Skye Aurelia: Moved To Change Lives
CREDITS
Photography: Rielle Oase | @really_rielle
Retoucher: Anna Bel Dyden | @retouch_annabel
Makeup Artist: Carmonie Fuselier | @carmonieaf
Stylist: Celine Ashford | @celinethestylist
Lighting Director: Gerald Mangalindan | @kingerald_photo
Gaffer: Leah Garcia | @_leahgarcia
Clothing and Jewelry:
Mich Viray | @mich_viray
Monica Leigh | @monicaleighsvx
Jewelry Bar | @jewelrybarusa_
@ellazahlan @veronicatharmalingam
Skye Aurelia is an International Supermodel, Music Artists, Actress, Author, Entrepreneur, and Humanitarian. She has taken part in LAFW and NYFW and has been seen making a presence at various A-list red carpet events and movie premieres such as the Critics’ Choice Awards, Michael Kors, and Vanity Fair.
Skye is a strong advocate for equality and human rights, as well as philanthropy for homelessness, environmental change, and disaster relief. She is releasing her album LIGHT and producing her film Light Travelers. In addition, she is in the process of developing her lifestyle brand, Skyethrive. Her mission is to impact the world with positivity and motivation, and to inspire others to live their best lives with her creations.
You have posted on your social media about your “Billion Dollar Morning Routine.” How long have you been enriched in this lifestyle? Can you explain how it has shifted your perspective and mindset, to educate others on how to gain more control in their daily lives?
For me, I think it is imperative to emulate the person you want to become. Many people are held back by self-limiting beliefs. To change for the better, you must shift your mindset from thinking “That’s impossible” to understanding everything is possible if you are willing to show up as your best self each and every day. If you have a dream life you want to attain, the only way to get there is to spend your day today like that person until you get to that point. Therefore, if you want to be a billionaire, do what billionaires do, if you want to be an A-lister start doing what other A-listers do. If you want to be happy, do what happy people do. Take jobs and make connections that align with your vision of who you want to become. It might be tempting to say yes to anything that’s presented to you, but don’t waste your time and effort doing something that won’t bring you towards your highest self. Set your value and your prices based on your future you. You define your worth. Nothing is beyond you. Whatever your industry, start hustling hard, wake up earlier, start doing the habits and routines that will bring you where you want to go. Act like the best version of yourself until you become it. Do until you become. It’s that simple.
What would you say is the one thing that keeps you grounded, making you able to come back and feel centered after not completely feeling like yourself? Besides having a routine, what is your first step to rejuvenation?
Understanding my own strength, my own self worth, and that I have people that I want to protect. There have been a few times where I’ve been in a position where I’ve lost everything, and every time the thing that has kept me moving forward has been my own will and belief that I can handle anything that happens to me-- that my life will one day change for the better. Every time I have fallen down, I think of the people that must be in similar circumstances, and it makes me realize I can’t ever give up. In times where my heart was broken, I felt like I wanted to heal others hearts that were suffering too. I’ve always been someone that has felt like I was meant to do something greater for myself and I want other people to understand that they too, by maintaining a strong resolve and sense of character, can make a difference in this world and in their own lives.
What has been the greatest piece of advice someone has gifted you?
“Live as if you were to die tomorrow
Feel as if you were reborn now
Face as if you were to live forever”
“You’re alive aren’t you? You don’t have to know every reason why.”
“Do what you can with what you have where you are.”
You talk a great deal about doing things that make one’s life worth living - What would you say are the three things you couldn’t live without, giving your life the enrichment and substance, you strive for?
Love, Travel, and a strong sense of purpose towards helping others.
Can you explain the backstory to how your Skye Foundation was created, as well as bring to light the purpose and goals of the endeavor?
My goal for my company and as a humanitarian is to unite people and businesses to tackle world issues on a systematic and individual level.
I was raised in poverty watching my parents be in debt to loans and bankruptcy. Due to my inconsistent home life, I would stay over at my friends house and I remember fairly often not eating for 5 days. When I did finally eat, it was food like instant mash potatoes or they would go outside and hunt rabbits. I watched the different families growing up, with drug and alcohol abuse problems, constant moving and homelessness and how it negatively affected their kids.
As an adult, due to the hardships and sickness I faced while traveling abroad, I came back to the states and spent 8 months homeless living out of a car. I remember being given a frozen meal and going to a seven 11 where I had to ask if I could heat up the meal in their microwave without purchasing anything. I would drive to the park next door and sleep in my car, shower at the $10 gym I started, and wake up and go to shoots the next day with a smile.
I realized that much of my financial struggles were due partially to circumstance but also, because I was not financially literate enough. If I had more knowledge from the beginning, many things could have been avoided, my struggles lessened. I’ve always been empathetic, so I’ve seen the issues of poverty and homelessness abroad and in America, and I noticed the central theme. In the rural areas, unless you owned a ranch or franchise, you went to school to be a nurse or you worked at a fast food restaurant. Becoming a success was largely discouraged. In developing countries, the goal for many is to move away and support your family abroad. In Los Angeles, there are many systematic and drug issues. But in every situation, the central theme is a lack of understanding of how to change from the negative situation into a positive one. Once you get accustomed to the habit of failing, it’s much harder to believe you can break the cycle. With proper education, many of these people’s lives would change for the better. Not overnight of course, but ultimately, with knowledge and applied action, even the worst of circumstances can improve. I am testament to that.
