Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” better. Can you tell us a bit about your childhood backstory?
Oh, absolutely. So, I was raised in a Filipino Catholic military family. My parents had two kids in their twenties and two kids in their forties, and I am the baby of the family. It’s almost like when I grew up, I had two sets of parents. I had my parents and then my older siblings. So my brother is 16 years older than me, my sister is twelve, and then I have a brother who is 13 months older. My childhood was wonderful, to say the least. It was kind of like Pollyanna. My dad was in the military for about 30 years — World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. He’s Filipino, and he met my mom in Boston. My mom is Filipino but born and raised on the East Coast. Imagine growing up with a father from the Philippines with a Filipino accent and a mother with an East Coast one; it was fun, wild, but I had a wonderful childhood. I often show my parents in interviews, look at them, aren’t they gorgeous? There’s my daddy, my mama, and I think this was probably 1944 or something like that. But yeah, my childhood was really wonderful. I had great role models, and my older brother, Frank, he’s Frank Jr. He actually was the first Filipino community college president in the United States. He was president for two community colleges. So, something to aspire to — a great role model. I think my childhood was wonderful because my parents were traditionalists, my siblings were boomers, and then my brother, who’s just 13 months older than me, we’re both exers. I had all of these wonderful generations of learning that included everything from family values to music. I love all types of music, from Glenn Miller to Janis Joplin, to Susie and the Banshees. We had everything. So, yeah, I had a great childhood.
Can you please give us your favorite “life lesson quote”? And can you share how that was relevant in your life?
Oh, gosh. One of my favorite quotes is when you’re down to nothing, God is up to something or the universe is up to something. I think with all of us, we can say that sometimes hindsight is 2020. But when you are, quote, unquote, down in the dumps, sometimes you just can’t see anything. It’s very devastating or whatever you’re going through, very traumatic, very sad. But I am here to say that I understand that sometimes when I can’t see something, there is a bigger picture, and it’s only time that’s going to allow me to see that. And it’s happened throughout my entire life. I had a wonderful opportunity to retire from the university. I worked for the California State University system for many years at Cal State Long Beach, Cal State LA, and now I also consult at Cal State Fullerton. And I had a wonderful opportunity last year to retire. When I took that opportunity, I thought, wow, gosh, what am I going to do? I’ve been in workforce development, education, and training my whole entire life. What’s going to happen? And then this encore career came about, and I think, my goodness, if I didn’t retire, I wouldn’t be creating this new chapter of my book of life that you and I had just talked about. So I think sometimes when you’re unsure of things and you kind of take a leap of faith, it’s okay. There is light at the end of the tunnel. And it’s not a freight train, okay? It’s not a freight train. It’s sunny. So it’s all good.
That is such an inspirational story, especially for young people that are kind of lost, don’t know what to do, and you just have to believe that it’s going to happen and throw yourself out there. I love that.
My mom always says you either get it when you’re younger or you get it when you’re older, but you get it, and you hope you’re lucky enough that you can get it. And what do I mean by that? You want to have the sorrow, the heartache, the pain, the suffering. Because if you don’t have that, you will never understand or appreciate all the good things in life. You’ll never have a reference point, right? So everything is always just happy, happy. So in order for you to truly appreciate and grace and be grateful for the things that you have, you have to have gone without. I’m a firm believer in that. You have to have gone through a struggle. Things are relative, right? Everything is to a certain person, what they go through. But I believe that. Yeah. You have to understand the pain in order to really embrace and be thankful for all the joy. That is so true. That is so true. And that’s what we have to focus on. I agree.
You have been blessed with so much success. In your opinion, what are the top three qualities that you possess that have helped you accomplish so much?
