Runways, Startups & Royal Crowns: A Glamorous Expat Life 👑 🌍 | Expat Interview with Jennifer Lloyd

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today's episode we will talk with Jennifer Lloyd an accomplished model an incredible woman who recently received
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the award of Mrs Queen of the wall on top of that Jennifer has worked in multiple Fields including volunteering
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having her own business working in politics helping other women develop and follow their
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dreams and much more she started from a humble past in Korea and start modeling
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in Japan where she lived for some years in this episode we will explore both her life as an expert and her career
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path this is expat experts the podcast that dives into the fascinating lives of
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those who've lived and worked across borders exploring the challenges experiences and insights they've gained
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along the way but before we start with the episode I want to remind to all listeners that
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the best way to stay tuned with the latest episodes is by hitting subscribe here YouTube and in your favorite audio
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platform for extra information about the podcast check the website expert exerp podcast.com or check the link in the
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description the expat Jennifer Lloyd this first part of the episode uh

The expat: Jennifer Lloyd
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I want to talk a little bit about your life Jennifer first of all thanks thanks a lot for for being here today with me
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and and for accepting the invitation of uh being part of the podcast um you lived in a lot of
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countries or you lived in Japan at least one of the most permanent ones but you traveled a lot so you visited other
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countries you've been around the world professionally but I suppose also for for leisure and for pleasure at some
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point um in the second part I would like to go of the episode to go a little bit into into your professional life and and
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the modeling part but also like how you um how whole Pantry Works uh how did you
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achieve to become Mrs uh Queen of the world which I suppose it's a complex achievement also but also like what
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you're doing currently more like having this um helping others talk uh with with
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your talks and and being a little bit more like an Abate uh kind of uh model
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let's say like this uh but in the first part I would say that we focus on the a
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little bit on your on your life as as a as a foreigner in other countries and and traveling around the wall
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um again thanks a lot Jennifer for being here um I don't know really how or where
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to start because I don't know where have you been or where you established I know that you live uh sometimes and modeled
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in Japan but maybe it would start from the beginning where are you originally from you are from the US where
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exactly yes well Mark thanks for letting me join your podcast I'm really thrilled
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to to get to know you and also share my story and uh be with your audience today
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so I'm I am a child of two immigrants who immigrated to the United States in
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the 60s and I was actually born in America but my dad um and my mother was
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relocated to South Korea so I spent most of my childhood in South Korea and we
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proceeded to travel International and then 10 states around the United States because when you're from a military
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family you're you're obviously required to travel at the Call of Duty my most uh
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favorite country that I lived in has to be Japan I am Korean by Heritage my mom
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is BU Korean my dad is Japanese and Polynesian so as a child it was really dreamy to be able to go to Japan and
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actually see my relatives it's very very expensive to travel and so living in
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Japan it's like we have access to family members which I have never even met but
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during my time in Japan that's when my modeling and my bedroom
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began I remember when I was just a young girl I would open up bod magazine L
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magazine Marie CLA and I would just go through all the pages and admire the super models and and the women who were
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put in such fabulous designs and I would actually tear out every single page that
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was inspiring and I'd put it on my wall so literally my walls in my room look like wallpaper full of fashion and
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inspiration I didn't know back then that considered a vision board but I know like that set the tone for like what I
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was asking the universe for it wasn't until when I was about 14 years old I um
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met a lady whose husband was a semi executive in Japan and she looked at me
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differently and this is the first time that a woman or anybody selected me
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chose me and said you know what I see potential in you and that felt really good as a kid and um yeah she took me
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under her wings and took me to the city and she said let me get you in front of some agents because I think you have
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something and I didn't even see it in myself and I'll never forget the impact that she made on my life because that
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moment really did change the trajectory of my life and allowed me to believe in myself uh so we went to Tokyo and I went
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to the biggest agency which is Elite agency in Tokyo Japan not having any
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experience not knowing what to expect and I remember walking in and the first
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thing they do is size you up with their eyes and then they say here you go so they gave me this little tiny little
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bikini just absolutely strings and at that age I've never even worn anything
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like that and so you're required to put this on and you stand in front of a
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panel and they literally analyze you from head to toe take photos of you uh
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you're when you're in a casting like that you are very little makeup it's just they just want to see you very
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plain and a member of the agent told me I want you to come back in three months and they gave me some things that I need
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to work on such as like health and nutrition and also encouraged me to just
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take care of my skin and just to stay motivated with exercise because I was so
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young they're like you have a long ways to go and I remember having so much
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confidence after that as well as motivation I dropped a few pounds I went
