iDesign Lab
Welcome to the iDesign Lab a Podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design hosted by Tiffany Woolley an Interior Designer, a style enthusiast along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott. A place where they explore the rich and vibrant world of interior design and it’s constant evolution in style. iDesign Lab is your ultimate Interior design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and it’s constant evolution in style and trends. iDesign lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life through advice from trend setters, designers, influences, fabricators and manufacturers as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. Join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things Design. For more information about iDesign Lab and Tiffany & Scott Woolley visit the website at www.twinteriors.com/podcast.
iDesign Lab
Kim Alexis's Beauty to Wellness Journey
When a supermodel who graced over 500 magazine covers tells you she initially wanted to be a pharmacist, you know you're in for a fascinating story of life's unexpected turns. Kim Alexis joins us to share her remarkable journey from competitive swimmer to international modeling sensation to wellness advocate, revealing how each chapter of her life seamlessly connected to create a purpose-driven career that continues to evolve.
Discovered at just 17 in her small hometown near Buffalo, Kim's meteoric rise in modeling happened almost overnight – landing her first magazine cover within four days and a national makeup contract within three months. But what makes her story truly compelling isn't the glamour, but her steadfast commitment to authenticity throughout her career. "I enjoyed being humble," she reflects, explaining how her Christian faith guided her to prioritize serving others above personal fame.
The conversation takes us through Kim's fascinating career transitions – from replacing Lauren Hutton at Revlon to becoming Good Morning America's fashion correspondent to her current role as National Wellness Ambassador for Trilogy by Shea Homes. Now crafting healthy menus, creating fitness content, and inspiring active adults across the country, Kim's work beautifully connects to her original passion for health and wellness. Her kitchen experiments with kombucha, sourdough starters, and homemade "shrubs" (fascinating vinegar infusions!) reveal someone who truly practices the holistic lifestyle she promotes.
What resonates most is Kim's refreshing approach to social media and influence. Refusing to "dilute her brand" with paid product promotions, she shares knowledge purely to help others, creating content herself that's authentic, informative, and genuinely useful. Her message for women designing their best lives, especially in second or third acts? Focus on prevention, maintain what you have, and approach wellness with encouragement rather than perfection.
Listen in for a master class in reinvention from someone who's continually redesigned her life with purpose, faith, and an unwavering commitment to helping others thrive. Follow Kim's wellness journey @the_kimalexis on Instagram and discover her practical approach to living well.
Learn more at:
https://twinteriors.com/podcast/
https://scottwoolley.com
This is iDesign Lab, a podcast where creativity and curiosity meet style and design. Curator of interiors, furnishings and lifestyles. Hosted by Tiffany Woolley, an interior designer and a style enthusiast, along with her serial entrepreneur husband Scott, idesign Lab is your ultimate design podcast where we explore the rich and vibrant world of design and its constant evolution in style and trends. Idesign Lab provides industry insight, discussing the latest trends, styles and everything in between to better help you style your life, through advice from trendsetters, designers, influencers, innovators, fabricators and manufacturers, as well as personal stories that inspire, motivate and excite. And join us on this elevated, informative and lively journey into the world of all things design.
Tiffany Woolley:We welcome Kim Alexis, iconic supermodel turned wellness powerhouse, as the National Wellness Ambassador for Trilogy by Shea Holmes. Kim crafts healthy menus, writes inspiring wellness content and motivates communities to move, thrive and live life fully. With a legendary modeling career, a passion for health and a drive to uplift others, kim's design for life is nothing short of inspiring. Who is in Scottsdale, arizona? So we are remote today, but we're looking forward to a great conversation. Kim Alexis is going to tell us a little bit about herself, but she was found at just 17 years old as an international supermodel and has designed a career with staying power, and we're excited to hear how now her life is focused around the health and wellness and hear a lot about the details in between. Welcome.
Kim Alexis:Welcome, yeah, thanks, it's really good to see you.
Scott Woolley:It's been a very long time since I last seen you.
Tiffany Woolley:Yes, you and Scott have a history, which is fun.
Scott Woolley:Going back to the late 90s, is it?
Kim Alexis:Going back to the late 90s, is it? Well, we had a show called Parenting in the 90s and then it hit the 2000s, and then we did Parenting and. Beyond Correct.
Tiffany Woolley:That's like right when we did Meet, we did a lot of episodes of that show. That was before.
Scott Woolley:Scott was a parent. Yes, yes, and I changed my life around after I became a parent. I only wanted to have three children. I didn't want to have 200 and some children. I guess that's good, we sold that company and now doing different things.
Tiffany Woolley:Yes, we are.
Scott Woolley:So I want to jump in with Kim. Your career started at 17.
Kim Alexis:I mean, I was discovered at 17 in my small little town in Buffalo. Well, I was from outside of.
Kim Alexis:Buffalo. I used to drive into Buffalo to go to modeling school and I got discovered there at 17. So I graduated high school at 17 and decided when I turned 18 that I would just give it a shot and try modeling for a year and could always go back to college. So I was registered at the University of Rhode Island in the pharmacy program and put them off for a year, thinking I was just going to see what transpired with the modeling. And I had a cover within four days for Italian Bazaar and things just took off immediately. I had my first national makeup ad within three months and it was a whirlwind.
Tiffany Woolley:That is a whirlwind.
Scott Woolley:So did that all start in Buffalo or did you end up going to?
Kim Alexis:New York, by the way, or somewhere else. I graduated high school and moved to New York City literally at 18. So I started my career in New York City.
Scott Woolley:But you were, if I remember correctly, a competitor. You swam, correct.