Okay. Oh, my goodness. I think I’m very steadfast. I’m very dogged. I don’t give up easily. Although I do realize that sometimes you need to give up to move on to the next. When I was younger, I was scouted to be a model, but my parents wanted me to finish high school. Let’s be honest, I think when I was younger in the 80s when I was scouted, my look wasn’t on the cover of magazines or on the runways. It just wasn’t. Plus, I was only five eight. So after high school, I went to junior college and I modeled just a little bit. I was lucky enough to get with an agency. And then I found myself in love and having a baby and realizing that modeling is not going to pay the bills because my child didn’t ask to be born into this world. So I needed to take care of her. I got what everybody would call a survival job. Well, little did I know that my survival job would also turn into something that I loved, education and higher education and workforce development. So I did that. And I still had that inkling, you know, of modeling and acting in the back of my mind and honestly dipped my toes back into it with Sports Illustrated and doing some other things. And then I said, all right, I’m going to go back to this. I sort of gave it up, but I really didn’t give it up. And now I’m here. So it’s like, I think I’m dogged. Might have taken a little time, like 30 years, but I’m here. Another quality, I think, is that I’m just a happy person. The one great thing is that we could choose our attitude, right? We could 100% choose our attitude. And I like to say, and I’m a firm believer in this, you can only be offended if you allow yourself to be offended. What do I mean by that? If I don’t know you and you make a comment about me and you really don’t know me, how can I possibly be offended? You don’t know me. I don’t know you. And again, Eleanor Roosevelt, thank you very much. You can only be offended if you allow yourself to. And I know a lot of people have said wonderful things about my journey, and there are those who perhaps don’t see it that way, and they’re going to say things. But again, it doesn’t get me down because I am here. I know who I am, and my family knows me. So again, I think one of the lessons is you can only be offended if you allow yourself to be offended. One other thing that I want to share with you. I’m a firm believer in being a cheerleader for people that aren’t in the room. Let’s cheer each other on. Let’s mention people and give them opportunities that aren’t in the room or might not otherwise have these opportunities. I will never forget. I had a dear friend, Cecilia, just a wonderful lady. She was 20 years older than me, and early in my career when I was in workforce development, I left one job and went to another job. And I worked for a staffing agency. And one of my first accounts that I landed was with Sears. And Sears was lovely to me, but I needed to get 20 people. And so she helped me get, like, the 20th person that I needed to fulfill my obligation with Sears. And she did it out of the kindness of her heart. She didn’t do it because she wanted to get kudos. So fast forward to now I call Cecilia again and say, “Cecilia, I need ten people. I have my 9th person. I need this 10th person. Now, mind you, Cecilia, this is for the metro that’s opening up in San Bernardino County. I need you to drive to San Bernardino, and I need you to be there for two weeks.” She said, “Not a problem, I will be happy to do it for you.” Now, at the time, sadly, Cecilia had been laid off from a job, and her job was building some preschools, using some state-funded money and some federally funded money. So she was spending more on gas money to go out to San Bernardino than what I was paying her. But you know what? She’s like, “Miha, I want you to succeed, so I’m going to go out there.” So, two weeks go by, and Cecilia, this gregarious, lovely woman, always smiling, she’s directing these new passengers that are taking this new thing called the Metro System from San Bernardino to LA. And on the last day she was there, a gentleman walked up to her, had been commuting for about two weeks, and said, “And sorry, my phone, I didn’t silence it,” and said, “You don’t belong here. What are you doing? Just greeting people on a platform.” And she said, “Oh, well, I’m helping my friend out.” And the gentleman said, “Well, what did you do before?” She said, “Well, I used to work for this nonprofit organization, and we relied on grants and funding. Well, unfortunately, they lost their funding and went to another. And so right now I’m unemployed, but I’m doing this to help a friend.” Guess what happened? His eyes lit up. I still get goosebumps. He was the president of the nonprofit that got the money and hired her. I still get goosebumps. Sorry, what? I still get goosebumps to this day. What are the odds? And again, it goes back to how Cecilia did it just to help me. She didn’t do it for anything. She wanted me to succeed, and I did because I got my 10th person. But in that, she got hired by this person because she knew the job inside out, with a $10,000 raise. It’s brilliant. Phenomenal story. I cannot believe this is just beautiful. And it gives hope to so many people that are sometimes doing something they don’t want to do. Oh, I love that. Yeah. You never know. Cecilia passed away about seven years ago, but there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think of her in my working world and wanting to help people and just doing it. And I love it when people want to help others without wanting recognition or anything in return. Just do it. Yeah.
That story is beautiful. I’m emotional. I love it. Now let’s shift to the main part of our discussion about second chapters. Can you tell us about your career experience before the second chapter?
Sure. So I’ve been in workforce development, education, and training for 35 years now and just kind of stumbled across it. Lucky enough to work. Well, so let me take a step back. It’s interesting because when I graduated high school, I was lucky enough to become a teacher’s aide at the local Unified school district. And then I got a promotion to help high school students in the special ed population find jobs. I worked a lot with autistic and Down syndrome children, before these were widely recognized. I loved it. I was able to secure them employment. I’ll give you an example.