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back and they signed me so that was the beginning of how it all
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started nice but you said that you actually were a child abroad already like you were growing in in Korea like
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how how much time did you did you live before going back to us yes so I was born in Washington state
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my dad was an immigrant who joined the US Army because he wanted citizens ship and back in the 60s they didn't check to
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see if your documents were correct so we barely I mean I was barely here as a
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child and when I went to Korea my dad and my mom were just very young they were very poor we lived in a cement box
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I had no running water there was no indoor bathroom my mom would use a trash
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can as a toilet because um the bathrooms were outside and it was a community
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bathroom and she just didn't want us to be cold so I had very humble beginnings
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as a child and I'll never forget that but it also trained me as a kid that we
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didn't have a lot of access so that was my very first experience as a child
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living abroad oh that's a sounds like a rough
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start and a and a beginning also like from being from a country but also
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moving abroad and that not being in a in the perfect conditions I suppose it marked you a little bit as as a personal
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your personality and how you develop in in in time you said that actually afterwards like you came back as as a
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family together to United States and it's when you traveled around around the country or or was Japan before
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that uh so we went to Korea and then I moved to California when I was about fourth grade and everything was
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temporary my dad would be stationed sometimes for one year 6 months or three years we were always constantly juggling
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around and depending on where he was stationed I remember my mom just being
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basically a stayed home single mother and so now I have such a heart for
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families who have military members who are constantly abroad or forced to be
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deployed because the women are really alone and so Community is very important
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and I recall just not having a lot of friends and also not having um just that stability not having
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family around because we were always far away and back then we didn't have social
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media or um cell phones right so every long-distance call was so expensive so
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my parents would never let us you know make longdistance calls and occasionally I'd meet a friend and we would be really
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good about writing each other but then that would die down because it just gets hard to write letters I appreciate
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writing letters now but I think at back then it was just really hard I do love
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now that I can stay in contact with people I need easily right it's it's so
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nice now but it feels it feels good to be able to have those experiences
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because now as an adult it really does allow my perspective to
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be more engaging to other cultures because I was forced as a child to just
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constantly pivot and I realize now that the culture is so beautiful I love
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traveling I have been to so many countries just this year alone with my
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queen of the world title I'm actually flying on Friday to Dubai and I'll be there for a few days
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to do some photo shoots some media and then I fly to sirilanka and I have a whole week schedule of the same I'm I
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will be part of the production for this seral Lanka Queen of the world pageant as well as doing some charity
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initiatives we're doing a visit to a cancer hotel and providing medical supplies I'll also be working alongside
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um the staff doing some photo shoots and media so um very excited I love
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travel cool I mean it's I think everyone should benefit of of this and that's one
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of the reasons why I do this podcast at the end know like knowing other cultures and people who lived in other countries
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and that they can bring their perspective on how you live there and how you how things work let's say like
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this um I imagine also even for you like inside of the United States because as
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as Europeans and probably Asian people also and and from other uh continents of
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the world see sees America as a country and a very unified thing but at the end
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States of America are very different one to the other so the culture inside of
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this uh even though the language of course it's the same there is a lot of like differences that you might have
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seen through through the through the changing of places um what are the the
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the things that shock you most as a kid when you when you traveled around these places and the temporarily you say like
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being here and there what what was the things that were like well impacting you the
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most well I think mannerisms are really shocking you know I don't know if you've
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tried traveled and you just get a sense of people like their kindness their um
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their reasonable with their space that they give you you know in a crowded area
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or just the acceptance I I really felt like when I was in Japan the mannerisms
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really stood out to me a lot because the women were very submissive but in a way
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that was so feminine and I love that femininity about a woman who can be
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educated and strong uh a woman who is powerful but yet she's able to be
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submissive to her husband to her family to to his business partners or um to
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strangers I think that's so beautiful it doesn't take away from her it just shows
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that she's cultured and she has a lot of feminine qualities about her I love that so much and I actually learned a lot
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about just hosting because I love to have parties and get together and so I
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know from that experience when I'm greeting someone I know to offer them
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some water or some slippers and just attend to them so that they feel
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welcomed and that's something that I really appreciate it a lot cool very nice I mean you absorve