Kim Alexis:Yes, yeah, I was swimming five and a half hours a day. I was number one in New York state. I was a butterflyer and a backstroker, so, um, we were always in the pool. I mean, my hair was always wet. I used to show up at the modeling school with wet hair.
Scott Woolley:Did you have aspirations of like Olympics or anything like that? Swimming wise Cause five hours a day? That's a dedication.
Kim Alexis:I know. No, I was kind of happy to be number one in New York State. I, I don't know, I don't think we did nationals um, but no, I I thought that I was going to be a pharmacist, so I was ready to go to a five-year college to get a degree, and that all changed it.
Tiffany Woolley:It's interesting that, like your life kind of did come full circle, with your passion now being in the health and wellness and you were going to dive into pharmaceuticals and you were an athlete, so it's kind of like the modeling was a little pathway, it was a sidebar. A sidebar, that's a better way of explaining it.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, a little sidebar, but swimming is very competitive and, from what I know of modeling, modeling is extremely competitive, correct?
Kim Alexis:No, I would say modeling. To me, modeling was not because you either had the look or whatever they wanted. And it was nothing that you could do. Your efforts did not create the job in my opinion so interesting.
Scott Woolley:But as you grew in modeling and you're on over 500 magazine covers, I mean you stayed pretty grounded, you stayed like.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, I just. I mean, I got knocked off my peg a couple life and I was one of those self-reflecting, always checking in with myself to see where I could improve or change, and so I was willing to make changes because I enjoyed being humble. Oh, that's amazing. And I'm a Christian. So I feel like my job is to serve others Right, and so I felt more comfortable being down to earth than I did being up in the clouds. So I guess that's where I wanted to end up. I just want to. I mean, you can't ever say you're humble, because if you claim you're humble, then you're not Correct. But I try my best to help and serve others and put other people first, and that's just important to me.
Tiffany Woolley:So what was a highlight of your career at that time of your life, like, was it a magazine cover, or was it, you know, traveling abroad, or what was the drive or the highlight?
Kim Alexis:I can't say what the drive was, except I I dove into a business that I never wanted which I always feel is a lucky way of stumbling in when you never wanted it.
Kim Alexis:You don't have anything to lose well, I think a lot of your successful models never grew up studying fashion and um thinking about modeling or thinking about makeup. We were always doing other things, and so it was just an opportunity to see what would come of it, and it became a challenge in a way, I guess, to see what was out there and when things keep getting handed to you. I was being offered 14 jobs a day.
Kim Alexis:And so I could pick and choose. It's hard to walk away from that, so I spent probably five years hard working, working every day. I mean I've got boxes and boxes of tear sheets where you can imagine one of the few businesses where you can physically and visually see what you did and so you can tell that I was just always working, because I have literally like five boxes banker boxes filled with tear sheets.
Scott Woolley:So is there a moment in your career at that time that kind of stands out? Like you know, you're Sports Illustrated. You were in it numerous times, yeah.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, sports Illustrated was more up my alley. Number one I was athletic. Number two I grew up swimming, so to me, being in a swimsuit was very natural right so funny, so yeah that was pretty easy for me.
Kim Alexis:Uh, the hard parts was the high fashion which I had not grown up with and didn't really understand, so I spent a lot of time just being quiet and listening to all the experts and I was around the top experts in photography I mean, the best photographers in the world and the best hair and the best makeup people in the world and back then everyone stayed in their lane. So if you were a hairdresser, you only did hair, you did hair. If you were a assistant to a photographer, you were into lighting or you were into the sound. If it was for video, everybody had their own lane.
Voice Over:Now, of course, we all have to write our own scripts and light it.
Kim Alexis:I mean, I've got my own light here. You get to be an expert in all these other aspects and I fought it for a long time. Like I'm not doing that, everybody should come to me and I'll just do this one thing. Good, and back in the day you know how older people are like. Back in the day we did things this way, right?
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah.
Kim Alexis:Well, times change and you better change with them or you're going to be left in the dust times change and you better change with them or you're going to be left in the dust.
Tiffany Woolley:So when did things start to change where you were like, well, let me step away a little bit at all, or did you feel like you kind of always stayed in the in the modeling realm for?
Kim Alexis:No, so I think probably things changed when I got a contract, so I was the ultimate two girl. I replaced Lauren Hutton, okay.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, yeah.
Kim Alexis:It was Revlon, so I was paid to be exclusive and to not work in other modeling jobs. They wanted me exclusive, so that contract lasted three years. When that ended, I couldn't go backwards. Three years when that ended, I couldn't go backwards. So my name had my face, facial recognition, my name. Everything had changed and back in the 70s and 80s we weren't really thinking of brands like my name wasn't a brand, and so I naturally had protected that without knowing I was protecting it.
Kim Alexis:And so now I was a name, household name and a brand and I couldn't go back and do those catalogs the other girls were doing. So I had to figure out other ways to have a career and make money and so I went into broadcasting. I became the fashion correspondent on Good Morning America for three years and so I learned that craft and then went off to do hosting different cable shows back in the day when cable was a big thing.
Kim Alexis:And you're redesigning your life in this process and then worked with Scott, which is really amazing because you didn't realize it at the time.
Tiffany Woolley:But I mean, we talk about this on the podcast a lot, how we all are our own brand and you were kind of ahead of the curve curating that. It's so interesting that you were able to push yourself to join all these other platforms.
Kim Alexis:Well, and I think another thing to think about is that there are a lot of beautiful girls out there. I guess you'd say girls versus women, but to have the business sense, to be able to get to a certain point, modeling is a whole other thing to have that mindset.
Kim Alexis:So it's a whole package. It's not just the physical looks, it is how you conduct your life, and some of these girls would throw things away and and um not show up on time and um not be good to clients. Paint their brand, yeah, and for some I mean it kind of was okay with the bad girl image, but uh, not for longevity.