We had one student, “Peter.” Peter was autistic, methodical, and slow. His job was putting cheese on Sizzler’s toast, and he excelled at it. Other people found it boring, but he was meticulous and the managers loved him. From there, I got into workforce development, working for government-funded programs. Back in the day, it was called the Job Training Partnership Act. Today, it’s the Workforce Innovation and Opportunities Act. It’s about helping those who are unemployed, employed, underemployed, or recently laid off with job training, career counseling, and job placement.
I sit on a board in Long Beach and love helping people find their second chapters. There was one gentleman, “Norman,” who came to me after being laid off from a hospital. I helped him revise his resume and provided career coaching. He applied at a hospital, eventually got hired, and later retired. It was amazing to reconnect with him years later.
And I am a returning adult student. I earned my bachelor’s 20 years after high school, my master’s 30 years later, and my doctorate at 55. I’m a firm believer that life experiences are the best teachers. Some aren’t ready for school right after high school, and that’s okay. Everyone has a different path to success. For me, I didn’t finish my degree initially, but later on, I pursued it while working and as a single parent.
When I was earning my master’s, my parents were in hospice, and my dad passed away as I was writing my thesis. With my doctorate, the pandemic hit, and I was dealing with a massive student body and staff, trying to navigate the challenges. It was a lot, but I wouldn’t change a thing. All those experiences, even the tough ones, made me who I am today.
You are a beautiful soul. And your positivity towards all the struggles is just amazing.
Thank you.
Can you tell us about the specific trigger that made you decide to take the plunge and make that huge transition? What was it that made you transition into acting and modeling when you finished your career and had the choice to retire?
Well, I think once I retired, I knew I wasn’t retired with life or retired with working. I retired from the CSU system, the California State University system. It was one of those things. And I think I mentioned how it was still in the back of my mind about this. Right. And I’m dogged, and I wanted to finish something I started. I felt like because I had to give it up when I had a child, I wanted to see if I could finish it. Little did I know. And you could probably attest to this, Wanda, because I love your hair. It’s like we’re the Silver Sisters. Come on. Hey.
Our exers that we are now in style, right? We are fashionable because I believe now that the world realizes that gray does not equal frail, weak, old, all of that stuff, it’s just the opposite, right? So I dipped my toes back in and was met with open arms, support, and encouragement. I started booking jobs here and there, slowly building confidence, thinking, “Okay, this could be an encore career.”
So I’m calling it “Encorering.” I’m mixing the two words, encore and career. And I’m using these hashtags. So if anybody wants to know, I know how to spell encore career, but I’m just mixing it up.
The funny story about Australia is that my husband is Australian, and we hadn’t been back for about three years because of the pandemic. Last year, in December, we visited family for a month. In December, it’s their summertime. I needed a bathing suit, and the only one left in my size was a two-piece leopard bikini, the complete opposite of what I’d usually wear. So my husband said, “Who cares? Let’s go to the beach in the morning.” We went for a walk on New Year’s Day in Australia, around 7 AM. He took candid shots of me on the beach, and I sent New Year wishes to the kids.
That night, looking at the pictures, I thought, “Not bad for a 56-year-old, silver-haired, retired, disabled senior citizen.” My husband agreed, and we remembered Kathy Jacobs, who won Sports Illustrated swimsuit at 56. I looked up the application, and although it was December, they extended the deadline to January 1 in America, which was already January 1 in Australia, a day ahead. I had 45 minutes to put something together. I quickly made a video with those beach pictures, some unplanned, waves splashing me, and I sent it. Three months later, I got an email, “Nina, congratulations, you made it to the top 24.” I was shocked.
I showed my husband, and he was thrilled. We celebrated by going to one of my favorite places, Tommy’s Burger, to have their chili cheese fries and Dr. Pepper. I made it to the top 12, then the top 7, and we were named the first rookies for the 2024 issue. It’s been a dream. I pinch myself, but I don’t want to wake up because it’s a pretty cool dream right now.
So what did you do to discover that you had a new skill set inside of what you haven’t been maximizing? So you had this opportunity, you submitted the videos, and you won. How did you find that? And how did you ultimately overcome the barriers to help manifest those powers that were hidden?
That’s a really good question.
