Interview with Fyx — Full-time Student and Model
Fyx is a 20-year old model residing in Berkeley, California.
How would you introduce yourself to our readers?
Hello, my name is Fyx, pronounced as “fix”. I’m an international student from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and am currently pursuing my psychology degree in UC Berkeley.
In a nutshell, while trying to be humble, I would say I’m a fun, easy-going, sometimes a little too lazy, cat-like sort of personality. I like to laze around the house, lie under the sun, relax and take life easily. However, when I am passionate about something, you better believe that I’m going all the way. I am open to try everything at least once and I have no shame when it comes to most things. I love all sorts of animals and cannot stand insects.
Family, friends, my pets, my career, education and God are the five most important things to me, not in any order.
When, how and why did you first get involved in the modeling industry?
Three years ago a friend approached me because she was trying to start photography and needed a model to help her out. I thought “why not?”. And I soon fell in love with it.
I always enjoyed acting, but modeling is very different. To act, emote and pose in front of the camera is something I probably will always find challenging, but so fun at the same time. The harder the project, the more enthusiastic I am about the work.
What are your personal and professional goals? Where do you see yourself in five to ten years?
In 5 years I intend to be halfway done with my PhD in Psychology and in 10 I would have started my own therapy centre, or at least working at one. I hope modeling would still be in my life, although it really depends because I’m quite focused on making sure my career is sorted. However, if luck does fall my way and I get a few good gigs, why not?
How often are you modeling and what does it usually consist of?
I personally believe my walk is stronger than my photos. I would like to think I’m an actress and dancer at heart, so it helps when walking to music and such. However because of my height (5’6.5″) there are few that would hire me to walk, so I take photos!
I am mostly interested in high-fashion, artsy type shoots. Because like I said before, the harder the concept, the more difficult the shoot, the harder I work. I like being challenged, and trying out different things. However, I believe my look is best suited towards commercial, because I’m very much more sweet-looking than stern.
Please tell us about the best and/or worst experiences you’ve had so far in modeling.
The best and worst experience I’ve had fell on the same weekend! I was shooting for Wedding Nouveau, an interracial wedding magazine. The shoot took a total of 8 hours and consisted of three looks in three different locations. It was a mad dash sort of rush for there were two models and only one make-up and hair artist. The last location was next to the Golden Gate Bridge during winter and ohmygosh it was freezing. However, the photos turned out great in the end, and I got my very first magazine feature so I wasn’t discouraged.
That night, I pulled an all-nighter, and had to report for a fashion show at 1pm the next day. My make up artist had to deal with a model constantly falling asleep against her eyeliner! It was pretty horrible. I had to excuse myself for 30 minutes to take a quick nap before continuing. Thankfully, the fashion show too went off without a hitch and I slept for a very, very long time after.
Is there anything you would change about the modeling industry if you could?
The superficiality of it all. Of course, it is very difficult to say that since as a model you are basically selling your looks and skill set. However, it is quite difficult to not get offended when someone asks you “what are you going to do to stay this thin?” Mind you, I’m less than 100lbs and am considered severely underweight. I’ve been trying to put on weight my entire life to no avail. I wish people would promote healthy-living, healthy modeling, and not just “hey go starve yourself please.”
Do you practice any sports and what do you typically eat? Please elaborate on the importance of nutrition and exercise in your life.
Err… I barely do any exercise outside of walking a lot and dancing. I eat anything I want whenever I want, which isn’t great, I know, but I’m trying! I’ve begun to eat vegetables at least… And I love fruits.
Please share something people don’t know about you.
I’m quite the gamer. Although to be fair it’s something everyone knows about me. My love for Mass Effect knows no bounds. I have four level 90s in World of Warcraft, I’ve finished both Portals, obviously; all three God of Wars, and I’m quite a Final Fantasy fan as well specially VII, X and XIII. I love League of Legends and watch anime quite regularly.
Would you change anything about yourself?
Obviously every person has something they’d like to change about themselves. Be it taller, nicer hair, bigger breasts, cleaner skin. So I try not to dwell about physical changes. Inside, however, there are many things I’m currently working on. After all, aren’t we all a ‘work in progress’?
What superpower do you wish you had? Why?
I just had a lengthy discussion about this with a friend. Assuming we’re talking about the more mainstreamed superpowers and not super specific ones, then it would be either to fly or teleport.
Teleport takes first place in my books, and I’d only want to fly if I could get huge beautiful wings, because who doesn’t want wings?. The ability to never have to wait in traffic, or worry about car park, or pay for gas. Being able to be on time for everything, where no locked door or window can hold me back… I will be the Queen of pranking, and I will steal from the corrupted rich to give to the deserving poor.
Okay, I’m going to stop there before this daydream gets too wild, but you get my point.
The photos in this interview are copyrighted. Thanks to XBellanotte Photography for letting us publish them.