Tiffany Woolley:yeah, yeah't last For the long world it's not. That's unbelievable. So, as a brand ambassador for Revlon, what do you think you know was the that you learned the most from that experience?
Kim Alexis:Well, I got to work with my mother a lot. So there was a one product they had called ProCollagen and it was three generations. So my mom got to work with me.
Tiffany Woolley:Oh, that's so. What a wonderful like tidbit.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, that was wonderful, and my grandmother did not want to be in it, so we found a woman and called her Aunt Nancy. That's so funny, yeah, but it was. That was in itself wonderful, and my mom had never modeled before and at the time she was probably about 45. I was in my 20s like early 20s, so she was probably about 45 and started at the top and she's like, oh, this is so much fun, it's wonderful, and I'm like Mom, you started at the top so for her.
Kim Alexis:Once my contract ended, hers kind of came to a screeching halt also. But that was a fun time to be able to work with her and help her see my world from the ground floor, you know.
Scott Woolley:So it was neat what was your experience, you know, with the show on HBO that about face.
Kim Alexis:Yes, yeah, that was fun number one.
Kim Alexis:It was like a reunion to be with all the other models right um, because a lot of times when we worked we would work alone, so you were on set with hair, makeup and everyone else, but it wasn't like you were with a lot of your other top girls, so to be able to be in a room and talk with them and then have an interview, and we all did super long interviews and then they just took bits and pieces from each one of us. Long interviews and then they just took bits and pieces from each one of us. But yeah, it was. Uh, it was really fun to catch up with the girls that we had seen off and on here and there and and just get to hang out for the day that's interesting, that you know.
Scott Woolley:I think most people think that all of you were together all the time on these different shoes and stuff, but I guess, not Even the Sports Illustrated swimsuits.
Kim Alexis:They would overlap if they needed a double shot of two girls, but each girl got their own like five days of working by themselves, and sometimes then someone else would fly in and someone else would be flying out, and so you'd get to do like I've done doubles with Paulina and also Kelly Enberg, and so each one of us had our own time versus standing there it's hard, because if you're sitting around watching someone else work.
Kim Alexis:It's like, okay, why am I here? So their time best used was using each one of us all day for a couple of days and then rotating out.
Tiffany Woolley:Do you stay in touch with any of those girls or even, like you said, the people that were you were really with the most, like the photographers and the makeup and hair?
Kim Alexis:Yes, well, social media makes it easy to stay in touch that way. But I have certain girlfriends that were models and we, if I'm going to New York, I'll stay with Carol Alter, nancy Donahue and I just saw Kelly Enberg. She comes to Scottsdale. One of her other friends was here having a birthday so we got to hang out together and it's just one, it's like a sister and they understand aspects of the business that other people don't, and so it's that insider. Oh yeah, I know how that feels, type thing.
Scott Woolley:So you just mentioned social media, which we see you quite a bit on. We follow you on it, oh good. Again, you've redesigned your life and you're so involved in health and wellness and you know, tell us more about that, because it's a great subject matter, and I just think the things you're doing are great as well. I mean just it's.
Kim Alexis:So for me, I think, with the pharmacy interest, in my background.
Kim Alexis:I was very interested in cause and effect. What we do here affects what we're like here, and that includes health and wellness. And so I started diving into products and because I came from marketing, where you market a product of what it will do for you, I I wanted to. I just had this natural curiosity of, okay, well, maybe it makes my skin smoother or maybe it makes my life better or maybe it smells better, but what is that doing to my health? So not the marketing aspect of how it helps you or makes your life easier or more beautiful or whatever it is, but what? How does that affect you health-wise? And so that's where I started diving in social media and I remember my first filming and I'd hired a PR, a local PR company here in Scottsdale.
Voice Over:And.
Kim Alexis:I thought, you know, because I'd had so much background with Good Morning America, that it would be easy, easy. But it's a different format and so I had to write my own scripts and they helped light and they helped shoot the video and stuff. But for me it was oh, now, all of a sudden I've got the research and I have a platform and I'm responsible for what I say, and nobody else.
Kim Alexis:I didn't have to run it by anybody, and so it's a whole different way of filming and being out there. And I tell you, most of the time I love listening to the feedback from people, but sometimes there are some really mean people out there, really.
Tiffany Woolley:I know, and that's where your mindset has to stay, above all of that.
Kim Alexis:Well, I try and answer everybody, but some of their comments don't really deserve an answer.
Tiffany Woolley:An answer yeah, they're very accusatory.
Kim Alexis:For the most part, though, most of my 99% of the people who interact with me on social media are wonderful and kind and supportive and loving and respectful, but there's once in a while where you get these weird crude. It's like what are you talking?
Tiffany Woolley:about. Well, that's kind of everywhere in life, you know, and it becomes part of the, you know.
Kim Alexis:Staying away from those types of people everywhere, in every aspect, yeah, so, as you dove into this, you know, new life of national wellness ambassador with Trilogy yes, so I work with Trilogy by Shea Homes and they've got communities around the country and they're active adult communities and they wanted to deliver a message to their members of health and wellness and so they've got different people they work with, but they hired me to come on and deliver that health and wellness message. So I do things from curating menu items at their local clubs, their restaurants, to fitness videos, and I write articles every week on different parts of wellness or highlighting something that's important, and monthly videos also on their newsletter.
Tiffany Woolley:So what does that design process look like for you? Do they give you input, like we would like you to you know, center around this this week or highlight this this month, or is it something that you, if I'm writing, articles.
Kim Alexis:yes, each month has a theme nationwide, and so we will write on things that deal with the theme of the month.