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the positive Parts no that's normally what it Remains the longest if you have a bad experience and as as far as you're
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saying Japan was a very nice time for you um you said you were pretty young
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when you when you did this first uh like the board like when you presented yourself to L uh in Japan you were a
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teenager still so was that the moment you move yeah so I was living in Japan when
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I signed with the agency and I remember like jumping on a on a train because in
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like in Europe as well as in Japan the the transportation system is so refined
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that a lot of people either are riding bicycles or they're taking trains uh and
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you could go from point A to point B no problem so I was just a teenager jumping on the on a train going to my castings
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and I just got it figured out but that was the first time that I learned truly how to navigate not only the the train
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Railway system but also have the courage to just figure things out for myself and
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I I really appreciate that EXP experience because now I can go into any country I know that I can do it like I
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can I can discover cities without being scared I don't have to have someone hold
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my hand I can literally figure it out for myself some of the negative things that I I should mention um about going
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to a new country or learning um some of the habits in countries are unfortunate
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like smoking cigarettes that's something that's so prevalent in Europe as well as in Japan and I remember as a kid I
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wanted to try it so bad I did try smoking a cigarette and I didn't like it
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but I thought that that was the coolest thing you could do and I would see the
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models with long Virginia slim cigarettes and they're skinny and pretty
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and smoking and I'm like this is this is what you're supposed to look like and so that would be one negative thing that um
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you know I would say would be a takeaway is sometimes the culture influences you to do things that may not be quite good
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for your health smoking definitely it's one not
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not the good one that's for sure and Yes actually I think Japanese smoke a lot
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yes it's true it's it's a also a cultural thing yeah um how how it was
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like because I'm like when you are a teenager and you enter you sign a you're signing a contract at the end signing
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with an agency it's nothing else that your first professional contract with someone I assume um I at that point of
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time I suppose your parents stayed in in the United States and you travel there alone how was the support from the
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agency how does this system works around you they did support you they they I don't know provide you with the home and
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the food or what how does it work I know well actually my parents were we were
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living in stationed in Japan so I lived at home with my parents while I was able to explore this whole new world
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uh but I did get a contract from my agency to uh travel to Malaysia it was a
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short-term temporary contract I remember taking this contract home to my parents
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and my parents both looked at me like absolutely not they're going to sell you
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and I'm like no it's legitimate that I'm going to Malaysia just for this temporary
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contract and I remember thinking my dreams had completely died because my parents said no to me
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but looking back I'm so happy that they said no because human trafficking does
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exist and they knew better but I didn't know I didn't know better you know at least when I was in Japan I could go to
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a casting and I could come back home right no one's going to steal me but if I lived abroad I just don't think that
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as a kid you have that uh resistance from Temptation so
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maybe I would who knows where I would be right so you I think it's important for
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parents especially now that I have my own kids I would never let my kids go abroad without supervision I'd have to
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go with them makes sense what about
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language because that's one of the big ones I don't know like you were speaking Japanese at the point of time or or how
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did you communicate in the whole environment yeah so during my studies I
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took Japanese for four years so I could write uh informal Japanese kagana kagana
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kanji you know there's like 2,000 characters in kanji which is like the Chinese like basically like pictures
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Korean Chinese Japanese basically sh share that kanji and I learned up to 150
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of them which is impressive don't ask me to do it for you today because I don't remember but I yeah I was just speaking
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fluently and I also took temporary jobs I work at a bakery in Japan where I
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worked behind the scenes in the kitchen washing fruit and decorating pastries so I definitely believe if
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you're going to go to a country take the time to learn the language learn the culture there's so many free apps even
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Google you could ask Google how to say this in this language and it'll translate it for you but life is easier
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when you know the language absolutely I think integration
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it's a it's a very valuable thing or at least trying I mean I'm not saying that you fully
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integr in one year to a new culture it's it's probably impossible but as soon as
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you especially these cultures where the language is so different when they realize you're doing the effort of
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trying to speak their languages and everything I think their perspective on you changes really fast and they try
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they start accepting you much faster also um was it help like how was the
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cultural shock for you in Japan I mean you said you were living in Korea but I suppose it's also different it's not the
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same I assume it's a little bit easier because it's not someone coming from United States and suddenly being in
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Japan which is opposite cultures uh and the culture circuit it's a little bit reduced but do you remember having a
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culture show when when you arrived to Japan first I I did what's really shocking to me is the Japanese people
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they really admire Europeans and Americans so American European fashion