I’ve always had a positive attitude. I think about the life lessons and consider, at my age, that I’m going to take risks. Life is, I think, during the pandemic, it brought forth how precious life is and how fleeting it is. So I thought I was a career counselor and coach. I’m going to need to practice what I preach. So when you see me, it’s just me. I thought, I’m just going to be me. I’m a sponge, and I’m going to learn as much as I can. On photo shoots, my security blankets were the makeup artists and hairstylists helping me with poses, and they’ve been wonderful. So I think the fear of failing wasn’t there. I’m blessed and lucky to be here. I am fortunate. Many people wish to be in my shoes. And I say yet, not that they’re never going to have it yet. So, yeah, I’m going to take it all in. That is so true. We shouldn’t be afraid. It’s not fear. It’s an opportunity, opportunities that we have to dive into. Right? Exactly.
So how are things going with this new initiative? Give us a few examples or stories, something remarkable about this new modeling career.
I would not have been prepared for it if I was younger, especially with social media. It’s a whole other level with social media. I went to an event and I talked about learning. For me, taking pictures of myself and self-promotion feels egotistical because I prefer being behind the scenes. I’m nervous about doing this interview because I wonder what people will think. But if I can help someone or spark something in them, more power to you. Right? It’s interesting with social media. Understanding what I need to do to promote myself is something I’m learning and struggling with. It’s not something that comes with ease or grace. I ask my 31, 30, and 28-year-old kids how I should do it. Show me, what are these hashtags? What am I doing? It’s been a wild ride. A wonderful Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Well, they say the journey is the best part, isn’t it? Learning and discovering? 100%. Because of my background as an educator, I don’t mind doing the research. I don’t need immediate gratification right now. It’s okay to wait and be calm because it’s always the right timing. If we remember that, things will be a lot easier. At least they have been for me.
Very wise saying and very wise advice that you’re giving to a lot of people right now. It’s always the right timing. We have to trust the process, right?
Yeah, 100%.
I can see that you had very strong role models with big hearts and good values. It’s beautiful. I love that.
Yeah, thank you.
This is really emotional. Your stories are very emotional.
Thanks, Wanda, I appreciate it. It’s funny because one of my colleagues at work, probably like ten years ago, said in the morning, “Do you always have to come in so happy?”
And I said, “Isn’t it lovely that we get to choose our attitude? We get to choose our.”
I know I choose to be happy. Some people say, “Oh, Nina, you talk a lot.” Okay, sorry. I just want to be happy, that’s all. I’m going to look at the bright side. I’m an optimist, I’m optimistic like my mom and dad. I choose not to be a pessimist.
I agree that we can choose to be happy. Happiness is a choice.
Victor Frankl.
Can you share the most interesting story that has happened to you since you started in this new direction?
Sure, here’s one. So I’m on Instagram, and someone asked for a picture of me in a bikini, willing to pay for it. Then I mentioned this to a friend who said, “If you’re going to be in Sports Illustrated, they’ll want an autographed picture of you in the bikini.” It was a bit unexpected. Still processing all of this. That was a funny one, just a couple of weeks ago. Quite an interesting request, right?
And how did you “reinvent yourself” in your Second Chapter?
Well, I met this gentleman who was around 60 years old, while I was 30 at the time. He had a lot more experience in the working world. I helped him revise his resume, offered career coaching, and job development. He applied for a job at a hospital. After a few months and a few nervous moments, he finally got the interview and was hired. The whole process took about three or four months, but I continued to support and cheer him on. We lost touch until the day of my parents’ estate sale, where I found Norman there. Surprisingly, he retired. Oh, by the way, folks, Regina is my stage name, what people called me growing up. Can you believe that? Fifteen years later, there’s Norman, retired from the job I helped him get. Cool, right?
Also, I’m a returning adult student. I earned my bachelor’s 20 years after high school, my master’s 30 years later, and my doctorate at age 55. Despite the degrees, I firmly believe the best classroom is the world and the best teacher is life experience, hands down. Not everyone’s ready for school right after high school, and that’s okay. Everyone has a different path to success. Personally, I started at junior college but didn’t complete my degree due to other opportunities. When I decided to return to earn my degrees, I was a single parent. Getting my bachelor’s was hard. Sadly, my parents were in hospice when I was pursuing my master’s, and my dad passed away when I was writing my thesis. During my doctorate, the pandemic hit. Despite it all, I wouldn’t change a thing. All these experiences, even the tough ones, made me who I am today and helped me get to Sports Illustrated.
You are a beautiful soul! Your positivity towards all the struggles is amazing.
Thank you.
So can you tell us about the specific trigger that made you decide that you were going to take the plunge and make that huge transition? What was it?
The transition into acting and modeling, or with SI.
Yes, when you finished your career you had the choice to retire, or to do something else and you decided to go into modeling again.
