Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model. | Cameron Russell | TED

0:00 Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast Hi.

0:16 My name is Cameron Russell, and for the last little while, I've been a model.

0:24 Actually, for 10 years.

0:28 And I feel like there's an uncomfortable tension in the room

0:32 right now because I should not have worn this dress.

0:35 (Laughter) So luckily, I brought an outfit change.

0:39 This is the first outfit change on the TED stage,

0:43 so you guys are pretty lucky to witness it, I think.

0:46 If some of the women were really horrified when I came out,

0:49 you don't have to tell me now, but I'll find out later on Twitter.

0:52 (Laughter) I'd also note that I'm quite privileged to be able

1:00 to transform what you think of me in a very brief 10 seconds.

1:05 Not everybody gets to do that.

1:08 These heels are very uncomfortable, so good thing I wasn't going to wear them.

1:14 The worst part is putting this sweater over my head,

1:17 because that's when you'll all laugh at me,

1:19 so don't do anything while it's over my head.

1:23 All right.

1:26 So, why did I do that?

1:28 That was awkward.

1:30 (Laughter) Well— (Laughter) Hopefully not as awkward as that picture.

1:40 Image is powerful, but also, image is superficial.

1:48 I just totally transformed what you thought of me, in six seconds.

1:52 And in this picture, I had actually never had a boyfriend in real life.

1:57 I was totally uncomfortable, and the photographer was telling me to arch

2:01 my back and put my hand in that guy's hair.

2:06 And of course, barring surgery,

2:08 or the fake tan that I got two days ago for work,

2:11 there's very little that we can do to transform how we look, and how we look,

2:16 though it is superficial and immutable, has a huge impact on our lives.

2:23 So today, for me, being fearless means being honest.

2:27 And I am on this stage because I am a model.

2:30 I am on this stage because I am a pretty,

2:33 white woman, and in my industry, we call that a sexy girl.

2:37 I'm going to answer the questions that people always ask me,

2:40 but with an honest twist.

2:41 So the first question is, how do you become a model?

2:44 I always just say, "Oh, I was scouted," but that means nothing.

2:47 The real way that I became a model is I won a genetic lottery,

2:52 and I am the recipient of a legacy, and maybe you're wondering what is a legacy.

2:56 Well, for the past few centuries we have defined beauty not just

3:02 as health and youth and symmetry that we're biologically programmed to admire,

3:08 but also as tall, slender figures, and femininity and white skin.

3:15 And this is a legacy that was built for me,

3:17 and it's a legacy that I've been cashing out on.

3:19 And I know there are people in the audience who are skeptical at this point,

3:23 and maybe there are some fashionistas who are like, "Wait.

3:26 Naomi.

3:26 Tyra.

3:27 Joan Smalls.

3:27 Liu Wen." And first, I commend you on your model knowledge.

3:31 Very impressive.

3:31 (Laughter) But unfortunately, I have to inform you that in 2007,

3:36 a very inspired NYU Ph.D.

3:38 student counted all the models on the runway, every single one that was hired,

3:43 and of the 677 models that were hired,

3:46 only 27, or less than four percent, were non-white.

3:50 The next question people always ask is,

3:52 "Can I be a model when I grow up?" And the first answer is, "I don't know,

3:56 they don't put me in charge of that." But the second answer,

3:59 and what I really want to say to these little girls is, "Why?

4:02 You know?

4:03 You can be anything.

4:04 You could be the President of the United States,

4:06 or the inventor of the next Internet, or a ninja cardiothoracic surgeon poet,

4:10 which would be awesome, because you'd be the first one." (Laughter) If,

4:15 after this amazing list, they still are like, "No,

4:17 no, Cameron, I want to be a model," well, then I say,

4:20 "Be my boss." Because I'm not in charge of anything,

4:23 and you could be the editor in chief of American Vogue or the CEO of H&M,

4:26 or the next Steven Meisel.

4:28 Saying that you want to be a model when you grow up is

4:30 akin to saying that you want to win the Powerball when you grow up.

4:34 It's out of your control, and it's awesome, and it's not a career path.

4:39 I will demonstrate for you now 10 years of accumulated model knowledge,

4:43 because unlike cardiothoracic surgeons, it can just be distilled right now.

4:48 So, if the photographer is right there,

4:51 the light is right there, like a nice HMI,

4:53 and the client says, "We want a walking shot," this leg goes first,

4:56 nice and long, this arm goes back,

4:58 this arm goes forward, the head is at three quarters,

5:00 and you just go back and forth,

5:02 just do that, and then you look back at your imaginary friends,

5:05 300, 400, 500 times.

5:06 (Laughter) It will look something like this.