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St in was very prevalent so I would see beautiful Japanese women and men with
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blonde hair and it was almost like they were trying to escape their their Heritage by all the celebrity styles
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that you see in magazines so I I really I realize that it's prevalent fashion is
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so prevalent in Japan the other thing that was shocking to me was the cost of food the cost of clothing is out of this
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world because the Yen was so strong I'll give you an example an apple although
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Japan does a great job with the fruits so the fruits always packaged in like some sty
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cellophane and can you imagine most beautiful apple and it's $5 so one apple
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it's $5 yes that's just the idea of the cost
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of food there so you know having access to fruits and vegetables was very
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hard having access to protein like steak chicken extremely difficult and
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everything that they sell is very small like cut thin not even the best part of
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the beef so you really have to make a lot of money to to live a really good
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life there it's not easy okay I I wasn't expecting that it
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would be that expensive like it's a lot where were you in Japan exactly you were
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in in toky so I lived I lived in Kanagawa area so I was about an hour
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away from Tokyo and I lived on a base called Camp Zama so I went to an International High
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School there also went to middle school there and uh primarily there were all military folks that lived on the base
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but as a uh military family you could have access in and outside the gate the
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gates inside the military base are secured so not everybody can just walk in you literally have to go through
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security show your identification or if you're a guest they have to verify who you are to enter to the military
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bases I see so you you didn't quit studying like you continued studying
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while you were working as a model in Japan or oh yeah
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absolutely how old were you at that moment of time like also because you said 14 it's a very young age like yes
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yes so I moved to Japan when I was 13 years old and I stayed there till I was
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about 19 so I was there for a good chunk of my life that was actually the longest station that my dad had and it was
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ironic that soon after that uh when the military forced us to go back to the USA
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because he took a promotion as command sergeant major of the US Army which is one of the highest positions of
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leadership that he could obtain as an immigrant um it was shortly after that that he decided he wanted to retire so I
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had a good stint in Japan and since I uh had such a great time International I
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just have this this desire to travel the world and some of the places that I do
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hope to visit in the future when the Wars die down I'd love to go to Jerusalem I would love to go to bellus
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and I would love to travel to Greece these are some of the areas that are on my wish
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list well I'm in Athens right now so if you come around like uh grie it's gree
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it's always uh welcoming I mean it started to be the two months of winter that or three months that we have
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here don't expect that it's not that long the winter here so it's always lovely but uh I mean winter I'm talking
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about 13 degrees now night so it's not that cold either but it's gree it's uh
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you've never been to Greece no I I tried to go to Greece so
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when I was in um Italy so I spent some time in Milano and I went to Lake KO and
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then I went to Venice and I was like I'm going to fly to to Greece and because
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it's not too far and I remember trying to book my flight but the challenge
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wasn't getting there the challenge was the flights from Greece back to the USA was like a 34-hour trip so I decided I'm
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just going to wait till another time where I could just fly directly to Greece and maybe go to Greece go to Rome
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just take my time to really enjoy the beautiful country but I I love food so
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one of my favorite foods is actually Mediterranean and um while I was just in New York City this past I I just got
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back from New York the other day uh we went to a fabulous restaurant called MOS
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and it's very famous in the US because they have all the seafood presented on
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ice so when you go to the restaurant you look at your menu it's like fish all kinds of fresh seafood fresh
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tomatoes um because the tomatoes taste different when they're fresh so that's why I love Mediterranean food because
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it's so fresh right and everything tastes good so I hope when I go to
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Greece I'm not disappointed because sometimes when you eat you will certain food you will like like oh well it
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tastes different in Mexico because Mexican food in the USA tastes different than when you go to Mexico but
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in Greece it's probably better right like better for you better olive oil salts yeah yeah I think it's a bit
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different you know like with the Mexican food and some Asian food they do a barrier and because the ingredients are
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difficult to find I don't know if in the US it's the same but for example here in Europe when you go to Mexican restaurants generically it's texme uh so
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it's basically tacos but not the way that it will do it it's more like the the Texan approach to Mexican food
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actually and with with Asian the same especially Indian they need to reduce
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the spiciness because if not people will not buy it so when you go to India when you go to Mexico and you try that dishes
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there very different in the case of Mediterranean food I feel like
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generically the dishes are similar or they try to emulate what they would cook at
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home Sometimes some ingredients are not available but the big difference is that
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the quality of the ingredients here are incredibly good like especially Tomatoes
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olive oils ol everything related with olives uh vegetables are really good the
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cheese quality although it's a bit expensive it's it's very nice so you eat good you eat cheap that's the the nice