Yeah, I think once I retired, I knew I wasn’t retired with life or retired with working right. I retired from the CSU system, the California State University system. But it was one of those things, and I think I mentioned how it was still in the back of my mind about this. Right. And I’m dogged, and I wanted to finish something I started. I felt like I had that political give it up because I had a child. I wanted to see if I can finish it, little did I know, and you could probably attest to this one because I love your hair. It’s like we’re the silver sister. Come on. Hey, don’t just that we are now in style, right?
Silver sisters.
We are fashionable because I believe now that the world realizes that gray does not equal frail, weak, old, all of that stuff. It’s just the opposite, right? So I dipped my toes back in, and I was met with open arms and a lot of support and encouragement and started looking for jobs here and there and just slowly but surely started to build this confidence like, okay, this could be an encore career. So I’m calling it “careering.” I’m mixing the two encore career and I’ve said calling on careering. So I’m doing these hashtags if anybody wants to know how to spell encore career, but I’m just mixed together. But the funny story about SI is that my husband is Australian, and we hadn’t been back to Australia for about three years because of the pandemic, and so last year in December, we decided to go and visit family for a month. And in December, it’s their summertime.
So I am very modest, grew up in a Filipino Catholic military family, very modest, and I don’t really wear bathing suits and really I never would see me in a few pieces, right? So we live very close to the ocean, and I said, I need to get a bathing suit. So we go to the local mall and a store and the only bathing suit left in my side because you remember it’s there summertime is a two-piece leopard bikini, which is poor contrast to what I would wear. So my husband who cares, we get up at seven o’clock in the morning. We walk on the beach yada. So it was New Year’s Day, and in Australia, we’re walking on the beach. I think it’s seven o’clock in the morning. My husband takes some candid shots to be on the beach and I’m staying with the cats to have a happy New Year from Australia. And then that night we looked at the phone. We look at the pictures and I’m like, hey.
They’re all her retired disabled senior citizens.
It’s all my husband’s like and so I said, I remember Kathy Jacobs. She won Sports Illustrated Swimsuit two years ago. And I think she was 56. So we started talking about this and I said, I’m gonna look at it. I mean if you want to do that look it up. And I said I think the application here is clearly over because it’s December so I went online and I didn’t realize but as I swam search extended the application deadline to January 1st in America, it was January first in Australia and there are days ahead. So I had 45 minutes to put something together. So I literally
Did a quick video tape spliced it together with those pictures and that’s why you see me in some of those pictures like a and a hood because the waves are coming and they’re not posed whatsoever. And I submitted it. Three months later. I got an email from Nina. Congratulations. You made it to the top 24. That’s like what and so I showed my husband and he’s like, my Congratulations. You want to celebrate? I’m like, yes, I do. So My favorite places to eat. I’m going there since high school is Tommy’s Burgers. So I went and got my Tommy’s chili cheese fries. I’m a Dr Pepper and we celebrated a talk 24
And then I made the top 12 and then the top seven and then it was announced that the seven of us are going through and we were named the first rookies for the 2024 issue and it’s been wonderful. I pinch myself. It’s a dream, and I don’t want to wake up though because it’s a pretty cool dream right now.
Don’t wake up. It’s beautiful, my goodness. I like your stories, they just get better. What did you do to discover that you had a new skill set inside of you that you haven’t been maximizing? How did you find that and how did you ultimately overcome the barriers to help manifest those powers? So you had this opportunity, you submitted the videos, you won. So how did you find that and how did you ultimately overcome the barriers to help manifest those powers that were hidden?
That’s a really good question.
I’ve always had a positive attitude, and I think I go back to either get it when you’re younger or get it when you’re older. Just looking at all my life lessons and I thought at my age, I’m gonna take risks. Life is very short. And I think Wanda, during the pandemic, it brought forth and put in people’s faces about how precious life is and how fleeting it is. And so, I thought I was a career counselor and coach. I’m gonna really need to practice what I preach. So when you see me, it’s just me, and I just thought I’m gonna do the best I can. I’m a sponge. I’m going to learn as much as I can. I’ve been on photo shoots where my security blankets were the makeup artist and the hairstylist, and they’ve been wonderful, absolutely wonderful.
Really wonderful. So I think the fear of not failing because what is failure at this point? I’m blessed. I’m so lucky to be here. How many people want to be in my shoes right now and are trying and haven’t had that opportunity, and I say yet. Not that they’re never gonna have it yet. So yeah, I’m gonna take it all in.
That is so true and it’s not fear. It’s an opportunity that we have to dive into.
