

It's bigger than the White House.

It's 70,000 square feet.

It's right off of where the White House property is, but it's houses

any of your top officials from other countries that come in, your,

your leaders, your world leaders.

Didn't know that.

And they get the whole house if they're invited.

Wow.

And it's got history.

Abe Lincoln used to go over there just to, get away from the

White House and put his feet up.

And you're gonna record there?

I'm able to.

Wow.

I've met the woman who is running the whole Blair House.

Yes.

Yes.

is that a 2027 initiative?

Yeah.

I think so.

Yes.

That's great.

I was gonna ask that taking it on the road is exciting, right?

Yes.

Yeah.

you have to make sure you have enough people that when, that you

can get on to justify the expense.

Yeah.

But yeah.

what's the biggest challenge you have as a podcaster?

I think it's making sure I pull out from them what's

the most important thing for them.

Yeah.

really giving and honoring that time and respecting

them and what's important to them.

And I don't, like you guys, I don't bring up horrible, nasty things

where you put someone on the spot.

So one of the people I interviewed though when I first started

was JohnJay for the radio.

He's been on our show too, actually.

He's such, he was such a great guy, but I was pretty new

at it and it's been a while since I've been on Good Morning America.

And I'm trying to, he's trying to feel your groove and where you go.

And remind me, I have a good story afterwards.

Yes.

So I'm on with JohnJay and first we did, okay, Kim's gonna start,

because I wanted to get it out of the way.

I'm gonna interview you.

And we were in the same studio.

He works out of the same studio.

So then we switched seats and then he was able to interview.

He kept turning around.

He'd be like, I'd be interviewing him and he'd turn around and

ask me to st I'm like, "No, no, this is about you. Cut it out."

He tried to do that to us.

Yes, see.

He just us.

And he's like a big bashful puppy, right?

He's like, "Bro, it's Kim."

[everyone laughing]

That's a good one.

That's totally true.

[laughing]

That's so… The first th you go back and watch it because

I think we didn't, we didn't cut it.

We left it.

The first five minutes when we started with "What Your

Story?", he totally deflected it.

And he's like, "Hey, what's up? What, what's up with you guys? Do you guys

change your clothes in between the set?" He starts asking us a bunch of questions.

I'm like, "Whoa, whoa, time out."

it's

You're the one in the, in the couch.

Yes.

And he's always in a black t-shirt.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So you're wearing JohnJay stuff.

But he did the same thing to us.

yes.

So my very first interview was with a good friend of mine who is Larry the Cable Guy.

Larry the Cable Guy?

Yes.

Oh, I love Larry the Cable Guy.

So I though, okay, this is my brand new podcast and I'm, I wanted

to get some aspect of health in there.

So I do this whole interview.

"How'd you start?" His name's Dan, Whitney.

So it was like, "how did you go from being a comedian as Dan

Whitney in Orlando to world known?

And so we're talking at the end, I'm like, okay, I'm gonna ask you this question.

And I didn't preface like I'm gonna ask every guest this, So I said to him, I

said, "So what's your favorite meal?" He goes, "Beans and weenies." And he says,

And this is how you make them and this is what's in it and this is what it looks

like when it comes out." And I'm like

- Scott Leese: Oh my gosh.

[everyone laughing]

My gosh.

So I'm like, "I am never asking that question again on the air."

Yeah.

Yeah.

what's… Is that one of the weirdest answers

you've ever gotten on a podcast?

Yes.

Yes.

But he just wants to make pe… But mean, he's so fast on things.

I'm like, "How did you think of that?"

what about, kind of the opposite of humor we've

had at least a handful of people that have cried on our podcast.

Sure.

And that was never the intent.

Oh, you mean guys, you.

Never the intent.

Not that type of cry.

No, it was like

You made

We just had

one, last night.

It just happened this morning.

This morning.

Yeah, this morning.

That was probably the most, the biggest one we've had.

Was it from your question being so

- Mike Lindstrom: No, it was

Even somebody just telling their story.

Yeah.

they were going internally telling a story about their mother who had

passed away from like 11 years ago.

and they were really being present with… I didn't ask anything about the mother.

We didnt ask, didn't even know that story about that.

It was a horrible story, but she was just present with it.

Yes.

and that's not our show, right?

We're trying to keep it light, keep it positive, but there's a good

five minutes there where Scott and I were like, "Wow, she's present

with what's happening right here."

at least you made her feel comfortable, I guess.

No, and we were able to spin it, to more positive

things to get her out of that state.

Yeah, you have to.

But have you ever had that happen when

- Kim Alexis: No, thanks a lot.

Now I'm probably gonna get one.

[everyone laughing]

Never the intent though.

But people get fired up about, so passion.

We had, Dave Scatchard for the NHL guy.

He was our first episode.

And he talked about a bunch of childhood stuff.

He had trauma with hockey and all these other things.

Injuries.

He was going through these stories.