Scott Woolley:So you're writing menus, menus, so you're writing.
Kim Alexis:No, no, no. I write articles on some point of wellness or fitness, or we've just gotten a new app and gym equipment and ways to monitor your natural age, and so it's trying to educate the members on. Use this app and you'll get exercises you can do at home or different ways to be able to map the progress and age that you currently are.
Tiffany Woolley:So it's pretty neat. That is very interesting. How does the app like? Are you on the app yourself so like, are you actually taking advantage of some of the same technology?
Kim Alexis:I take advantage of it, but they don't have me on the app. It's techno gym, and so I believe that they already are established with other people and I'm not leading a class or something on their app yet, although I am studying to be a certified fitness instructor. I saw that too.
Tiffany Woolley:So what fitness are you like kind of honing in on? I know like so much, Well so it's.
Kim Alexis:It would be a group class and that could be anything from, and I'm not a dancer, so you're not going to see me doing Zumba? I think it would to me. I like strength training and circuit training. So it would probably be more of that, but I just felt it was important to get the certification so that others feel comfortable. Sometimes certain states don't require any certification for an instructor, which is very interesting.
Scott Woolley:So do you plan on being an instructor and teaching and training?
Kim Alexis:That's not my number one priority no. I've got a lot of irons in the fire. I'm also a real estate agent, so I took the whole real estate course and got licensed just because I'm working with builders. So Shea Homes is a national builder and I wanted to understand the whole process of buying and selling homes. Yeah.
Tiffany Woolley:So are they based in Arizona Shea Homes or are they everywhere?
Kim Alexis:They're everywhere. The original Shea Brothers are out of California but we have an office that's six minutes from my house here in Scottsdale and so I go there quite a bit. I was on a live podcast with them yesterday talking about where I came from and how I got to where I was in the wellness industry. So we did that and we are just constantly developing. This is a. In a way, it's a whole new area for someone of my expertise, um area for someone of my expertise, um number one.
Kim Alexis:there's not many supermodels that focus solely on longevity and fitness and wellness. They don't have my fitness background. I I always struggled in modeling because I was a little bit bigger and more muscular than the other girls and sometimes that doesn't fit. The clothes didn't fit so well, so I tried to prove that I was an athlete and I ran eight marathons.
Tiffany Woolley:Amazing, amazing, and it looks like you're keeping that up, that athletic background, right.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, yeah. So yeah, fitness is important, wellness was important and it's so. Some of the other girls are off. I have one of my girlfriends is in real estate and I have another one who's doing what you do, tiffany, which is interior design, and so we all had our different passions, and so it's nice to see us growing up and maturing.
Tiffany Woolley:It really is, and continually learning too. Yes, I feel like that is such an important part of growing in our life is to continue to try new things, challenge ourselves and learn Well and I never went to college and.
Kim Alexis:I loved school, so I am now making up for lost time. I'm also halfway through a ministry degree, so to me I've been a.
Tiffany Woolley:Bible study leader.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, so I just enjoy that aspect and I'd like to have that also.
Tiffany Woolley:How special actually. So with this shake because it's funny I was telling Scott last night I'm so I'm going to dive even more into that because I feel like kind of the golf community thing was a time in the world and now people are moving into these wellness communities and I've had a lot of clients relocating or empty nesters moving.
Tiffany Woolley:You know to retirement. They're young, they're like in their mid-50s. You know they had and they are choosing to go to these communities. You know that are centered around health and wellness. You know the interaction with other people coming. You know whether it be a new marriage. It's really like kind of a fresh start.
Scott Woolley:Yeah, in this area, the company that does it has a lot of these communities. Gl Homes yeah, there's so many of them. That has a lot of these communities. Gl Homes there's so many of them. There's five houses right now that we're doing that are in these GL Home communities. That are the 50-plus communities where people are leaving where they've lived, moving here, buying one of these houses and Tiffany's renovating the whole house because it's probably 15 or 20 years old. But when the clients are coming in here, it's all about health, wellness and pickleball.
Tiffany Woolley:Yeah, pickleball's a big one.
Voice Over:I know.
Scott Woolley:But about the community and the menu you know and the food that they're serving, and that's the conversation people are all looking at.
Tiffany Woolley:And they're not stopping, they're continuing. The growth is just going right up the coast.
Kim Alexis:It's like kind of a fascinating niche yeah yeah, well, it's where I think people are understanding the value of a healthy, active lifestyle and socially interconnected with each other, and these communities are, if they're done correctly, offer so much that you may be in that last chapter of your life we don't know how long we're going to live but you want to do it well and you want to feel good, and so keeping with other like-minded people in a community is a neat thing it really is special, yeah these people I mean, they are the, the ones at the shea trilogies are just such great people and they've had such great lives and as
Kim Alexis:you talked about everybody's got this great history, yep, but they all want the same thing they want to feel good as they're older, they want to celebrate life, they want to celebrate each other and get out there and do different things and there's so many activities and you just feel part of a community and it's that you don't have to live alone or live in the home you had when your kids were there.
Tiffany Woolley:And now they're all gone, so true, which is such a mindset. So as, like you know, you're in this journey of the fitness and health, what does your daily personal routine look like for health and wellness on my counter.
Kim Alexis:I did a video on that. I'm like here's what's going on in my kitchen and my counter, so I've got kombucha tea. That.
Voice Over:I have going.
Kim Alexis:I've got my sourdough yeast starter that I have to keep feeding every day.
Tiffany Woolley:And mine is completely nuts.
Kim Alexis:It blows up when I open it. Oh, that's so funny. So I'm a big person on having healthy well things in my pantry, all around my counter. My poor husband, he's just got to deal with all the different things I've got going on. I've learned how to make shrubs. I don't know if you know what shrubs are no, no.
