We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Ivy Dominique a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Ivy Dominique, you’ve got such an interesting story, but before we jump into that, let’s first talk about a topic near and dear to us – generosity. We think success, happiness and wellbeing depends on authentic generosity and empathy and so we’d love to hear about how you become such a generous person – where do you think your generosity comes from?
It may surprise most people to know this , especially when they look at what my life looks like now and make assumptions, but I actually grew up poor.
My father worked very hard and even though we did not have much ourselves he still gave people the shirt off of his back and the food out of his mouth. My Father also taught me the value of doing “quiet charity”
The next thing you probably want to know is what exactly is quiet charity?
Quiet Charity is the act of doing charity without the need for validation, recognition or telling everyone about the good deed you just did, (especially on social media for clout) The people whose lives you have made a difference in are the only ones who should know that you helped them.
Believe it or not I was a regional and International pageant queen at one time and having that crown and sash provided a lot of additional opportunities to help people, but there was a caveat. I had to send detailed messages and take pictures of the good I was doing so that it could be posted on social media. At the end of the day it did not make me feel good and seemed like an exploitation of peoples misfortune so I closed that chapter of my life and went back to doing quiet charity.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I am a very mixed bag as far as what I do both personally and professionally.
I am a professional model who has been both fortunate and blessed to have walked international runways, appear on multiple billboards in Times Square, and graced the covers and pages of many prestigious magazines such as Harpers Bazaar, and Glamour with a few more lined up for this and next year. I was blown away when I was nominated and received both the Glamour magazine Woman of the Year Award as a survivor of DV and SA ,Advocate, and Philanthropist as well as The Presidents Lifetime Achievement Award.
As much as I enjoy modeling, I really found a passion in acting and have been working hard to learn and evolve my craft even using my martial arts background to further my stage combat and stunt training for a few upcoming films. Unfortunately with my busy schedule I don’t have as much time to devote to acting and modeling but there are only so many hours in the day after all.
As far as my muggle career well, I was a nurse for over 10 years and ended up changing trajectories to pursue my PhD and MD. (I actually will be finishing up my MD this year). I currently work in Research and Development in the field of aerospace medicine, technology and human factors in addition to being an analog astronaut. I also have some amazing new ventures in the works but I think I will keep that a secret for now…..
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Determination – or maybe I’m just stubborn. I have had a lot of obstacles to overcome throughout the years including Dyslexia, Fibromyalgia, and Chronic Fatigue, but once I set my mind on a goal, I will absolutely achieve it come hell or high water no matter how many times I need to change the path or strategies required to get there
Dedication- I truly believe that if you are going to dedicate the time ( which I consider my most valuable commodity) and effort to something, you truly have to believe in it, surround yourself with likeminded people and completely immerse yourself in the experience.
Discipline- With discipline comes sacrifice, you have to be prepared to stay focused and work towards your goals even while others are out having fun and you cant join them even though you really want to, However it is important that if you work hard you get a chance to play hard and enjoy the fruits of your labor. One important aspect of discipline is not just the body but the mind , discipline your mind to remain open not just to new knowledge but to other peoples suggestions or way of doing things, everyone has something valuable they can teach you as long as you are open to receiving the information
What would you advise – going all in on your strengths or investing on areas where you aren’t as strong to be more well-rounded?
I absolutely feel that it is imperative to not get comfortable and complacent by only relying on your strengths, in doing so you cheat yourself out of a tremendous opportunity for growth and accomplishment.
I believe the first step is to do an honest evaluation of what your strengths and weaknesses are and write them down, it is not an easy thing to do objectively for everyone so sometimes asking a trusted friend for feedback can be a valuable tool. These weaknesses can be physical ,psychological, physiological, or even spiritual
Looking at your list of strengths and weaknesses on paper allows you to have a visual picture and look for ways your strength can help you overcome your weaknesses as well as looking at how your weaknesses once improved can increase your current strengths or even give you new strengths.
Formulating a reasonable and attainable gameplan with a timeline and sticking to it can truly yield some lifechanging results.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: instagram.com/modelivydominique
- Other: IMDB imdb.me/ivydominique
Image Credits
Don Pittman Allison Brown Christopher Montero
