Bikini model at 61? Inspiring interview with Yazmeenah Rossi

Energies can be felt from the distance! And this is just the case! The interview with Yazmeenah Rossi did not only revealed her physical looks and what made the world curios about modelling at 61 but more about her inner power of being and creating Beautiful. This is what I wanted to reveal to your, too, dear readers! An introspection more than an exteriour exploration of what true beauty and growing beautiful through age can really mean. 

Dear Yazeemenah, please, share us with our readers the story of your life in key points !

I am  a paradoxe in the way that I love as much to be at home than to explore the World ....I am an artist in each field of my life .

During my childhood I grew up in nature and raised by my Corsican grand parents, this gave me strength to face the first school (and for life) where I had been rejected by other kids. Kids can be very cruel... they called me Italo, Romano, gipsy, dirty Arab, because of my name Yasmina Rossi that I changed legally 3 years ago for Yazemeenah by an Amazing concourse of circumstances . Having an Arabic first name and Italian last name was a hard combination in a world of primary racism. Kids did not want to play with me, spit on me... I was sad. However, this sadness now has been changed, it is the gravity we can see on my face. This rejection made me feel like an alien, but also made me go deep inside. I was apart, playing alone, very creative... and surprisingly this instilled in me a great feeling of safety, that everywhere I go I can rely on myself, without fears, feeling secure everywhere my inspiration guides me, as I can rely on my strong instincts. Resilient.

I believe these first life experiences where necessary for me to be who I am today. The rejection by my young peers has been a gift, obliging me to embrace myself in my uniqueness, feeling at a very early age linked with the Universe and the Nature surrounding me .

 I travel the World alone confident and love that.I feel at home everywhere simply because I am present and my Soul is confortable and secure with my body.

I started  modeling at 28 to replace a model who was sick for a company of a supplier of a friend of mine on a commercial show in Paris.

I learnt the hard way to defend my rights, that first time was tough, the people who employed me tried not to pay me what they promised, I had no contract. For me, having no experience working outside my home, I was quite shy, but since I needed the money that I hardly won I had to go out of my shell and request my Money almost fighting physically for it, me being a Pacifist ...Pacific warrior...! After that first experience I told myself "Never again". But as curious as I am, I also looked around during that show and saw that modeling could be a great opportunity to make some money and be free most of the time. So I investigated more and worked many years for companies as a fitting model, that is a field of the fashion industry not very known by the public, quite hard work. But all came on the right time as I was going to get divorced and be a single mother of two kids at age 33. I worked in prêt-à-porter for YSL, Jill Sander, Thierry Mugler, JLSherrer, Castet 2 Dior, Guy Laroche, Christian Lacroix, Gres, and many more... I mostly worked as a fitting model at commercial presentations. I did rare catwalk regarding my size : not tall enough and not thin enough, being a perfect 38 and not a 34 or 36.

I was working mostly for fur companies and in the 90's the fur market crawled down and I turned towards TV commercials. I took acting classes and really enjoyed acting. I started as well to work more and more, while aging, for printed campaigns especially for a great Japanese client Ysetan who  made me travel the World for many years. I left Paris, went to Cape Town, South Africa , and then NYC. I was 45, and right then, I had a turning point in my life as a model, as fitting was gone and now I was more on printed ads and tv commercials and learning a language that was not mine. I took some acting classes in NYC, always like a very shy inside voice who tried to get some attention about acting, but I just recently realized, since I am on the West coast, I could maybe give myself a chance as an actress... I am very excited about this now!

What part of your origins, genetics, childhood influenced the woman you are today ?

As I said above , coming from Mediterranean culture on my father side and living in a very natural and simply way but also from farer ancestry as Mongolian and hungarian on my mothrer side , imprinted in me a nomade way of living, minimalist, simple, a true luxury life .

What is your life philosophy ? Is there any secret behind it, are there any rules ?

My phylosopy is about freedom of spirit , follow what my higher self suggest me to do, to be .There are no spécial rules there than following what is in the présent , inspiration despite what can think other « good thinkers » ...no tags, no boxes, no religion other than the direct link with the Universe and the Divine.

The most important part of all is to have a good spirit, to look for good sides of difficult situations or in people around you and first to look  for the good in yourself. Be tolerant of others. Be kind to yourself. Love and cherish yourself because you are a miracle and nobody will care better than you for yourself. It cannot come from the outside it comes from within. 

About ageing...only ageing  brings maturation and it's the only way to be able to learn, develop, grow our consciouness of ourselves and the Universe we live in, The Divine. I really appreciate my ageing process. I feel better and better learning more and more how to respect my body with age. 

What is beauty to you ?

Beauty is being alive, healthy, présent, appreciative . Beauty is everywhere , to see it there is the need to be présent to be able to see even where it doesn't seems to have beauty.

Nature is pure beauty. Nature is always in perfect balance , this is primal beauty, the one I grew in , the one who imprinted me for ever. Then, Beauty as divine manifestions through humans can take many faces, shapes in all the Art forms .It is where we are direct expression of God as creators.IT can be for anything anytime ...I cannot live without Beauty ...even in making my breakfast it has to be beautiful to feed not only my body but my soul as well .It is about Love , love for the self , love for Life. For me it is impossible to dissociate Beauty  and Love.

Please, describe us your beauty routines ! How do you manage to have such an amazing skin and hair, such fit look?