Scott Woolley:What is that?
Kim Alexis:so shrubs is taking like a mason jar, okay, adding herbs, or I mean I have a rosemary bush that's crazy in my backyard and I've got basil growing in my and thyme growing in my garden and so you shove that in the mason jar. And then I've got citrus fruit, because we live here in Scottsdale, so right outside my door, and I take citrus fruit and I crush it up and pour the juice in there and then throw the rinds in and then you add red wine, vinegar and sugar so that it starts to ferment and all those flavors start to make an essence. And after a couple days or weeks whatever you want you just pour out the shrub part, the sticks in the, in the leaves and things, and you're just left with this elixir of a part vinegary part, essence of whatever you just had in there. So you can add that to. I don't drink alcohol, but you can add it to alcohol, or you can add it to water or seltzer water, and what does it?
Scott Woolley:taste. What does it taste like? Is it?
Kim Alexis:well it. I mean I like using my rosemary and my citrus, so it's got that bit of essence in it oh, it sounds really cool, so my counter is I think for me I'm. I'm always keeping healthy options in my pantry so that I'm one of those last men I'm not a real, real planner.
Kim Alexis:So dinner sometimes at four o'clock it's like, hmm, I have this, I can mix it with this and I can put this and that's dinner, and so for me I have to be spontaneous and just have all my little tools around me so that I can create when the mood hits me. And as far as fitness, I've got got a gym. I love some of the classes because, as I said, I'm taking my own instructor course, so I want to see what other people are doing, but I'm a big believer in just going out and going for a bike ride for an hour. I've got a single speed bike. I don't have a big fancy bike with all the gears because I want to work out.
Kim Alexis:I don't want to be like efficient and going 25 miles an hour so I stay on the out. I don't want to be like efficient and going 25 miles an hour on the road. That scares the heck out of me. So I stay on the sidewalk and I'm just on my little beach cruiser and chugging along and probably burning more calories than they do. So that's important to me, just getting. I walk my dog every day. I have to get outside, I have to be outside. It's really important and it's easy here to do in Scottsdale.
Scott Woolley:Yeah.
Tiffany Woolley:So are you enjoying living in Scottsdale?
Kim Alexis:I yes, I love it.
Tiffany Woolley:Was it a big change for you, coming from South Florida? Well, south Florida, north Florida.
Kim Alexis:Actually, I actually came from New York City, so I've moved around.
Kim Alexis:So I met my husband now when I was in Boulder, colorado, and then I moved to New York City and then he and I started dating and I thought I'd rather live here in Scottsdale than in New York City. So he had been established here, and so now I've got girlfriends and a life and just enjoy being out here. I do miss my sons, who are back in Florida, so I've got probably this a lot of travel coming up, as my first grandchild is going to be coming in two months.
Tiffany Woolley:So do we know if it's a girl or a boy? It's a little boy, oh I love it. It's just keeping coming. I know I said it. I know a little boy, oh, I love it, it's just keeping coming. I know I said it, I know You'll just have all my grandsons.
Scott Woolley:Oh, I don't. Three sons and a grandson.
Tiffany Woolley:Well it was funny because my grandmother always she wanted like a grandson too and it took like a lot of them to finally get a grandson. So I pray you'll get. I'm sure you will get there, but it's exciting.
Scott Woolley:So, with all the things that you're doing and you've done, you've also written a number of books. Yes, anything new on the horizon.
Kim Alexis:No, I kind of slowed down from that. So for a while I was a contributor a wellness contributor with Men's Journal, and so I was writing three articles of 500 words a day for Men's Journal.
Voice Over:And so I got a little burned out.
Kim Alexis:Writing. Yeah, that's a lot.
Tiffany Woolley:I'm taking a break burned out writing.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, that's a lot. I'm taking a break.
Scott Woolley:You mean your career has really it's been kind of all over the map in terms of all these very interesting things and it's nice that it's all like in the health you know and wellness and taking care of yourself and living longevity and philosophy and faith.
Tiffany Woolley:I mean you really touch a lot of facets.
Voice Over:Where did your?
Tiffany Woolley:faith journeys, you know, come into play and then you decide to.
Kim Alexis:I grew up a Christian and I went to a church with my mom and my sister. My dad didn't want to go. He was a chemical engineer and he felt that we couldn't prove God existed, so he was not going to church. But I was an elder of my church at 17. Before I got discovered and went to New York City, they wanted young people's opinions, so I was an elder. But then I went to New York City and, of course, life happened in tons of different situations and by the time I hit 30, I was struggling in my first marriage and I had hired a young girl who was a Christian and I realized she would live with me in New York City and she was helping take care of my two sons at the time I only had two and just the way she lived her life, I'm like I want what you have. What is it that you have that?
Tiffany Woolley:I don't.
Kim Alexis:So it was Jesus in my heart, and so I asked for that also, and my journey has just been wonderful and life changing. From that point on, the more you study, I think, the more you learn that it changes your heart and who you are inside it really does, and is that something that you spoke about to your boys as well? Oh yes. Oh yes, oh yeah. I know and I feel like from a very young age one, becoming a parent.
Tiffany Woolley:It's such a great foundation that you know everything in life is built on. Yes.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, because he made it all.
Tiffany Woolley:It's so true In fact, I this year started what catechism in a year I'm like, I listened to so many podcasts I said let me at least do 20 minutes every morning to I'm a Catholic. And on day three it was. It was a whole thing on how, wherever you know there is a design, it was created by him. So wherever it was and I was like, oh, I'm on the right track. It was like a good aha moment for me that you know we were pushing through on the right thing, because wherever there is a thing, it was created and designed by someone. And obviously God created us and this world and this life that we get to you know, conquer and enjoy.