And I think that to me, that's what I've learned in the last year is

when your people are getting really present with the story, that's when

you know you got a winner of a guest and, because it'll really be real.

Be authentic.

I like it when a guest says to me, "Huh, I've never been

asked that before." Or, "Ooh, I never said this before out loud."

Yes.

Right?

Yes.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Those are good ones.

Then you know you're getting the good stuff.

so Roger Clemens came on, he's another friend of mine.

And I was asking him about, "what's next for you?

And he says, "Well, you know, I've got my grandsons now." And he says,

"I'm pitching to them." And he says, my biggest stressor is that I'm

pitching to these nine-year-olds and I've gotta hit their bat.

I've gotta aim it." So he says, I make them take a practice swing to see

which swing," whatever that's called.

Trajectoring

swing pattern.

And so he says, "And then my biggest pressure is that I've

gotta throw the ball to that bat.

Otherwise, these kids cry, right?" I said, "Wait, wait, wait.

You've been in game sevens in World Series pitching." He says, Ah, that

was nothing." I said, "Do you mean to tell me pitching for nine-year-olds

is more stress?" He goes, "Absolutely.

Way different." So I was like, Wow." So that did really well.

That's good.

That's, that's called retired MLB problems, right?

I can relate to that though because in, in Texas where I

live, at like eight and nine years old, the coaches pitch to the kids.

Yes.

And if, and you have to throw them a strike and, put it in the right

spot and if they get out or they swing and miss, whatever, you just feel like shit.

Yeah, it's on you.

When you have the mothers yelling at you.

Or God forbid, you [laughing] let one loose and it hits them.

[laughing]

Yeah, you

That has happened.

Wasn't me.

I've never done that one.

Wasn't me?

I never hit a kid.

You're not throwing hard, but still like

Yeah.

Oh God, you know.

Exactly.

All right.

So I want to find out like what's, what have you not done?

What's left in your life?

you got a ton of years ahead of you.

You got this podcast.

What's the next thing, the things that you haven't done yet, the

next chapter as we call it?

Work-wise, I don't know, because I've done

quite a bit that I want to do.

I've gone from speaking… I love speaking.

I love being on television, having my own show.

So those two things, even more of that would be great.

I love endorsing products because I'm very good at delivering the message, the key

message points that people wanna know.

But as a mom, grandma, wife, it would be more travel.

I have one grandson who's 15 months, and so probably seeing more of him.

He lives in Florida.

Uh-huh.

So those, you realize that family's very valuable.

And I'm glad that I took time out to have three sons, because it's so nice now.

I know Carol Alt, who's a very close friend of mine, never had children.

And so I said, "You can borrow mine." [everyone laughing] Because, it, they

just, they add so much value to your life as they're older and growing up.

I have a 40-year-old son.

Wow.

Yeah.

So 40, 37, and 32.

Wow.

So before we let you promote something at the end, we always have the, your couple

minutes at the end to tell us what you're up to, the web the websites and such.

favorite quote that you live by?

"do unto others as you would have them do to you." And also,

"To much is given, much is required."

Love it.

And those are both pretty much scripture.

Yeah.

Yeah.

What about, favorite, book inspired by

something that change your life?

if it was only one book, it would be the Bible.

Okay.

if I didn't have God in my life, I think that I would not

be as solid of a person as I am.

Yeah.

And so yeah, he keeps me centered.

All right.

Best movie of all time.

Oh, gosh.

Is it the one you did with Eddie Murphy?

[laughing]

Yeah, you gotta ask that one.

That was so much fun.

I was in the very opening scene.

If you missed the very first scene going to the bathroom or

having popcorn, you've missed Kim.

But I got to be on a pretend set, and I've done Home Shopping

Network, and I've done QVC.

And so to me, they s they let me riff and ad lib and I was like, Oh,

here's this product and it can do this and it can do this." And I was like

just… And all the audiences you're filming, they're all cracking up.

I'm like, "Oh, I think I'm a little bit of a ham."

I guess I'm good at this.

Yeah.

[laughing] Yeah.

So it was, very, very fun and just great to be on set and great people.

Well, we appreciate you spending some time with us.

tell that camera over there, Where people can find your show and

- Mike Lindstrom: Social media,

website links and stuff like that.

so everything can be found on kimalexis.com.

The name of the podcast is Unexpired.

And social media, Instagram is "The_KimAlexis", and

Facebook is "TheKimAlexis".

Great.

Yeah, thanks so much.

We really appreciate it.

Thanks everybody for joining us on another episode of What's

Your Story with Mike and Scott.

I'm Scott Lease.

This is my good friend, Mike Lindstrom.

Thanks to our guest for joining us today.

Make sure you follow them on all the social platforms.

Make sure you follow us on all the social platforms as well.

And check out whatsourstorypod.com for future episodes, past episodes,

upcoming events, along with, a way to follow our newsletter.

Big shout out to our friends at NectarFlow who host us here in studio,

and we will see you next time on What's Your Story with Mike and Scott.