What you see is not the result of the products I use as they are minimal but more about a way of living and thinking since a very long time .It did not happen in one day .

I wake up early , 5 / 6 am, I take time to feel, enjoy how it is comfortable to be in my body when I awake to be in a dreamy stage, I connect to the source, the universe , like a prayer, a meditation, I am meditative, mystique by nature ... I think of my dreams , when I remember them I wonder what is the message of the Guide within, sometimes I write them especially when they are full of details like if I lived really the situation , sometimes only an element pops out and focus my attention , so I go to the symbol level, observe what comes to my mind.

I take resolution for the day of things I desire to complete. I am happy of the new day starting...I stand up and put cold water on my face and some organic oil .
I then take a hot drink of water with lemon or apple cider vinegar, or any fresh herbal tea, ginger, reading my emails . Then 1/2 yoga or more depends of what I feel to do .Then I prepare my breakfast, I cook a real meal , you can check my Instagram , I post regularly what I do .

Shower, clean and organize my home and then work on my projects. Sometimes I go to auditions in the city.
Go for a walk end of the afternoon and do photography almost everyday following my inspiration.

In your life regime, is there any time for eating, any type of meat to eat, any kind of mix of vegetable, any trick?

Do you find yoga and meditation essential to a younger look ?

It is essential to well being and to be in balance and I guéss by way of conséquences it shows.I never practiced Yoga for a younger look.

Is health and youth something else that media exposes ? (regarding the standards of beauty imposed by media, the pharmaceutical industry on medication, the modelling world etc)

Yes, it is something else, it si something in fact very simple ... the world we are in make us believe that we need a lot of stuff and products to be healthy, beautiful ...this is all to make money .It is more simple than that but it takes dedication  and to have a curious spirit and to have common sense .It is about not relying on these « things » but to find Inside what is right for us , and we don't need a lot .Less space , less food, less things, less tags, and our lives become more simple and light.

Health is a state of balance with great energy , happiness, peace. It is the ability of the body to repair itself and I trust without doubt that the healing process is at work even through "dis- ease " to get in balance again.

Physical Youth is a cycle in human lifetime  but spiritual youth is the one that never fades .

So to define define youth is ...

...it is about how to be connected to the Spirit , the Divine , the invisible words...there the ris no time and space imprint ...

How is your relationships with people around you, including love relationships ?

I been raised alone by my grand parents, nomade always far from my family .I lived a little like an hermit, alone and love this .I am not suffering of loneliness at all.I am very exclusive and selective in friendship, my time is precious .I have no time to loose .. .I am not someone who spreads honey on the shoulders of people, I am very honest and direct but  I am also very loyal, generous.

When in love, relationship it is the same as with my friends, very very sélective but very open, generous, loving, caring, sexualy free, playful...I'll always see the beauty in others.

A woman your age can still attract men ?

My aunt 85 was in a spa for a cure during one month and she attracted a man who was 45, just because she has an amazing spirit , very open and joyful... a very interesting woman.

So, a woman my age or older can still attract men for sure. And very often much more younger , because men, as women, want to know how do we do to stay désirable and Alive ...

When I became public figure on Instgram I had access to my démographique statististics and discovered that the big majority of my followers's range age is 18 to 44...this validate why this attraction by younger people, men and women, they realize they are « aging » and start to worrie or wonder...but there are few followers in my range of age over 60...  this shows me also where is my energy level/ vibration as we all connect by résonance in the invisible subbtle world. Quite interresting how the external world shows about our inner one  

Is age just a number ? What defines a woman in time, in your opinion ?

A woman is a woman when she is a free human being, she is allowing herself to be herself, unique,  in her own power, who doesn't dépend on others for approval, for her care and happiness , and especially when she is free of tags as numbers are.

How do you see women through ages and decades that have passed by ?

Always changing but in the same time deep Inside always the same ...some are conditionned, oppressed,  some are rebels , it always been like this since eras.

What are the other opinions on you and your looks (by models, celebrities, people around you) ?

I don't know  really ...people says that I inspire them , that they love my way to be , to dress, to think .

What futur looks like for you ? Do you have new projects, new ideas ?

I don't know ...excited to discover what comes next ...I have the project of writting a book since more than 20 years and still did not felt the push to write it ...I guess because everyday something happen that makes me see things differently .I want to act in Science fictions movies and have some exhibitions projects as well.

Three words to describe you, three words to describe life !

Anticonformiste, paradoxe, lover. Miracle, Magic, exciting.

What would be your advise for women who want to look like you at your age ?

I never give advice, just informations. Everybody is different and has a different path and a special way to be on it. Be yourself, find what makes you unique, embrace this and go with it.

We are in an era of huge discoveries, there are new ways of living and working that are still not revealed, see how all the World changed since the internet era and the new fields that opened. Trust life, go where you like to go what makes you happy, even if it seems crazy for others. Follow your dreams, your desire, you can be surprised of the new things coming, totally unknown at this present day. So trust the little voice inside you and don't forget that sometimes the path takes some unpredictable turns. The Universe has its own special way. Don't bring resistance, resistance is sufferance, go through the pain in your body or a difficult time, avoiding things never makes them lighter. Everything is source of learning. The right path is often the uneasy one.

Feel free to follow her universe on 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yazemeenahrossi/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/yazemeenahrossi/

 

Editor : Andra Oprea