studio

A quick chat with supermodel, businesswoman, fashion icon, and designer Heidi Klum, who launches her Wildlife by Heidi Klum jewelry line this fall on QVC:

InsideQ : Do you still keep in touch with Karin, your friend who encouraged you to enter a modeling contest back in ‘92?

Heidi: Yes! Absolutely! I see her whenever I go home, and sometimes she comes and visits us in Los Angeles. We also go on holiday together.

InsideQ : You’ve had incredible entrepreneurial success: perfume, skin care, activewear, jewelry. What drives you to keep coming out with such great collections?

Heidi: I am a doer and I have creative energy. I love making things and thinking about new things. I get inspired by my children, travel, being in fashion, having my eyes open, and looking at nature. Sometimes what inspires me is totally unrelated to what I’m doing, and I find a way to incorporate it.

InsideQ : What goes through your mind backstage at a fashion show and then while walking the runway?

Heidi: I don’t do a lot of runway modeling anymore. I always loved it, but it’s such an unnatural thing to do. You have to push yourself to go out in front of thousands of people and strut your stuff while looking confident — when inside you might have butterflies or may be worried that you’ll do something stupid. You could fall, lose a shoe, or even have the “deer in headlights” look on your face.

InsideQ : What advice would you give an aspiring model?

Heidi: My best modeling advice is to stay true to yourself, give it your best, and know that it’s not easy. To make it is really hard. There’s a lot of competition and a lot of girls who want the job. You get to travel, meet a lot of people, and do campaigns. You cannot blend in; you have to stick out somehow! So be on time and do a good job.

Stay tuned for more from this interview with Heidi…