FEATURE: Sabrina Sikora
After signing her first modeling contract on her 14th birthday, Sabrina Sikora spent her teenage years doing whatever it took to be a successful in the intense, cut-throat world of editorial and runway modeling in a Top 10 Agency.
Today, Sabrina is a fashion and portrait photographer who just completed her first Kenzai program after the birth of her second child. After years of extreme dieting and unhealthy body image, Sabrina ended up at model size again by following the Kenzai method of real food and honest exercise.
As a professional model who understands how things work from both sides of the lens, Sabrina has unique insights for all of us trying to look and feel our best in an image-conscious world. Here is her story.
My husband did Kenzai Body a few years ago after we had our son and I was amazed by his results. I shadowed him and for the first time I really felt healthy and strong and was “model size” entirely by accident. All those years I had crushed my body the wrong way and now I was only exercising one hour a day, seeing real muscles develop, and eating more food than I had in years.
While modeling my entire life revolved around the measurement of my butt. I was a 37″ most of the time and through crash diets and just plain old fashioned not eating could get into the 36″ realm. When I say my entire life revolved around it that is not an understatement. Even at a chill meal with friends I would know the exact carb and calorie count of any thing that was placed before me. Eating only only 500 calories that day meant I did great. 700 calories was a good day. 1000 calories consumed meant 3 hours ofcardio.
But I walked ALL day all over the city which meant I was already really active. There was even a point when I ate every other day before big casting calls. There was also the watermelon diet (you just eat watermelon) the leek soup diet (yup… only leeks and their broth). And a friend would do the tic tac diet… see how long you can live on tic tacs before you pass out. I even heard some girls were eating cotton rounds dipped in lemon juice to fill up their stomach.
Before fashion week the agency would call us in and have us runway walk down the hall while they stood at the end and wrote down what jiggled. Then they would take Polaroid of us from the front and back and circle on the photos what we needed to work on. When you’re standing in line with 30 other gorgeous girls you already know your faults. You don’t need them circled in sharpie. And I was 19 years old.
And I get it… the agents make their money on us and our measurements so it all has to be on point. And I signed up for this. This was the career and life I wanted. We are all in this together and as long as you’re that size in a healthy way then no harm done. But for me that wasn’t always the case.
When we moved to Hong Kong in 2007 I stopped modeling and tried to find a real relationship with food and exercise. This was also when I switched to full time fashion and portrait photographer. I was behind the lens, no one was yelling at me to lose weight anymore and I put that tape measure away.
Most of my clients are female and they hire me because they know I can coach them in front of the camera. I will shoot until they are happy. I know the angles and the little movements to shape the body and cast the right shadows. I love shooting with people who aren’t often shot as they don’t often see themselves through others eyes and therefore don’t realize just how beautiful they truly are. I love showing them how I see them bathed in gorgeous light with a huge laugh spreading across their face. I like spreading joy and this is one way to do it. Being real is really beautiful.
I try to be very mindful on set.. and we never, ever, ever talk about weight,” says Sikora. “I use my experience as a model to I try to make it a really uplifting experience for everyone.”
When you view the covers and ads take them with a grain of salt. There is an entire team around the creation of the image and the altering of that image on top of what the model is doing herself. Most of a photographer’s time is spent in the wonderful world of retouching. I do the level of retouching that a client requests and that can range from a general pop of colors to body contouring or head replacement. In general, I prefer less retouching and am glad that there’s a movement in this direction. I also love that make up ads now have to say that the ad has been enhanced though it’s still a lot of BS most time. CGI is a better description for most mascara ads!
That’s why I’m back to Kenzai after baby #2. I know this is the real way to fitness for me. Yeah it’s hard but it’s worth it. Confidence in strength not skinniness. And now that I have two kids, and one of them is a girl, I really want to be a positive role model for her. I haven’t once said I’m trying to get skinny. I’ve always said in front of her/ around my kids that I want to be strong and healthy so that I can be a better more active mom for them. But hell yeah, it is nice to be back in my pre-baby clothes again too! Now can someone just tell them to sleep?
The best thing you can do is to get to your best shape – where you’re strong and you’re comfortable, and then to try to be happy with that.
Follow Sabrina on Instagram @Sabrinasikora
To work with Sabrina or to learn more, visit her at http://sabrinasikoraphotography.com/
Kenzai members & trainees: read Sabrina’s Kenzai blog here: https://kenzai.me/sabrinad/blog
To hear more about Sabrina’s journey, and get some awesome tips and tricks to look your best on camera, check out her interview on the Kenzai podcast, Welcome to Your Body!