Rachel McCord, voted one of hottest models and author of Slay The Fame Game, joins Neva Lee Recla on the Super Power Kids show to share her insights on teaching young entrepreneurship in Hollywood. Rachel has been featured in outlets like Vogue, Forbes, and Glamour. She is an investor/judge on “Elevator Pitch” ​and the star/producer of “Slay with Rachel McCord” ​on Focus TV. She is a renowned speaker on social media, branding, and female entrepreneurship at UCLA, USC, LMU, FIDM, ​and StyleCon. Listen in as Neva Lee Recla interviews Rachel McCord about teaching young entrepreneurship in Hollywood.

I’m super excited to have you.

You look fabulous and I’m so excited to learn more about all this amazingness that you do. You’re quite an inspirational figure at that.

Thank you. So what are your superpowers?

My superpower is probably being able to understand people.

My superpowers. Well I think I, I love this question. It’s literally the first time I’ve ever gotten this question my whole life, so I love it. I think my superpower is probably being able to understand people and love them where they’re at. I feel like it’s kind of my role in the world and opportunity to identify pain and obstacles and help people overcome them. So I would say that’s probably my super girl… power.

That’s awesome. So what is it like to be a model?

Being a model’s fun, you get to do a lot of fun stuff, you wear a lot of cool clothes and you make a lot of friends in the industry. It’s obviously a lot of work because you’re constantly going in and out of meetings and photo shoots. When I first started modeling at 13, I had to go to so many castings and you’re constantly getting really excited because maybe you got the new Guess campaign and then it didn’t happen or you got really close to getting something, it didn’t work or you went to a cast and it was something you really wanted to do and it didn’t happen.

So a lot of those things happen so you have to learn how to balance your emotions and get on that full positive. But also it’s a lot of fun because there are a lot of girls in the industry and guys who are just so talented and so smart and obviously models sometimes get bad comments “like oh, you’re just dumb and you pose for photos.” But the reality is that we put a lot of work into building brands and especially with social media, we have a huge platform and opportunity to build something really cool, so I love it.

That’s awesome. So did you always know you wanted to be a model?

I didn’t always know I wanted to be a model. Actually, to be honest with you, I’m kind of obsessed with business, which is why I kind of double in different things. I run a few companies, and I invest in a couple of companies, I’m on the show “Elevator Pitch”, so we have all our skewers come in and pitch their ideas and then we decide if we wanna fund them, and we give them a little consulting in the room, which is a lot of really tough questions, a lot of really tough conversations. But the entrepreneurs are so passionate and so I love working with them. So I think I always knew I wanted to do something with my life because I grew up in trailer parks in Georgia, right? So I was gonna like… I knew I needed to change my status and I needed to change the trajectory of my life, but I just didn’t know what that looked like, so I started working really hard. I didn’t start working as young as you are. You are like, you got me way beat girl, like way.

So how can I slay the fame game?

Well, first of all, you’re already slaying the fame game, but you know, I think there’s one thing in my book that it’s really important to me that people understand what it really means to you know, because it’s called “Slay the Fame Game“, so it can kind of be a little confusing. But in reality, I think the message is like, “Hey look, everybody has social media now, we all have this opportunity to become public brands.” So it’s really important that you keep your priorities straight and have a really good plan around what you’re doing. I always say, and I got this from my husband actually, but I always say if you don’t brand yourself, someone else will.

So it’s really important to think about it. Like for you, you are definitely a superhero. We all know that. And you give so many people amazing advice and tips and you’re bringing awesome guests on your show so you can share those stories with your audience. So for you that’s your brand, right? So the first step is really thinking about what your brand is, who you want to be as a public brand, keeping some of that private, right? Because I mean for me, I love my days on the couch with my Chihuahuas was watching my favorite shows and just relaxing, so I think it’s really important to find that balance and make sure that you’re keeping up with that even as things get hectic, because it is kind of weird when you work in entertainment, whether you’re a social media influencer, a model, a podcaster, a TV host, whatever it is, right? You can find yourself in this balance of like having to juggle public brands, the work it takes to get there and then also the blows that you’ll have with your ego and your insecurity.

So balancing is really important, but slaying the fame game is really about finding that place that fits for you and maybe that means it’s a really great message, but having a “why” on it, like, “Why am I doing this?”