Right, exactly, exactly.
So how are things going with this new initiative? Give us a few examples or stories, something that you want to share with us about your new modeling career. That is so remarkable.
I think I would not have been prepared for it if I was younger, especially with social media. It’s a whole other level with social media. I went to an event, and I have to get used to this. I talk about learning because for me, if I’m taking pictures of myself and promoting myself, for me, it’s egotistical because I’m more like I’m behind the scenes, but I have to learn that that’s okay. Even doing this interview, I get nervous because I’m like, what are people gonna think? But I’m like, what if I can help somebody else, or if they could just get a little spark of something that ignites their flame? More power to you, right? But…
It’s interesting with social media and me understanding what I need to do to promote myself in this arena. So that’s one of the things that I guess I can use the word struggling with because it’s not automatic for me. It’s not something that comes with ease or with grace. It’s a struggle. I have to ask my 31-year-old, 30-year-old, and 28-year-old, how does Mama do this? Show me what these hashtags are? And what am I doing here? But yeah, so those are some of the things that I’m just learning and yeah, it’s just been a wild ride. But just a wonderful Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride. Yeah.
The journey is the best part, isn’t it? Learning and just discovering.
Embrace it, yeah, 100%. And I think because of my background as an educator, I don’t mind doing the research. I don’t mind that process, if you will. I don’t need that immediate gratification right now. Yeah, it’s okay to wait and be calm because it’s always the right timing. People say it’s a bad time. It is always the right timing, and if we can just remember that, things will be a lot easier, at least they have for me.
That’s a very wise saying and very wise advice that you’re giving to a lot of people right now. It’s always the right timing. We have to trust the process, right?
Yeah, 100%. Yeah.
Is there a particular person you’re grateful towards, who helped you get to where you are? And can you share a story about that? I know your husband helped with the photos and the videos.
Definitely. I’m gonna say my mom. She passed away 10 years ago at 87 years old, and she lived a wonderful, wonderful life. Understanding her struggles when she was younger and what she went through. My mom had a trunk from 1939 with her favorite pictures and different things. I discovered the trunk in the garage in high school and found a picture of my mom in a nightclub in 1943 with some girlfriends and clearly drag queens. I asked my mom, and she said, “Those were my friends; they dressed up as women for entertainment.” She taught me people are people, don’t judge them as long as they’re good and happy. That memory always stuck with me; my mom was accepting of others.
My father was also a big influence. During the Philippine-Japanese conflict, he was ordered to assassinate a Japanese prisoner, but he couldn’t because he saw the humanity in the young man. Later, the same man saved my father’s life. My dad’s experience, being so calm and happy despite challenges, taught me never to complain, given what he went through. My parents faced discrimination too when we moved into a new neighborhood in 1969.
You had very strong role models, big hearts, good values. Beautiful. I love that.
Yeah, thank you.
Your stories are very emotional.
Thanks, I appreciate it. It’s funny because one of my colleagues at work, about 10 years ago, asked me, “Do you always have to come in so happy?” I said, “Isn’t it lovely that we get to choose our attitude?” I choose to be happy. I’m optimistic like my mom and dad. I choose not to be a pessimist.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you started in this new direction?
Yes. Again, this is so I’m on Instagram. And so there was a person who reached out to me and asked for a picture of me in a bikini, and they were gonna pay for it. That’s like… So I don’t know, and then I had another friend who I told the story to, and they said Nina, if you’re gonna be in Sports Illustrated, they’re gonna want an autograph picture of you in the bikini. Anyways, what’s the difference, I’m like? I don’t know. I’m still processing all of this. I don’t know, but to think of it, that was a really funny story that just happened probably two weeks ago.
Did you ever struggle with believing in yourself? If so, how did you overcome that limiting belief about yourself? Can you share a story or example?
Yeah, I think I am one of the biggest persons in that imposter syndrome. When I got my doctorate, I just made my husband call me doctor for one day when it offended my dissertation and became officially a doctor. But in the University system, out of respect. If you have your doctorate they call doctor cash and whatnot. So, yeah, it’s interesting. I still have that imposter syndrome, yeah, fleeting moments of it did I earn that doctor? Am I really worthy of that? And then I have to remind myself, yes, it took me five years, I did a lot of research, I had a family, I was going through a pandemic. I mean there was so much stuff going on. So yes, I indeed earned that but imposter Cinder was big especially for women, I think. We don’t think we’re good enough. Or we’re gonna be found out that we’re really not that good or they’re gonna find out the real lesson. It’s not pretty underneath there. But that’s one of the things that I struggle with.