Kim Alexis:Walking my dog. I'll look at the beautiful flowers and, believe it or not, Scottsdale, there's tons of beautiful flowers. Even the cactus bloom once a year, and so I just look at the intricacy of each different flower and it's like, wow, so much work was put into and artistry was put into each little tiny flower.
Tiffany Woolley:It's true, our God is an awesome God. I mean for the bugs to the flowers, girls, and I say I say to them all the time when they bring something up, I'm like it's just our God is really like everything was thought out with such intention, which goes back to design too. I feel like you know, Except mosquitoes and fire ants. But they all serve a purpose too.
Kim Alexis:I'm going to ask what that purpose. I'm sure they feed the bats or something, but do we have to have bats?
Tiffany Woolley:I know we love to entertain and at our house we have this one friend who the bugs we like are always outside. Nobody has any bug situation and every time she comes over she's got the bugs well is, and that could be because some does.
Kim Alexis:She drink beer no, no like they. There's a sweet smell that comes out if people have a lot of sugar or something, and a yeasty smell if they drink beer, and so some people attract way more bugs than others. It's true, but then there's things you can plant like rosemary and mint, around the doorways or your windows, wherever you feel bugs might be coming in your house, and those are supposed to deter bugs and different things. So you know, life itself with plants is pretty interesting too.
Tiffany Woolley:Yes, have you ever done the sprouts? If you're into the, I love sprouts that was another thing. I tried in like 2020, when we were home a lot.
Scott Woolley:Because, yeah.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, you have to do that again. Right, You'll think about it and I was like, oh, I just thought about it. I was like, oh, I need to bring that back out, Throw it in salads.
Tiffany Woolley:Right, and they say the broccoli sprouts is a good one too, for everything.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, broccoli alfalfa. I love alfalfa.
Scott Woolley:So you started your career in front of the camera, with people taking photos and being videoed and so forth, and now you're what I notice you're at a point in your life where you're doing so much of it yourself for social media and so forth. So you seem to be extremely engaged within social media and promoting and promoting health and wellness and so forth. Do you enjoy that process of you know, videoing yourself and getting messages out and so forth?
Kim Alexis:Yes. So I try not to focus too much on me, but what I can give other people to help, either inspire them or help them out. One thing I won't do is collaborate, so I don't dilute my brand by promoting any product for money. So everything I do is free and I don't get paid by anyone. I don't believe in that, because if I'm going to promote something, it's as an ambassador, as an endorser, which I do for Trilogy by Shea Holmes, so I'm not interested in these tiny little. Oh here, get this little mascara and then I make $10.
Scott Woolley:Right, no, but I have to tell you, because we've talked about this, the stuff that you're putting out is really good. It's entertaining. Well, and it's authentic, it's authentic, it's, it's entertaining, it's authentic, it's interesting and you know, and you say, I think everyone wants to also watch you. You're a great presenter.
Kim Alexis:Oh well, thank you, yeah, and I do it all just by myself. Last week I got kind of got a little irked at a comment, and so once in, once in a while, like you need to turn those off.
Scott Woolley:You need to just ignore.
Kim Alexis:No, I respond, and so I did one with absolutely no makeup on natural light, no filters. I mean, people accuse me of using filters. I'm like I'm not using filters. This is just I don't know how to use a filter. Oops, the cat, just cat, just walked off the couch.
Tiffany Woolley:I love that.
Kim Alexis:She's so cute. Her food is right behind my camera here.
Scott Woolley:So funny, but do you enjoy that? The whole social media process?
Kim Alexis:I do and what's interesting. I'm not sure what drives me. I feel I just me. I feel I just I just want to express who I am and what's on my heart, but that it helps other people or that they're encouraged or inspired. I don't like the ones that are irked.
Scott Woolley:You need to just ignore those people, because the stuff you're putting out is very good those people because the stuff you're putting out is very good.
Kim Alexis:Oh well, thank you. Yeah, yeah, but I do it. I believe that when you read people's intentions of why they do what they do like being on this podcast, it's it's not for me to make myself better, it's to help other people and inspire other people and help. I've been through so much and I've learned so much that, yeah, it's my responsibility. I mean, I'm a very big believer. To much is given, much is required.
Kim Alexis:I say that all the time, and so I'm giving back and paying forward of what I've learned and maybe it can inspire other people, but I don't do it for monetary gain. It can inspire other people, but I don't do it for monetary gain. I do it just because it's on my mind and in my heart and I spit it out, do you?
Scott Woolley:but I don't think it comes across in any way like that is a monetary gain whatsoever now you're coming, you come across very naturally and I have to say that Shea Holmes should be extremely happy that they have you as an ambassador.
Kim Alexis:They are they are, and they're I mean every single person I've met that works at those company the company itself either, whether it's Shea or Blue Star, which handles their clubs and their golf clubs such nice people, I mean just kind, nice, caring people, and it's so great to work in that environment and to be respected for what I do and just to be able to contribute and help the members. So tomorrow I'm flying to Vegas. There's an opening of a new club and so it's fun to just go see new members who are just signing their first house deal and moving into this community and they don't know what they're going to expect. Wow, it's so neat to meet these people and realize that they've made such a good investment in their future. You know that they're with like-minded people that are kind and generous and caring, and so it's been wonderful.
Tiffany Woolley:And they're embarking on an exciting next chapter.
Kim Alexis:Exactly.
Tiffany Woolley:So when you're working on your social media, for example, do you like have a game plan set out at all or do you make like okay, you know like obviously are you doing content as the people?