Exactly, that’s awesome. And to all the people at home can slay their fame there.

Absolutely. It is not just restricted for Hollywood, it’s anywhere. I think that we have to be really careful and really smart. We’re on social media, because a lot of times we just want to do it because all of our friends are doing it and it’s a lot of fun, but then you don’t really know what it entails, right? Like if you want to or what does that really mean and what.. where is it going? So I think be mindful of that kind of stuff and thinking about what you want to do with your life. Like what does your superpower look like, right? Like where do you want to go with your life and what do you want to do? And so when you start thinking about that kind of stuff, then you can be really intentional with your content and you can create posts and pictures and videos that share that message.

Yeah, I like that. And earlier you mentioned that you have Chihuahuas?

I do. Giggles and Munchkin. They are the loves of my life. Giggles is a little chunky, he loves treats. So he-

That’s my dog, he loves treats

Like your dog? What kind of dog do you have?

Porsche Schnauzer. Seven pounds.

Oh my gosh, that’s so cute. So-

He’s like that big

Oh my gosh. It’s a little bit big… it’s smaller than Giggles, cause Giggles is like small, but he’s Chunky. He’s got a little belly on him and so he’s about 12 pounds and he’s like my little nugget. And then Munchkin is three and a half pounds. It’s such a little baby. She is obsessed with my lap, she’s obsessed with me and all she wants to do is be with me all the time.

It’s so cute. Yeah, I saw some of your modeling pictures. You actually had a dog.

Yes-

Is that one of them?

Yes, it definitely is. They’re are so much a part of my life. In fact, I actually am kind of like the face of Montana Avenue, which is this cool area in Santa Monica where they have a lot of shops and restaurants. I love it when I’m in there. It’s near the beach and we… and so we did this big photo shoot to do the campaign to kind of launch it, and Munchkin was the star of the show. We were like walking to Pink Berry and eating their yogurt and Munchkin is like prancing around with her pearl lead. She’s very, very spoiled, but in the best way.

That’s awesome. My Dog, she sleeps on my bed at night, and last night I tucked her in because I was up reading. I tucked her in with one of my doll blankets, and I gave her a doll pillow in a stuffed animal.

She’s loves stuffed animals? What kind of stuffed animals does she love?

Well I have two really tiny ones. One’s like from Build-A-Bear, it’s like a penguin and one’s a giraffe that one of my good friends gave to me. So I let her cuddle with those.

Oh my gosh, I love that. I love that she gets the giraffe and the penguin, that’s so cute.

Yeah, and her favorite thing to do is sleep.

Oh my God, that’s kinda my favorite thing to do too, I understand that. My dogs like it as well.

That’s awesome. So what do you do for fun?

Do not grow up and become a workaholic.

That’s a great question. Okay, I realized recently that I’m kind of a workaholic, this is not a good thing. Do not grow up and become a workaholic. But I still really love what I do so much, I love being on camera, I love going into business meetings. Yesterday I was actually doing a boxing class inside the museums. They’re starting these new gyms everywhere, which is about like the real boxer and so they have a ring there where you actually get to like, spur. It’s so fun for me-

Wow, that’s so cool.

I’m feeling so sore today though, like I can’t even tell you. And you can actually see all that kind of stuff on my social media because I always post about it and my story and my handle. We follow each other. But mine’s “I am Rachel McCord”.

But anyways, so I think like for me what’s interesting is my job is so fun that it’s a lot of my hobbies, right? Like this Saturday I am the beach for a yoga event and we’re gonna do some fun stuff in Malibu. So I think for me sometimes just like shutting off is really nice, you know? I actually just got this scrapbooking kit because I’m gonna need it.I know, right? Like I have all these fun memories from just the past couple of years of building my brand and I like actually want to put this in a book. And so I’m trying to find things to do when I’m not working because I’m like, “I stopped working, I don’t know what to do.” I like… I work with all my friends, so I’m always around people that I love and I love the fans too. So I have a lot of fun every day, so I’ve got to figure out things to do to fill my time. What do you suggest? What are your hobbies?

Well, I actually can tell you more about them after the break ’cause we need to take a quick break.

Let’s do it.

So we’ve been talking with Rachel McCord about teaching entrepreneurship in Hollywood. We’ll be right back.

You can check out Rachel McCord at iamrachelmccord on instagram.

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