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part of gree and that's what what I've been enjoying these last three years that I'm here in gree it's food and and
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drinks and traveling around it's it's incredible it's a very nice country oh I can't I can't wait I'm so embarassed of
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you right now but sounds like a dream because I do love food and one thing that I have to say about the
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Mediterranean diet a lot of doctors recommend a r mediterran diet for people
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who are suffering from cancer or diseases because that they said that like it really does build up just a
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healthier balance in cell renewal uh so yeah it's they The Grecian
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people have it figured out about what's healthy uh there is a lot of fries also
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like let's be honest and a lot of meat here they eat a lot of meat like crazy amounts of meat you still need to keep
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your balance between what whatever but it's true that everything it's cooked in olive oil and not in Butters and it's a
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little bit like more into the safe uh side let's say like this um but yeah
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maybe going back to to to Japan and and and before you went uh back to United
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States I suppose uh or or what was the next step when you were 19 you're
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already working as a model is it was clear for you that was your passion and
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that you wanted to continue that path and and how did affect going back home
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to to this process yeah so one thing about being a model there's different levels of
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modeling and I have to say that for all the girls out there that want to get involved in the industry not only is it
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competitive but you'll get a ton of rejection I have so much rejection and you just have to keep
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trying because you just never know exactly what a casting director is looking for and I realized also too when
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I was you know younger there wasn't a lot of people that look like me but now there's a lot of women who are mixed and
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you'll see an advertising it's really changed like they want Ordinary People
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so if this is your goal go for it but don't depend on just that modeling to
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sustain uh your lifestyle so I've always had jobs I was always a hustler so I
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worked at the bakery I remember having my first job working at a pizza place as well as um working for a Chinese
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restaurant behind the cash register and still pursuing my dream as just modeling
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so after I left Japan I moved to Arizona and I was there for a short time
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with my parents and then I was in Washington state where my dad fully retired and I signed with another agency
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here and um that was SMG Model Management with Seattle so I was with
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them for about 15 years and again you go to castings and sometimes you're given a
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yes sometimes you don't have to go to castings because they say we want we want her based off of her comp card and
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that's really fun but there came a point in my life Mark where I realized that
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there was some other priorities that I needed to address I got involved in politics became a
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politician and that actually that actually took a lot of time more than I
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thought it would so I would always decline the casting because I didn't
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have two hours in my day um but to this day I've achieved some greatest my
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greatest dreams so two years ago I walked in Paris fashion week and that
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was a dream of mine I had as a child so I don't think that your dreams will ever
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die with age I think that if you believe it you truly want it that you will be
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rewarded if you ask for it it will be rewarded too as long as you're working towards that
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off nice very very Bal statement I I really love it
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like I think people are frustrated with with time or I feel that when they have
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the idea of something and they keep working on it but then the age came in between and responsibilities I mean
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you're a mother you know also if you said some point you need to also take a
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break from things and it's also okay it's not that you are abandoning the dreams no
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um maybe before we jump directly to the to to talk a little bit more about modeling and maybe we can enter a little
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bit about the the whole career path that you took and how many turns arounds have you done in there I also want to talk a
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little bit about about you being mother and how how does the whole parenting
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combined with uh with modeling with a politics with uh uh doing public
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speeches uh how did you balance all of this how how you managed to do this that much I do a little section at the end of
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of this uh first part of the of the episode which is basically uh asking for
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recommendations um you live for quite some time in Japan um so maybe and you
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already talk about food uh do you have a favorite Japanese dish that you're still
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saying oh I would love to have that in the United States that I miss
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from there yeah so you're making my stomach grow I'm actually hungry talking about food
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so uh I Love Sushi and sushi in Japan is way different there's a Harmony that
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comes with creating a beautiful piece of sushi I actually uh traveled to Japan
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and went to skui Market skui Market is like one of the largest fish markets in
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the world it's fresh fish trading so Fisher will come bring their big Tunas
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and and they will sell at the market two restaurants Two
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Chefs the most freshest cut of fish and I remember just enjoying just high
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quality it's very difficult when fish travels because when fish travels it
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loses it oxidizes and it loses the flavor and if you can imagine a piece of
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fish going into a freezer the ice moisture crystallized is and all the juices come out of the fish right when
33:30
you go to cook it so I do think that Japan has the most freshest best tasting
33:36
sushi in the world nice now I'm gring I've never I've never
33:43
been the Japan and I definitely need to go for foodwise I I'm in love but I I
33:48
think I've never tried proper uh Japanese food like as I would try if I
33:54
would go there so totally missing that um do you go back from time to time do
33:59
