Meet some of Springboard’s youngest ladies!

I love this class. They are all so fun, smart and adorable.

Look out for these go-getters in the future.

The return of the MAXI. This one can be found at Nordstrom’s for $49.50.

I love spring. And I especially love dresses for spring.

I’ve found quite a few darling samples for you to step out in this summer. Please share your finds with this group too!

These I found at Pink Ice! I absolutely LOVE the circle dress. Then there’s that flower in back of the orange dress…who can live without something so cute?! And the others? Gotta have ‘em!

My good friend, Michael Dar, sent me this picture after Nancy had visited him in Los Angeles. I’ve kept it active for some reason, and now, I think I know why.

As I teach and coach, I often find myself telling my students how my mentor told me this…or that. That mentor was Nancy Bounds.

I started at Nancy Bounds Finishing & Modeling School while in high school. I wondered why I was learning some of the lessons taught. Years later I found out. Today, I am teaching many of the same lessons.

Nancy could be difficult at best. She didn’t hesitate to tell me that I needed to get it together or she just couldn’t work with me any longer. Actually, that was mild. During graduation rehearsals, we’d hear her stomping down the runway and wonder whose face she was about to get in. We would sigh in relief when it wasn’t us, but fear for who it was. Ouch!

But that show was first-class and agents from around the world would pay their own way to attend in hopes of finding the next top model and having a great time. 

Nancy was gritty, tough, smart, funny, glamorous and oh so fashionable. She told her students how to “stop a room, eat continental style, walk and talk with confidence, and how a woman should always hold a glass with as few fingers as possible!”

I fell out of contact with Nancy before she died in March 2007. And I’m sorry I did. For if I hadn’t fallen under her tutelage, my life might be quite ordinary. Instead, with my parents’ and her encouragement, I’ve had opportunities I didn’t even know existed. Instead of going to college right out of high school, I boarded a plane to Tokyo. From there I traveled to Paris, New York and back to Tokyo. Instead of attending the University of Nebraska, I attended Columbia University, an Ivy League school. From there the doors to my life opened wide. And I’ve walked through most of them. 

Is staying home and attending school wrong? Absolutely not. Is staying on the home front a mistake? Not if you’ve considered all your options and made a purposeful choice. As I told a group of students just last night, know there is a host of opportunities out there. Nothing is impossible if you want it bad enough. Know you have a choice, make it, and live with it. Few choices are irreversible!  

So get on the plane. You can always come home. Learn about other places and cultures. Then celebrate your home and culture.  Act like a lady or a gentleman. Anyone can be  (and too many are) loud, ill-mannered and offensive. Men, open a lady’s door and ladies, try holding your glass with just a few fingers instead of a clamped fist! Doesn’t it feel grand?!

I encourage you, no matter where you are in life, to find your mentor – someone who will encourage you to step out.

Now I’m going to step out for the day in the highest heels I own (because I never saw Nancy wear anything but heels!) 

Robin   

Congratulations Johanna, Madison, Julie, Mercedes, Ali and Shayla!

I hope you will always use your model behavior in all situations. Especially the sticky ones.

Here’s to moving onto Model Material in the Fall.