You’re not alone, a lot of people struggle with believing that we earned all of it.
Yeah. We earn a seat at the table, right? So.
In my work, I usually encourage my clients to ask for support before they embark on something new. How did you create your support system before you moved to your new chapter?
That’s so important, thank you for asking that question. I have a tribe of girlfriends that are just wonderful and, of course, my family. I have one friend that said if your head gets too big, believe me, here’s the needle I’m gonna pop it. And they’re teasing, they’re joking, but they just can’t imagine you ever being that way. They’re surrounding me, they’re wonderful in that. They won’t let me read any of the comments on some of the social media. They want to review it first. But again, they all know that I can’t be offended if I can only be a thing if I let myself, but I did ask for support and help, especially from my agents. And I’m the first to say, listen, you guys are subject matter experts. I’m leaning on you to learn what I need to do and what I should stay away from and all that good stuff in order to do the best job I can and be the best version of myself in this new chapter of my life. I could talk about Workforce Development, I could talk about Competency-Based education and the traditional education system when it comes to the modeling and the acting aspect of it or just the social media. I’m a newbie and I have no problem asking questions. A lot of the younger Talent. I’ve been on a lot of sets with younger talent and they are so wonderful. “Okay Nina. This is what you have to do. This is what you do to highlight to get it on your reels and then this stays longer than you get more hits” thank you guys. They’re so wonderful. That’s terrific. So yeah, I have a wonderful support system. Just wonderful support.
That is fantastic and so necessary.
Yes.
Starting a new chapter usually means getting out of your comfort zone. How did you do that? And can you share a story and example of that?
Gosh, a new chapter, yeah, it goes back to I guess… Doing the Sports talk about dipping my foot in the pool again, this is the deep end. I mean Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, pun intended Big Splash. I just had to go with it. I mean, I was lucky enough to walk in the big SI show in July. Talk about nerves. I mean, some of these die, they’re rookies who have been in the magazine and then we had the OG’s, Roshumba and Carol and Vendela. They were there too. And of course, they’re my age, and so to be with them, what I looked up to them when I was younger, it was just very magical. But it’s been interesting to be thrown into the deep end, and I just take my past experience when I’ve been thrown in the deep end regardless of where I was. Again, when I was in Workforce Development, I was 30 years old and I was counseling 60-year-olds who had a life career, but I did my research, I learned, and I was successful. So I’m hoping with Sports Illustrated and this new chapter that I’m successful in my terms. Everybody has a different term for what success means for them. Hopefully, I am successful in this next chapter of my life, but I’m ready to stumble and scrape my knees and bump my nose. There’s no way I wouldn’t. This doesn’t mean I’m learning so I expect you and I hope people out there are gracious enough to give me a little path. Because I’m still learning.
To me, you’re a huge success already, and I’m sure to a lot of people as well.
Thank you. I appreciate that, Wanda.
So what are the “5 things I wish someone told me before I started” and why?
Okay, let me see… One is about social media. I know a little bit about it, but the importance of social media and keeping focus engaged. What I think might be boring, people find fascinating and I have to understand that. So what else? Let’s see, there’s one thing that I do automatically and I think it’s because of my background just being the working world and also being a career counselor. I know if the call time is at 6:00 am, I’m there at 5:30 am, right. But I’ve noticed some of the younger Talent might not have been prepped because they don’t know. So I’ve been trying to help them. Call time for six, five, thirty is always good, and I’ve gotten a lot of the production people saying, “My thank you Nina for being on time.” But that’s not what someone told me. I kind of already knew that so I was telling other people, trying to think of some other things. About hair and makeup, so, I always think I need to have clean hair because they’re gonna do my hair. A lot of hairstylists want dirty hair because it’s easier to manipulate and style. So that’s one thing that someone told me that I didn’t know. I started always showing up on set with clean hair. So now I know to ask, “Do you want clean hair, dirty hair?” And what does that mean, three days dirty, two days dirty, one day?
Okay, a third one, just my fast pace of this. I’ve only been retired for a little over a year and the pace of the trajectory of my Encore career has been pretty fast, super grateful, but it’s been really, really fast. So having my support group around me has been wonderful because again, I didn’t know it was gonna be this fast and no one told me. Yeah, it could be fast. I knew it could be slow, definitely. I didn’t know it could be this fast.