you do you visit Japan uh uh often I have not been back to Japan for
34:07
o probably 12 years so I'm looking forward to going back I I do love uh to
34:15
shop and one thing I realized like Japan has like the cleanest roads the best
34:21
shopping anything and everything is cute in Japan so I think the next time I
34:27
visit I probably will need to take an extra suitcase because I know that like
34:32
they everything they have there is so special and I I I'd want to capture
34:38
that cool um what about the favorite place do you
34:44
have this spot that you remember that you say oh that was my place in
34:49
Japan oh yeah I love Shinjuku I love going to Shinjuku on Sundays just the
34:56
vibrancy there are literally hundreds of people out on the streets the most busiest time
35:03
again food shopping fashion you'll see gangs of young people dressed in like
35:11
anime or or some of them will be dressed like Elis Presley or Surfers or they'll
35:17
look like baby dolls and it's just like your your eyes and your the smells and just the feeling of this all these
35:25
people together from different backgrounds it's just so much fun I remember just going there and going to
35:31
my friends and just people watching because it's so entertaining it was it was a lot of fun so I recommend
35:39
that cool are you a music person do you do you listen to any Japanese music by
35:45
any chance I do I do love music however I
35:50
must say I don't think Japan is on The Cutting Edge of music I think okay K-pop
35:56
which is Korean pop music has really revolutionized music so K-pop is something that I do
36:04
listen to uh and I I love all kinds of music like I have friends who are
36:09
Russian I like some of the Russian artists I love Korean Kpop I love
36:15
English um yeah I love I love music in general but I haven't heard anything
36:20
from Japan yet that I can recall well cool um maybe the last
36:28
question do you remember any local custume or tradition from Japan that
36:34
stood out and that you you remember like font a little bit like okay it was
36:39
meaningful for you let's say like this yeah I I remember
36:46
just receiving gifts not that I expect that but
36:52
Hospitality so meeting a friend or seeing a relative you would bring them a
36:58
small gift so that's like crackers or bread tea just something to just say hey
37:05
I'm thinking about you I love you just show like your heart so I I love that
37:10
custom and I do that for friends and family too where I I see them and I
37:16
bring them fruit or I bring them cookies or candy or a box of tea just to let
37:22
them know that I love them and I think that customary is very special
37:29
nice who who doesn't love to receive gifts now from time to time so that should be more ing I agree uh so yeah if
37:38
if it's okay for you I would say that we can jump directly to the to the second part of the of the
37:43
episode okay hey there everyone if you're loving this episode so far and you want to stay tuned with other expert
37:49
experiences make sure to hit the Subscribe button and follow our podcast so you never miss an

The expert: From pageantry to empower women
37:55
episode the expert from pageantry to empower women yeah I mean we entered a little
38:02
bit already through conversation you explained how you entered the the modeling in world in in um in Japan the
38:09
fact of having your vision board a little bit on your room like that's what the trigger that that started uh putting
38:17
you into that so I assume like as you said most of this uh desire of becoming
38:23
a model was coming out of of the magazines and and seeing other other people doing that path uh was there any
38:30
other intrinsic uh motivation behind it or it was purely like uh your dream
38:36
let's say like this yeah I think I think that you get
38:41
influenced by media and as a child I remember thinking fashion was so
38:47
beautiful and I was just so inspired by the attainability of that I didn't have
38:53
access to nice clothes as a kid or opportunities like maybe some other
38:59
families did because my parents were surviving um they both were working very
39:06
hard to provide for a family and I think having dreams is so important because
39:11
then it really does push you and leads you to want to do better and I'm so
39:18
grateful that I had that desire because those dreams that I have a little girl never left me today I I have my own
39:25
business I do hair and makeup up I also have done uh photography for celebrities
39:32
and I've worked with uh a White House doctor doing her makeup and a
39:38
billionaire I mean I have I've have had such great reach with my skill set
39:43
because that was a dream I had as a kid and I love the fact that now I can impact other women's lives and help them
39:51
feel confident so many times I have a woman sit in my chair whether I'm taking a
39:57
photo or doing hair and makeup I see that she lacks confidence and that has a lot to do with just something inside
40:04
it's not having your self-worth and I have the power to say
40:09
encouraging words to help her transform her mindset where she does believe in herself and I know that that's a gift
40:16
and that's a strength that I'm using to make a
40:22
difference yeah I mean I think you you you said something interesting in here here and it's it's also like media puts
40:29
a lot of pressure but as far as I know it's a pretty demanding um environment
40:34
it's not an easy place to be it it puts High pressures there is a lot of
40:39
expectations um and how do you contrast that no how do
40:45
you stay grounded to the floor how do you stay yourself how do you I don't
40:50
know combat a little bit this imposter syndrome also that a lot of people might have how how did you deal with start in
40:57
in your career yeah that's a great question I actually started a workshop for women I
41:05
traveled to Beverly Hills to Boise Idaho in Portland and I just came back from
41:11
another um back to work event Workshop in Phoenix Arizona and the purpose of
41:16
these workshops is because I recall just having to battle impostor syndrome and then dealing with the lack of access and
41:23
opportunities so I just want to remind people like impostor syndrome is not
41:29
just not feeling worthy but it also causes symptoms like perfectionism so that's something that I dealt with a lot
41:36
was just having this unnecessary sense of perfectionism and then also if you're
41:42
not working uh with others and collaborating that's also a sign of uh Oster syndrome because you're solely
41:49
relying on your own efforts when you could move so much faster with a team of
41:54
people that support you and I realize that affects all women all men sometimes
42:00
you just don't feel worthy of where you're at but you have to take a step back and recognize that you worked hard
42:07
for this moment and the success that it is okay to be able to enjoy those
42:15
things yeah I think the whole not doing the journey alone no
42:22
also that's that's important for for everyone and and a lot of people people I don't know it's also an industry that
42:29
you seem like to be very individualist and I don't know if it's the reality behind I'm I'm I'm a little bit biased
42:36
in here because the the everything that I know about modeling and and pantry and everything comes out of movies series
42:43
and and everything that probably it's not the reality behind and maybe you can
42:49
you can destroy a little bit this stigma that is around it and and tell me a little bit more how it is really to be a
42:55
model and what is the daily life of a model person or girl girl or a woman who
43:00
wants to be inside of this industry so you have to be prepared for
43:06
rejection because you're going to get a lot of nose and you also have to recognize that it's not sustainable
43:14
because there is such a thing called agism where a woman will get to a certain age or maybe she'll go through
43:20
transitions in her life like having children for instance or getting married uh these are these are natural beautiful
43:27
Milestone moments in your life and and sometimes modeling is is not going to fit that lifestyle but doesn't mean that
43:34
you can't continue to dream and pursue but the level of opportunities or
43:40
investment you make into that career path it can be limited uh I love the
43:46
fact that as a woman I can be multi- cultural I can be multi-talented
43:53
I can be versatile in my career my goals setting and I think that applies to all
44:00
women we could all achieve something on another level if we put our minds to it
44:05
because I'm not just a wife I'm not just a mom I'm not just a former politician
44:11
or a model or a beauty queen a business owner I I can do anything I want I can
44:18
be anyone that I want so it's not a limitation it's actually just your
44:23
mindset makes sense
44:29
how now I I was going to ask a basic question but how many how many things have you done in your life like it's it
44:37