5:10 (Laughter) Hopefully less awkward than that one in the middle.

5:15 That was— I don't know what happened there.

5:18 Unfortunately, after you've gone to school,

5:20 and you have a résumé and you've done a few jobs,

5:22 you can't say anything anymore,

5:24 so if you say you want to be the President of the United States,

5:27 but your résumé reads, "Underwear Model:

5:29 10 years," people give you a funny look.

5:31 The next question is, "Do they retouch all the photos?" And yeah,

5:34 they pretty much retouch all the photos,

5:36 but that is only a small component of what's happening.

5:39 This picture is the very first picture that I ever took,

5:42 and it's also the very first time that I had worn a bikini,

5:44 and I didn't even have my period yet.

5:46 I know we're getting personal, but I was a young girl.

5:49 This is what I looked like with my grandma just a few months earlier.

5:54 Here's me on the same day as this shoot.

5:56 My friend got to come.

5:57 Here's me at a slumber party a few days before I shot French Vogue.

6:01 Here's me on the soccer team and in V Magazine.

6:06 And here's me today.

6:07 And I hope what you're seeing is that these pictures are not pictures of me.

6:11 They are constructions, and they are constructions by a group of professionals,

6:16 by hairstylists and makeup artists and photographers and stylists

6:19 and all of their assistants and pre-production and post-production,

6:22 and they build this.

6:23 That's not me.

6:24 Okay, so the next question people always ask me is,

6:27 "Do you get free stuff?" (Laughter) I do have

6:30 too many 8-inch heels which I never get to wear,

6:32 except for earlier, but the free stuff that I get

6:35 is the free stuff that I get in real life,

6:37 and that's what we don't like to talk about.

6:40 I grew up in Cambridge, and one time I went into a store and I

6:43 forgot my money and they gave me the dress for free.

6:46 When I was a teenager, I was driving with my friend who was an awful

6:49 driver and she ran a red and of course,

6:51 we got pulled over, and all it took was a "Sorry,

6:54 officer," and we were on our way.

6:57 And I got these free things because of how I look, not who I am,

7:01 and there are people paying a cost for how they look and not who they are.

7:05 I live in New York, and last year,

7:07 of the 140,000 teenagers that were stopped and frisked,

7:11 86% of them were black and Latino, and most of them were young men.

7:15 And there are only 177,000 young black and Latino men in New York, so for them,

7:20 it's not a question of, "Will I get

7:22 stopped?" but "How many times will I get stopped?

7:24 When will I get stopped?" When I was researching this talk,

7:27 I found out that of the 13-year-old girls in the United States,

7:30 53% don't like their bodies,

7:33 and that number goes to 78% by the time that they're 17.

7:37 So, the last question people ask me is, "What is it like to be a model?"

7:41 And I think the answer that they're looking for is,

7:44 "If you are a little bit skinnier and you have shinier hair,

7:47 you will be so happy and fabulous." And when we're backstage,

7:51 we give an answer that maybe makes it seem like that.

7:54 We say, "It's really amazing to travel,

7:55 and it's amazing to get to work with creative,

7:58 inspired, passionate people." And those things are true,

8:01 but they're only one half of the story,

8:03 because the thing that we never say on camera,

8:05 that I have never said on camera, is,

8:08 "I am insecure." And I'm insecure because I have

8:12 to think about what I look like every day.

8:15 And if you ever are wondering, "If I have thinner thighs and shinier hair,

8:21 will I be happier?" you just need to meet a group of models,

8:24 because they have the thinnest thighs,

8:26 the shiniest hair and the coolest clothes,

8:28 and they're the most physically insecure women probably on the planet.

8:32 When I was writing this talk,

8:33 I found it very difficult to strike an honest balance,

8:36 because on the one hand, I felt very uncomfortable to come out here and say,

8:40 "Look I've received all these benefits from a deck stacked in my favor,"

8:44 and it also felt really uncomfortable to follow that up with, "and it

8:47 doesn't always make me happy." But mostly it was difficult to unpack a legacy

8:53 of gender and racial oppression when I am one of the biggest beneficiaries.

8:59 But I'm also happy and honored to be up

9:01 here and I think that it's great that I got to come before 10 or 20 or 30 years

9:06 had passed and I'd had more agency in my career,

9:08 because maybe then I wouldn't tell the story of how I got my first job,

9:11 or maybe I wouldn't tell the story of how I paid for college,

9:14 which seems so important right now.

9:17 If there's a takeaway to this talk,

9:19 I hope it's that we all feel more comfortable acknowledging

9:22 the power of image in our perceived successes and our perceived failures.

9:28 Thank you.

9:30 (Applause)