Voice Over:say Scheduling, you mean Scheduling and yeah, so.
Kim Alexis:I hire people that, um, I I spit out what video. I do so for me, and there's a bunch of stuff rolling around in my head right now that I want to spit out and so I get behind me is our prompter.
Kim Alexis:So we do have a teleprompter, which I love, and we just got that um, so I could do longer scripts. If I'm going to dive into, let's say, magnesium as a supplement and what does it do for you, and it might be a three, four minute long video that I don't want to memorize by just yeah talk or memorize and kind of spitting it out.
Kim Alexis:So, um, we do have prompter capability, but a lot of my stuff is short and sweet and, again, I'm not there to sell a product but to just tickle you with an idea that maybe this will help your life, or maybe you should look into this, or maybe you should avoid cleaning your house with, you know, certain toxins, and there's just so much that's out there. And so, depending on where I'm at in my, if I'm around the house for a long time and and my husband's not around, I will spit out a bunch of videos, a different bunch of different videos, and it's almost like it's it's stirring up in my, in my insides, and I have to spit it out, spit it out, you have to get it out.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, and so once I spit it out. So I've done the lighting, I've done the script, I've done the filming.
Tiffany Woolley:You might as well do a few more, then I give it to my people to edit.
Kim Alexis:And so they edit and they put it in a file of a group of different ones, and we spit one out every day.
Tiffany Woolley:And do you primarily?
Voice Over:stay on Instagram or do you do other, I guess.
Scott Woolley:I'm on Instagram, she's on LinkedIn, she's on a number of different platforms.
Kim Alexis:I'm on.
Scott Woolley:TikTok, LinkedIn. Right, so you do.
Tiffany Woolley:TikTok. God bless, that's where my kids are and I'm like I get stuck in an old school. I figure one out and I stay there.
Kim Alexis:Well, Tiffany's just an instagram person well, I'm more visual yeah yeah, well, yeah, and they each have their own platform and following and yeah, and then trying to keep up some videos immediately get tons of of comments, and so you try and stay on top of that and others are oh, that one didn't do so well so are you personally responding back on all of these, the content you're putting out? I do on LinkedIn, facebook and Instagram. I have someone that does TikTok for me. What else do I do? I guess that's probably it.
Scott Woolley:You are very busy, really busy, but they guess that's probably it.
Tiffany Woolley:You are very busy.
Scott Woolley:I know really busy.
Tiffany Woolley:But they say that's so healthy it is. They say it's so healthy for our minds to stay active and stay connected and always be learning. Yes, it's a huge.
Kim Alexis:If I'm not learning, I'm researching or reading an article. I you know that's. What's good for me about email and newsletters is that you get ones that are important to you and the research and learning and wow, I never thought about that Like there's ones on mouthwash and how the health of your teeth affects your gut health, and I'm like, oh okay.
Tiffany Woolley:I know, have you started doing the tongue scraping?
Kim Alexis:No, no, I do the oil pulling, but not the tongue scraping yeah the pulling.
Tiffany Woolley:I haven't done that one yet, but I've heard of that one.
Kim Alexis:I know there's just so many, yeah, yeah. So tip on that one. If you're using coconut oil and you swish your mouth, you can go from like five minutes to 20 minutes, but when you spit it out, spit it out in the garbage, not in your sink, because sometimes it can clog the sink.
Tiffany Woolley:That's so crazy. Okay, we got to try that one. So what's your ultimate message for women designing their best life, especially in a second act or possibly even a third act?
Kim Alexis:I'm a big believer in prevention and so anticipating things, trying to maintain what you've got. And I'm a big believer in encouraging, because if you're despondent, you can have all the information in the world, but you don't have that move to do something about it. And so I love trying to pull people into what I'm doing or what I believe, and encouraging them along the way. It's about what's good for them. It's not about what's good for me, unless it's what I've learned, and so that kind of that mindset of how I deliver I think is important. It's not like, oh honey, I'm perfect and this is my perfect life and you don't have it and you never will, right? No, it's more like this is what I'm learning and maybe this will help you, and so that's much more important to me and that's the intent behind everything I do. So I hope that comes through.
Tiffany Woolley:No, I think it's great. I love how you stay relevant and you know authentic.
Kim Alexis:I'm just glad wellness and health is relevant.
Tiffany Woolley:Isn't it? I agree, and it's wonderful for me, even as a mom of young girls, like they're so aware and you know so much more. I mean they never drink soda or eat junk, or I mean they're very in tune with it, and I'm just so grateful that they make healthy choices, our three girls follow Tiffany because Tiffany works out for an hour and a half every morning.
Scott Woolley:She does her three miles every day and you know just what we have in our house food-wise they're very clean. I do the grocery shopping. Wow yeah, because before you knew me with you know Five Star, I had a whole chain of grocery stores. So I still do the grocery shopping. But when our girls go with me they're all about dad. We can't get that. Don't get that, dad, you can't get that.
Tiffany Woolley:It's all about health they're very in tune, very aware and that's what cracks me up about social media, and they're juicing every morning before I take them off to school oh, I love it. I say they're in a good algorithm because whenever they're getting you know, we kept them off social media as long as possible, but you know now that they're in it. They're definitely in a good algorithm because they will share tips constantly to what they're learning and hearing, and asking questions things that I truly never even thought of.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, I love it, though. That's what's so cool is that we've helped inspire these younger kids, and some, I think, don't grow up with any junk food, so they don't need to healthy substitute. We kind of grew up with junk food, not knowing it was junk food Right and so now we need to find healthier alternatives, and so one of the books that I wrote was called Cheat Eat, and it's how to take a recipe. So I love chocolate chip cookies.
Tiffany Woolley:You have a cheat for that.
