Gia Simone is a very rare beauty hailing from Chicago, however you might know her as one of Miami’s Finest. She left Chicago for a fresh start and she defiantly received one. Not only has Gia became a successful published model gracing many pages of magazines and online publications, but she is also a Hairstylist, Host on a radio show, and now Designer of her own swimwear line SWIM By Gia. And you better believe she is not stopping there. She wouldn’t believe me if I told her that we met before on set of a DJ Khalid video. I never saw or heard of her before that day, however her real life personality proves accurate to her responses. She is one down to earth, driven woman. You can’t help but be inspired by her.

 After doing my research about you I can say 1 thing for sure… You come across as a Hustler. Something that I can for sure admire about any women. You mention in your Bio that you took a 1 way plane ticket straight to Florida ‘in search of a better life’. I myself have done the same. But what was it that you were looking for once you decided to embark on your journey to follow your dreams in Florida?

Yes, I definitely left home in search of a better life. I was born in Chicago, and raised by my Grandmother.  There were a lot of major struggles in my life back then, and I was hoping to get a fresh start in a new place. I think that so many people are afraid to take that risk and huge leap of faith to follow your dreams.  I hit the road with $3000 to my name and at one point all I had was $5 to my name.

Your facial features are stunning! You have such an exotic look to you, are you mixed with anything, what is your ethnicity? Your face is very memorable; we aren’t getting you mixed up with nobody else! Lol.

Thanks for the compliment! I get questions about my ethnicity all the time, so I am used to it. I am African-American, that’s it! We come in so many different shades and hues, and they are all beautiful.  My brother and sister are shades darker than I am so Ive asked my mother many times who my father is. Lol.  Sometimes it depends on my makeup and the lighting on a particular day’s photo shoot. The comment that I get most is that I look like I must be mixed with Asian! Lol

“I think that so many people are afraid to take that risk and huge leap of faith to follow your dreams.  I hit the road with $3000 to my name and at one point all I had was $5 to my name.”

And now your body! All hail Gia Simone’s one of a kind body, lol. You are a coke bottle fa’real! Your body is ahhh-may-zzing! How can us regular people achieve that waist, to hip, to breast ratio? Is it the food? Is it the work outs? Lol. Are you oucher’ enhancing that body like Kylie enhanced that face (money well spent btw lol)? We tryna’ get that flat tummy and all them curves like you girl!

A lady never tells all of her secrets!! lol. The real answer though is that it is a bit of all those things you mentioned, body wraps, waist shapers, creams, and colonics….yes I said colonics!  I used to be a tomboy, and I played basketball, so I already had an athletic build before I started modeling. Like many female athletes, I had no titties.  If you want a killer body, everything starts with your diet. I love to cook, so I prepare my meals at the beginning of the week. I also run several miles a day and work with a trainer.  I’m all about that SQUAT LIFE!!

“If you want a killer body, everything starts with your diet. I love to cook, so I prepare my meals at the beginning of the week.”

To your fans you seem to have it all together, you look good, your body is amazing, dress nice, you do a live broadcast for 24/7 All Access Live, is there anything about you that your fans would be shocked to know?

I think that people are always surprised to know how down to earth I am when they meet me. lol I think one of the things about social media is that you wind up guessing about what a person is really like based on the images that they post. I have struggles and fears and challenges just like everyone else.   Aside from my personality I’m very handy.  Your girl will put something together real quick!  Need your tire changed, I got you! Need your place painted, I’ll do that too!

What keeps you motivated to keep grinding every day? To me it feels like your grind never stops, you make a lot of moves…

The fear of struggling again keeps me on my grind.  Nothing was ever handed to me so I have to work a little harder than others to keep up my lifestyle.   I have so much talent and I am very passionate about all that I do so it does feel like work to me.  When I see the reaction from my clients, it makes me feel so excited like , “I did that!”

You are literally a Triple Threat girl, being as though you are a successful model, hair stylist, and now a designer! How do you do it all? Congratulations on your entrepreneurial venture Swim By Gia Simone! Your designs are beautiful. Where do you receive your inspiration while designing your pieces?

My inspiration comes from many sources. I have always been great at sketching and I am extremely creative. There are so many swimwear boutiques but most order from aliexpress and for those of you that don’t know the quality is very cheap. There are only a handful of companies that supply custom pieces. So I started sketching, picking out fabrics, and getting material to sew swimwear solely for myself on set. Other prominent models began to notice the uniqueness of my pieces.  The demand continued to grow, and eventually I decided to launch SWIM by Gia Simone.

Walk me through your step-by-step process that you went through while establishing Swim By Gia Simone?

I start with a sketch.  I then decide the color whether it will be solid or print.  Once I buy the fabric I take it to my seamstress where he then redraws my design to his understanding.  Before the sample would be made a small, but we soon learned its best the sample be a medium to fit my body.  There is a lot of trial and error because I never know if some of my designs will work. It is one thing to make a custom piece for yourself, but another to design and make a swimsuit that is unique and wearable for many.  Many of my pieces are designed to hide the mid-section and give a slimmer appearance through the waist. I also have a variety of complimentary cover-ups which allow for those who are a little more modest to push the envelope and be a bit more daring.

“I encourage women to become business-owners and entrepreneurs because beauty fades.”

Why choose careers in Fashion and Hair when you’re so widely successful in modeling? Has this always been the plan?…

The name of the game is hustle. Period! The cold reality is that modeling alone as a career rarely profitable enough to be career by itself, unless you are perhaps one of the Super-thin-Super-tall, Victoria Secret Angel type models. For the rest of us, we have to compete in a field that is extremely crowded and increasingly saturated with little to no pay.

You have to stand out in this industry and there is only a small window of time that you can really be a model. I started out doing hair my mother’s hair salon when I was a child, so it was only natural that I would open up my own salon when I moved to Miami.  People will always need to get their hair done, so it is a reliable field to be in.  I encourage women to become business-owners and entrepreneurs because beauty fades.

If you only had a few minutes to share some tips to a young mini you on how you gained your success in any of your businesses what would you tell her?

Stay focused, be passionate, humble yourself, don’t trust everyone, get your deposit first, lol, never, settle for less than what your worth, don’t get caught up in social media and never compare nor try to keep up with someone else.  Just do you!

Where do you see yourself in the next 3 years?

Well in the next two years SWIM by Gia Simone will have taken off, I’ll be selling million dollar homes, and I will be the owner of a FULL service beauty bar.  By the third year Ill be ready to start a family!

Anything that we can look forward to from Ms. Gia Simone?

Yes! I have several new and exciting projects that are in the works for 2016. I am releasing a spring collection for my swimwear line, some custom pieces designed exclusive for a few very special celebrities, so look out for that.

A few years ago I was on a reality dating show on Oxygen Network called,  “Find Me My Man”, and recently I shot for a pilot for a new reality series that looks close to being picked up. So fingers crossed, you may see my face on television again.

I just remodeled and expanded my hair salon, ‘Gia’s Hair Studio’, (Instagram: @hairbygiasimone) so I will be serving more clients in the Miami area.

I will continue to help grow the audience for ’24-7 All-Access Live’  (Instagram: @247AllAccessLive), with myself and my co-host conducting more interviews with celebrity guests, up-and-coming artists, and influential people in the media and music industry. Tune in every Monday night from 6pm-9pm.

I also obtained my real estate license, so I am looking forward to selling my first property in the near future!

“Stay focused, be passionate, humble yourself, don’t trust everyone…”

Is there anything you would like to add…

I want to thank you so much for reaching out and asking me to do this interview. I have to also thank everyone that has been rocking with me from day one!