sounds like you've been in a lot of of of different roles like I maybe you can summarize it a little bit like you enter
44:43
through modeling but then you said you had as a highle some some jobs but then
44:49
you entered in politics I know that you've been working a lot of with voluntary work uh going to NGS and
44:55
helping people how many things have you done yeah so I figured out my life
45:01
purpose believe it or not so I feel like everything that I've been through whether they're challenges or successes
45:09
that it really has combined together to really help me focus on my purpose so my
45:14
purpose today has been about supporting women and I mean supporting women to
45:20
become financially independent and it goes back to again to my story of humble
45:25
beginnings not having access watching my parents through immigrants not have access so now I find it's my
45:31
responsibility to help women find access to get employment and to have Financial
45:37
Independence because I really do believe that it is a right for a woman to pursue
45:42
her dreams and also be financially independent or contribute so what I've
45:49
been doing is using my my philanthropy work to help promote organizations such
45:56
as Dress for Success to promote workshops that really Empower women to
46:03
get a job we have so many women who are underemployed right now are transitioning from being a stay-at-home
46:10
mom or mothers who are being forced to go back to work because the inflation is really high um we also have people
46:17
coming out of the military trying to figure out where they fit um and also
46:22
people lose their jobs and so it makes sense for me to use everything everything that I've learned to help
46:29
support these women so that they can be successful and they can lead for success and as everybody knows if women are
46:36
successful it helps the community it helps their family so my experience uh
46:43
whether that was being in modeling as a politician um working in
46:48
the corporate world being a business owner my experience and My Desire with
46:53
hair and makeup photography it all has combined so that I'm able to speak openly and
47:00
also transparently to women to help them feel empowered and I know that my impact is great and the whole purpose of the
47:07
title that I have as Queen of the world is to be able to speak louder I'm sitting on a platform actually standing
47:14
on a platform where I'm able to go globally and and share my story share my
47:20
impact so that it will make a difference
47:27
maybe before we just enter to M Queen of the world because I have a lot of questions I don't really understand the
47:33
whole concept around it and maybe it's my ignorance about the the whole pendri pendri world and the modeling but um how
47:41
do you do that how how are you working right now with with trying to help women around like do you have workshops do you
47:47
do you do public speeches what is the the model that you're following right now yes so I have been featured in
47:55
several I want to say about I I've done oh so many interviews TV interviews in
48:02
studio TV interviews traveled uh to provide um more information and also
48:10
provide free head shot so that's what I'm doing for my year of service I am providing professional head shot for
48:16
women so that they can present themselves as a trusted capable
48:21
individual on apps like LinkedIn or if they're trying to write and about me
48:27
page because they're a small business owner they have a head shot that will help them with
48:34
recruiting women and especially people who are looking for jobs typically do
48:40
not account the cost behind a professional head shot it's very expensive and no one is thinking about
48:48
that they're saying they're asking their friends to take just a photo of them with their camera phone hoping that that
48:54
would suffice but as We Know first impressions are made within the first six seconds and it's so very important
49:01
when you're looking to capture that job and to beat out hundreds of other people that you present yourself in the most
49:08
confident best way possible so I have been traveling around this country
49:14
helping women uh feel their best look their best and that's how I'm
49:20
contributing uh my time and my service as Mrs Queen in the world so cool
49:28
that's maybe then I will ask about Mrs Queen of the world how how do you arrive
49:34
to have this title what is the path to to arrive to to get or achieve some an
49:42
impressive accomplishment that you had I don't know it's a big thing I suppose um
49:47
how do you arrive there yeah so I'm a competitive person I love goal setting so I remember when I
49:55
first walked on a St age I was scared I I had forced myself to practice know who
50:03
I am you have to have an elevator speech you have to know yourself inside and out because you're not competing against the
50:10
other women you're actually competing against your fears and I really think that all the years of rejection shaped
50:16
me as a person because I don't take no for an answer if I get a no I'm still going to work towards whatever I desire
50:24
and pageantry really did push me outside of my comfort zone and I love the fact
50:30
that it really defined a milestone moment in my life because I don't have any regrets with the charity work that
50:37
I'm doing I feel like this is my way of giving back to the world it feels so
50:42
good it's so fulfilling to me and I couldn't imagine a more humbling place
50:50
to be because I'm not only meeting some amazing people but I'm traveling I'm
50:57
seeing the world I get to experience emotions that I didn't think at this
51:03
point in my life I'd have the opportunity for I get so excited when I get to meet someone new that I'm
51:09
impacting or connecting with a business so that they can help uh with some of
51:18
the initiatives that I'm a part of it's just it's amazing it's really
51:24
amazing nice how how do you arrive to become Mr screen of the world like how
51:31
do you what what it you need to win a lot of a contest you need to like there
51:37
is a board that decides oh now it it's even a like a life title or it's
51:44
something that renovates or and it changes person from time to time yes so
51:49
I will have a successor in May so I have a year to serve as Queen of the world
51:55
and the qualification to become Queen of the world you compete against different countries so there's a panel of Judges
52:02
seven amazing judges who judge you in a 10-minute interview so you're scored on
52:09
interview you're scored on evening gown there's an on onstage question that you're scored on which is spontaneous as
52:16
well as swimwear so there's a fitness component that you are competing for and
52:21
I have to remind you that women who compete in beauty pageants are educated
52:27
there are women who hold titles like being attorneys doctors a stay home mom
52:33
they have all kinds of occupations but women who compete generally have a
52:39
platform and want to make a difference in this world and I'm so very happy that
52:44
I decided to compete for queen of the world because not only is it one of the most prestigious titles but it really
52:50
has opened a lot of doors for me and it continues to open doors for me so I'm
52:56
grateful for the opportunity that's one of the questions
53:02
that I wanted to ask also what are the perks and benefits that comes with such a title no I suppose it opens doors
53:08
that's for sure but it is a set of things that you are responsible to do yes or yes or it's something that it's
53:14
just like okay you can apply to certain things or you can do certain things due
53:20
to the title and others can not have access to that how does it work yeah so having a title is basically
53:28
a year of service so that's a decision I really think a queen or a contestant
53:36
needs to consult with their family with because not only are you dedicating your time your
53:42
resources I'm away from family because of travel it's it's like a full-time job
53:48
that doesn't pay you any money your job is to Brand the organization but also
53:55
speak on your advocacy so I've been really focused on sharing my message my
54:02
story but also making an impact I have a wonderful team I have a PR team a media
54:09
team that supports me to help me with my visuals as well as capturing very
54:15
important appearances I also have sponsors who have provided gowns and
54:21
jewelry um skin care Hair Care Foot Care uh um these are incredible sponsors who
54:29
believe in advocating to change the world so yeah it's been it's been a
54:35
privilege and I recommend that if there's any of your listeners out there that want to get out of their comfort
54:42
zone want to be part of an incredible organization to make a difference look
54:48
up clean of the world pageant.com and join The
54:54
Sisterhood nice you touched something that I also wanted to ask you and it's
54:59
that you as you already said and it's clear you had a very very full
55:04