Let’s see. What else, a fourth one. I’m trying to think, that was a really good question, about this whole industry, you know what? Someone recently told me to make a to-do list in this, and to create a spreadsheet of auditions and bookings and stuff. So I was just trying to memorize it all, and I should have taken a page from the associate Dean chapters, but I didn’t think and I could remember this and so they said just create a spreadsheet meaning because it’s gonna help you with understanding when you have an audition especially when you’re with multiple agencies and then you can kind of keep track. So that’s one of the things. And then the last one. Gosh, Wanda. I’m trying to think, I want to give you a really good one. I didn’t know the interviews that I’m doing. Yeah, I don’t want to say no one’s prepped me, but maybe they should because I feel like I ramble. Led Zeppelin has that wonderful song “Ramble On,” right? I feel like Led Zeppelin doesn’t ramble on. So feel free to cut me off at any given time, so I think maybe how to interview, I think.
I think you are doing great. I am loving this interview.
Thank you.
You’re a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?
So, I have a passion for the developmentally disabled population, which can cover various groups of folks. I’ve been involved with an organization called Get Safe since 1999. One of the things I did with Get Safe was to create safety programs for persons who were developmentally disabled. I observed a critical need in this population, as they are incredibly kind and often victimized ten times more than the ‘normal’ population.
For instance, I had the opportunity to collaborate with Stuart Haskin, the executive director of Get Safe. He established this nonprofit around 35–40 years ago, and I was on the board for SACA, a sexual assault crisis agency in Long Beach. I was also familiar with students from the Unified School District who were developmentally disabled. These students stayed in school until they were 21 years old and were transported on the iconic yellow school buses.
SACA received prank calls from people who claimed to be assaulted, but I wondered what if the caller couldn’t express themselves in a way considered normal. So, we conducted training for SACA and the school districts for this specific population. About three months later, SACA received a call from someone who was clearly developmentally disabled, reporting that the school bus driver was assaulting them. Thanks to the training, they listened and took appropriate action. The bus driver was tried and found guilty. It was a powerful demonstration of helping these populations have a voice and being heard by other groups. Get Safe also works with law enforcement, training them on how to interact with individuals with developmental disabilities, who may have sensory issues or discomfort with touch. It’s sad that police officers need to know these nuances, but they need the tools to understand, act, and call in appropriate assistance.
I’m now on Get Safe’s board, and I’ve been part of this mission since 1999. Stuart Haskin, the executive director, is dedicated to this cause, bridging the gap between the community and law enforcement. This work is essential, particularly in these times of heated discussions about policing. I was fortunate to be chosen by former Deputy District Attorney Jackie Lacey for the Community Justice Panel in Long Beach. Our panel, representing various cities in LA county, discussed topics in the news. We aimed to be reasonable, looking at issues without external influences. I’ve also graduated from The Long Beach Community Police Academy in 1996.
I believe in taking an active part in making a change. So, in 1996, I was involved in these endeavors, and I’m currently on the board of the Long Beach Police Foundation. I want to provide support for our police officers, addressing areas where they might need improvement and highlighting their accomplishments. I don’t want to sit on the sidelines; I want to be involved in making a difference.
Talk about social impact, my goodness. I’m blown away by everything that you do. Wow. We are very blessed that some very prominent names in business, VC funding, sports, and entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with and why? You never know he or she might just see this, especially if we tag them.
My goodness. One person I admire, who has sadly passed away, would be Mother Teresa. My second choice would be Audrey Hepburn. But if I were to choose someone living, it would be Oprah. Oprah’s life story is inspiring — she has gone through tough times during her childhood and triumphed. She’s made a tremendous impact in people’s lives. I would love to talk to her to figure out how I can make a similar difference. I want to learn from an expert to understand what I need to do to create change. I know there might be mistakes, but I aim to minimize those mistakes while genuinely trying to make a difference. Oprah would be the person I’d like to speak with about this.
I agree, she is a hero.
Yeah.
She has done remarkable work. How can our readers follow your work further online?
At present, I don’t have a website. But I’m on Instagram, @Nina_cash_. People can reach out to me through messages there. I’m planning to showcase more of my nonprofit work. As I’ve recently begun my work with Sports Illustrated, which primarily focuses on modeling and acting, I’m contemplating creating a separate account to highlight my nonprofit work. For now, it’s @Nina_cash_.
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. Your story is invaluable. We wish you continued success and good health, always. Thank you so much for being here.
Thank you so much for having me, Wanda. It’s been a pleasure. Thank you so much.
I just love your story.