For these reasons, I’ve felt moved to change lives, starting with education.
What experiences would you say has shifted your perspective, bringing you to have such a close knit connection with empowerment work?
Honestly, I have always been very goal driven. It’s been natural for me. I remember doing extra projects in school, doing as many extracurriculars as I could. I remember getting in trouble and getting made fun of because the other kids thought I was cheating. I just put effort in and I think I’ve always been reaching for the best I can be. It’s a hunger to live an extraordinary life-- to thrive, not simply survive. I’ve had a close relationship with my own spirituality, my own purpose in life to make an impact on the world. I’ve been driven to study philosophy and read the dictionary since I was a kid. I think it ultimately comes from a personal will. If I didn’t learn to empower myself, I probably wouldn’t have made it through the difficulties I faced. As someone that never quite fit in, as a woman, I’ve known there are people in the world that have gone through something similar, and I want them to realize they aren’t alone, they aren’t stuck, there is a way towards happiness and greatness, even when it feels like there isn’t. I want more people to know there are no limitations: the life you dream of is possible, and you should always, always love yourself no matter what anyone else says or does.
What has the process been like filming “Light Travelers” simultaneously as producing your first ever album “Light”?
Fortunately, I am not doing both the filming and recording the album simultaneously. I have been working on the projects sequentially as a music artist, a creative director, and running a production. First, I developed the storyline and the premise for my work. Then, I have gone into the creation process of inventing a world, the characters, writing the music and script. I insured that the storyline for the film and songs align to where it can be enjoyed simultaneously. It has been a challenge finding the right people to support the vision of my creation but I have gradually created a wonderful team of people that share my creative ideologies.
While I am in deep into various projects as an entertainer and for my lifestyle brand, I recommend not doing more than 3 projects at a time. In fact, if you can narrow it down to one thing and really concentrate on excelling at that, you will be far more likely to master it.
You definitely have more than just your foot in the door in multiple segments in the fashion world, from walking in shows, being in top magazines, as well as launching your own lifestyle company and running your productions. Even though they all hold a special place in your heart, does being a music artist, supermodel, author, humanitarian, or entrepreneur have the most passion for that you will continue to come back to?
I once took the Myers-briggs test when I was a kid and discovered I was an INFJ personality. I was told to be a performer or to work as a philanthropist. And while I think everyone should listen to their heart over a test, I resonated with the results.
I will always want to innovate and help people when I can, but I am a singer and artist at heart. It is what gives me that feeling at my core where I feel passion and my best. Feelings, heart, and soul, being able to share that with the world, that’s the essence of who I am. I have been working on my music for quite some time, it has been a dream of mine since I was 8 years old.
You are a very adamant advocate for education, so what would you say is the best piece of knowledge you have learned that you want to share to all your fans and followers to be able to grow and use for their everyday life?
I recommend to never give up learning. I think everyone should read everyday, learn a language, an instrument, self-defense, how to swim. Understand science, finance, art. How to balance your life and fitness and health, mindset spirituality. But overall the most important thing to learn is how to have happiness, self-love, and inner peace. Focus on having a purpose that serves others, and spend time with the ones you love.
You attribute many of your values to stoic philosophy, principles of Buddhism, and martial arts. What would you say is the most important reason we live?
The reason we exist. It’s to love and be loved. It’s to give to others, to improve upon what we began with, with our own gifts. A good philosopher knows how to make complicated topics simple. It’s to live, to love, to experience, to make yourself, the people you are surrounded by, and the world a better place. How many smiles, how much hope, encouragement, and laughter you can spread. It’s good to gain widespread impact. For better or worse, it’s why I’ve cared to pursue it. More than who is on top or who is successful, it matters more who is compassionate, who is wise. It’s how well you live, love, guide others that makes the difference. When you’re thinking why, what’s the reason for your existence, it’s not really what is important. Just live, love, and believe in yourself. We’re here anyways aren’t we? That’s all we can do. Your purpose, bringing yourself and others forward towards a brighter future. Look at your essence, who you are at your core. You can feel it inside yourself, that we’ve all got a higher reason for living than just to exist.
Tell me about your self help book Be Your Best, The Art of Fulfillment, Health, and Happiness
I have been writing my book for a few years now. Accumulating quotes, inspirational thoughts and teachings.
Be Your Best is a cumulation of the many lessons that I have learned by just consciously living life. Almost every experience that taught me to improve my life is within this book. It is a labor of love. My thoughts and feelings, the process I took that altered my life irrevocably, it’s all there. It began with the thought of wanting to be my best self. I felt lacking in my own life in various ways, I realized I wanted to go through my life with strength, love, and prosperity, instead of struggling and merely surviving, so I created a system for myself to improve my life. It is a three step process letting go of limiting beliefs and replacing them with a grit mindset, visualization, and how to create consistent actionable habits for your life. I am also releasing a 12 week fitness and nutrition program to accompany the book along with a journal to make sure you’re on track to living your best life. I built my lifestyle brand to help people to become happier, healthier and more fulfilled. My hope is that it will transform as many lives as possible for the better.