professional career and you've been in a lot of roles and and most of them have taken a lot of time probably and
55:12
dedication but you are also a mother of multiple children as far as I know as as
55:17
far as I I I recall um how did you combine your being a mother working uh
55:25
for were to accomplish your goals and your dreams uh how how has has been this
55:31
whole balancing of being a mother and uh following your
55:36
dreams I recognize that that transition in a woman's life is seasons and I speak
55:44
about this at our Workshop because one thing I realiz is that we have different
55:49
seasons because women are forced to make a decision to either be a stayed home mom or a working mom and in today's life
55:58
I want to say that empowerment means that we have the right to choose as women so whether a woman decides to stay
56:04
at home or go to work with kids in daycare equally I think that's up to the woman and equally is right I chose to be
56:12
a stayhome mom um because when I was having children I wanted to be Avail access be available to my kids and
56:20
support my husband uh I remember feelings of not being very confident
56:28
sometimes because I'm I have a college degree I wanted to get out there I could see other women pursuing their dreams
56:35
and I felt like although I was pouring into my kids there were some things I felt like I was missing out and so I
56:41
tried to encourage women to stay patient continue to work on yourself whether
56:47
that's it your health so I was constantly exercising and watching my
56:53
nutrition I was filling my mind with education so I wanted to stay relevant
56:59
what what was happening in the news or in Industry I still was active with modeling I would work hard to make the
57:07
castings that were important to me and I tried to balance those things when my kids were all in school I
57:15
got involved in public service because again I was searching to get more involved so I encourage your listeners
57:22
to get involved in their Community these are volunteers hours but you'll be amazed at how many people volunteering
57:30
are career oriented or their Executives get to know a network they say that your
57:36
network is your net worth so just because you're not making money and you're volunteering you're still
57:41
building a community and I think that is so necessary because when you are ready
57:47
to jump back into the corporate world or maybe your kids are in school longer you have more time working part-time you
57:54
have access and a network of people that can help you so I talk about this a lot with women because I think sometimes
58:00
stay-at home moms they get that limited mindset where they don't feel good about themselves anymore they lose their sense
58:06
of self and they have a hard time connecting back into the community so I
58:12
encourage you to get involved in community service be part of an organization that um supports mothers
58:19
and motherhood um that'll help you stay stable
58:28
makes a lot of sense that you are like needing a little bit of support you're not alone in this world no so at the end
58:33
it's a little bit of that getting the community and and getting others who are in your situation that's exactly why I
58:40
was asking because I know that there will be other people who are in the same situation right now as you you were when
58:46
you had your children and and it's important that people doesn't renounce to their whole dreams
58:51
or their ideas or what they want to become and you are a clear example of like being able to combine both and to
58:57
arrive to do uh great things in both ways let's say
59:03
um maybe one of the biggest questions is
59:09
also what would you have change of this path like what would you if you could go
59:15
back and give an advice to your younger self what would what would you have done
59:22
different yeah I I don't know if I would ask change anything because even though
59:29
I experience some hardships it really has defined my character I know that I have a special
59:37
talent where I can walk into any room I have that courage and
59:42
confidence uh if I didn't go through those challenging times maybe I would be more shy or maybe I'd be afraid of
59:50
someone's disability or a language cultural differences uh
59:56
but I'm not I I remember working at a opportunities job fair and there was a
1:00:03
line of women waiting to get services and I remember looking at the the women
1:00:10
and thinking wow they remind me of my background they were all
1:00:16
International they had cultural differences they needed help and there's
1:00:22
a level of sensitivity that you have to have when you're working with women who are scared who don't speak good English
1:00:30
who are desperate for help um they're not prepared they're intimidated by the
1:00:35
way you look they're intimidated by the size of the building and it's so new
1:00:41
they want to be accepted and when I saw them I know that my past those things I
1:00:48
experienced really helped me connect with them and that to me is very special
1:00:59
nice so maybe we did the past and maybe that's the last question before we close
1:01:05
the episode it's what it's next like you feel I feel I I sense that it's not the
1:01:11
last chapter on on this whole journey that you started clearly you already said that in in May there will be a
1:01:17
successor for for the title of a Mr screen of the wall but um what do you have in mind what is coming what is the
1:01:24
next Adventures that you're your journey continues in yeah so I also am an Advisory Board
1:01:32
member for the global Bey Awards it's an award show that celebrates peasantry and
1:01:37
men and women and children who are doing good things around the world so I've been investing a lot of time to support
1:01:44
the organization as well as produce so my goals are to just put a lot of focus
1:01:51
on my philanthropy as well as the award show I I would hope to see you there one
1:01:57
day and we do welcome everybody who is an entertainment we have so many
1:02:03
incredible men and women who um are involved in pageantry but also people
1:02:09
from every part of the industry so we have Executives from Sony we have
1:02:15
attorneys we have doctors we have a woman who served from the White House
1:02:21
politicians so many entrepreneurs um PR management any anybody and everybody in any industry is
1:02:28
sitting inside this room uh Luci Sierra she's a very famous runway model coach
1:02:35
she's hosting the global beia awards and it is so fascinating to see everybody
1:02:40
just dressed up it's like the Oscars and get interviewed on the red carpet so I
1:02:47
would love for you to join your listeners to join you can find more information about the global Beauty Awards by visiting the website atth
1:02:54
Global Beauty awards.com uh the next Gala and Runway competition
1:03:00
will be held on April 12th and 13th of 2025 so I would love to see you there
1:03:07
mark sure I will take a look and see if I could manage and of course opening it
1:03:12
to the listeners um well besides that Jennifer thank you so much for for
1:03:19
sharing your whole story it was an incredible talk um thank you for talking about yourself uh about your journey uh
1:03:27
both from a from a professional perspective but also your time in Japan and your expert uh uh life also Japan
1:03:34
and Korea actually uh that part I didn't know before we started the interview so it's also nice to discover new things um
1:03:41
and it's it has been very inspiring to talking to to you about your life but
1:03:46
also seeing how how self uh empowering you can you can do and how you're
1:03:51
helping other people to to follow the steps that you took and taking it from your own experience it's very nice to
1:03:58
see um maybe the last obligated question would be for those who want to learn a
1:04:04
little bit more about you and maybe connect with you where where kind they find you social medias website uh
1:04:10
whatever uh what are your places of content let's say like this yes Mark it's been such a joy uh
1:04:18
please follow me you can check me out on my website it is Mrs Jennifer lloyd.com
1:04:24
there you can find a little bit more information about me look at my press kit I also have a small portfolio that
1:04:31
is available uh you can check me out on Instagram I'm very active on Instagram at Jennifer Eloy as well as Facebook and
1:04:39
Linkedin so I do hope to uh hear from you and thank you so very much again
1:04:44
mark thank you so much um again it was a very nice talk and to our audience as
1:04:51
always and then listeners uh you will have the links on the description for all the social media and the websites of

Outro
1:04:58
Jennifer so you can stay in touch um thank you for listening and joining us on this experts experts episode and
1:05:05
until next time keep exploring stay curious and take
1:05:14
care you've been listening to expat experts the podcast that takes you
1:05:19
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