Model Interview: Amirah El-Safty

Amirah El-Safty is a professional model, aspiring publishing guru, and student at University of Toronto. She has plans to travel abroad to model after her first degree, spend the off-seasons driving cattle in Montana, and working at a publishing firm before pursuing an MBA.

WHAT ARE YOUR TOP THREE BEAUTY TIPS?

Sleep, exercise and healthy eating habits; it’s repetitive only because it’s true. There are no magical fixes.

HOW DO YOU KEEP A FIT AND HEALTHY BODY?

Exercising and eating well. I am blessed with a naturally thin physique, but I have to work to maintain it. I go to the gym at least three times a week and do a lot of strength training. Eating healthy isn’t easy either, I have an insatiable sweet-tooth and am a chronic snacker, so unless I keep my house junk-food free, it’s pretty much guaranteed that I’ll flip on Ten Things I Hate about you and chow down.

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR STYLE?

With the exception of summertime gladiators, I am almost always in one of my several varieties of riding boot. I will pair them with anything, dresses, shorts, or pants. I am a horse woman at heart, so everything I wear always has a touch of the equestrian.

HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN A HEALTHY SENSE OF SELF-ESTEEM AND POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE?

I have a passion for modeling, but I couldn’t be in the industry with my self-esteem intact without having other passions and interests to give me a sense of value unrelated to the way I look. Philosophy and political science are my majors at U of T, and being steadily immersed in the material, and even just the atmosphere of a university, has been a necessary counterbalance for me. School is almost over for me though, so the next thing will likely be a more serious focus on my goals of being an editor and publisher.

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVOURITE CITY IN THE WORLD TO VISIT AND WHY? WHERE WOULD YOU LIKE TO TRAVEL TO NEXT?

I haven’t internationally with modeling, but I certainly hope to before my time expires. I would love to see New York, LA, Paris, Italy — all the A markets!

WHAT MOTIVATES OR INSPIRES YOU TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS? WHAT ARE SOME OF THOSE GOALS?

Myself. I want to get as much out of my own life as possible. Goals include: travel, buying art, perhaps a touch of fame, publishing magazines, publishing books, writing, and a life partner.

IF YOU WERE STRANDED ON A DESERT ISLAND AND COULD ONLY HAVE ONE BEAUTY PRODUCT AND ONE FASHION ITEM WITH YOU, WHAT WOULD THEY BE AND WHY?

Well, I guess I wouldn’t need to exfoliate since I’d have plenty of sand to do that with – so I would probably want an industrial sized tub of cocoa-butter moisturizer (with SPF 30, of course…). Fashionably, there is probably nothing more glamorous than a bejeweled naked woman, so an appropriately heavy diamond pendant on a thin gold chain would do just fine. 

WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?

The sun, my two best friends Nick and Nick, and my family’s shitzu poodle, Paris.

Amirah is represented by Elite Models.

Thank you, Amirah!