Kim Alexis:Yes, well, you can use chickpeas or you can use different flours. So, depending on what you're looking for, whether you're trying to be flourless, or if you're trying to watch your sugar, or which type of fats you put in your cookies.
Scott Woolley:So if you want to watch your sugar, what would you recommend?
Kim Alexis:Monk fruit or there's date sugar yeah, those don't really raise your yeah, they don't raise your insulin levels. So, um, those two are ones. I use stevia also, but each one of those you have to watch if it's super processed and so some of them are processed a little bit better than others. The less processed anything is from its natural way is better, so you can have an ultra-processed monk fruit. That would not be good for you. Maybe it would be better to have raw cane sugar.
Kim Alexis:So it gets very in-depth, depending on what you're looking to accomplish or substitute, or substitute. Some people can't have eggs, so you can use flax meal or chia seeds and make eggs or applesauce for a recipe instead of eggs.
Tiffany Woolley:That's cool. Actually, chia seeds is a cool option.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, you just mix in a little bowl and mix it with water and it gets gooey. Yeah, that's so brilliant.
Tiffany Woolley:I didn't even think of something like that. There is so many tricks now too, and you're right, our girls really don't think of supplementing, they're just constantly aware.
Scott Woolley:Well, our middle girl is completely anything processed, can't be in the house. She's like so much about non-process.
Kim Alexis:She's your police.
Tiffany Woolley:She is, she's an authority on a lot of things.
Kim Alexis:What is this doing in the pantry Pretty?
Scott Woolley:much.
Tiffany Woolley:Pretty much.
Scott Woolley:What are you cooking for dinner, dad? Why can't there?
Tiffany Woolley:be a vegetable. Yeah, we're in the thick of it. Good, it's so true. Yeah, and it's neat when they teach us.
Scott Woolley:We like to wrap up our podcast by always asking one or two questions having to do with design and kind of things that have come across your life.
Tiffany Woolley:Especially with all your travels and your but one is which is your favorite hotel to visit?
Scott Woolley:From a design standpoint.
Tiffany Woolley:And design could be a feeling too.
Kim Alexis:Interesting. I don't know the answer to that. The first thing that comes to my mind was the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow which was neat. But it wasn't that it was so much a design, it was that it was like a beautiful safe place in a weird city that I didn't know much about right, and so it was like home base.
Tiffany Woolley:I'm very much a home body, so I enjoyed what a cool that's on my bucket list is moscow yeah, yeah, it's a cool place to be.
Kim Alexis:So what about a restaurant?
Scott Woolley:Is there a restaurant that, from a design standpoint, or you walked in and go wow, this is unusual, this is unique, or the food is designed.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, so we've got such great restaurants in Scottsdale. I mean I can't tell you Between golf courses and restaurants we've you don't need to go anywhere.
Tiffany Woolley:There's a restaurant that I love in Scottsdale Oceans.
Kim Alexis:Yes, ocean 44. That's what I was going to actually say.
Scott Woolley:Oh wow, they have the best season salad.
Kim Alexis:Yes, I love that. Yeah, so, yep, that would be one here in Scottsdale that I definitely love. But there's tons, I mean, and it depends there's farm-to-table ones, there's, I mean, just so many options.
Scott Woolley:So, for our audience, who's listening to this or watching this podcast, what are some of the social channels that people can follow you on?
Kim Alexis:I'm on on instagram. The underscore kim alexis facebook is the kim alexis um tiktok. I think is the kim alexis. Someone took my name so I had to put a the in front of it.
Scott Woolley:That's so funny they took your name really and you couldn't get it back, or couldn't?
Kim Alexis:I've got it from my website and so. I've gotten every kimalexiscomus right. Right, you know you pay just to keep them.
Scott Woolley:I know we did that for our kids yeah, when they were born I went and got the URLs for them and and so forth how cute is that?
Tiffany Woolley:isn't that funny? Well like, because we really are our own brands now. It's just crazy.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, interesting. I'm going to do that for my grandson.
Tiffany Woolley:That's a great gift. You know your son will be impressed. Well, you got to see if it's available first.
Scott Woolley:But you know the dot com he's got an unusual name already.
Kim Alexis:So my grandson, his, my son Noah. His father was a New York Ranger hockey player.
Scott Woolley:Yep.
Kim Alexis:So yeah, so our grandson's going to be Ranger.
Tiffany Woolley:That's adorable oh really. I love that name actually. Yeah, yeah, I love it.
Kim Alexis:So Kind of unusual, that's a good name, very cute. I love it. Kind of unusual, that's a good name. It's very cute. I always told Tiffany He'll grow into that one too.
Voice Over:It's adorable when you're little.
Tiffany Woolley:And it's so. It's like handsome too.
Scott Woolley:I always said to Tiffany if we had a boy, I wanted to name him Senator. So when he grew up and he went to a restaurant he would say what's your name?
Tiffany Woolley:That's why God didn't give us any boys.
Kim Alexis:Yeah, or governor yeah.
Scott Woolley:Well, we really appreciate you joining us today. Thank you so much for your time. It was great seeing you.
Tiffany Woolley:It was Wonderful to catch up.
Scott Woolley:Yes, thanks for having me, and we're going to continue to follow you and support you on your social channels. We do like watching your stuff that you put up.
Tiffany Woolley:Oh good, Thank you. Have a great trip to Vegas.
Scott Woolley:I know, Travel safe.
Kim Alexis:I will Bye-bye, thank you.
Voice Over:Thank you, bye-bye iDesign Labs Podcast is an SW Group production in association with the 5 Star and TW Interiors. To learn more about I Design Lab or TW Interiors, please visit twinteriorscom.
