Beauty

Karen Williams

By LaVonne Trent | Lifestyle Editor

A native of Jamaican-born parents, raised into a family of scholars who revered education, Karen Williams never thought of modeling as a long-term career and yet, here she is proudly doing it at age 56. At 13 years old, traveling with her mother, Karen was spotted and approached in a Toronto airport by a well-known photographer's assistant, asking her mom if she had ever thought about her daughter modeling. Although it was the furthest thought on her mom's mind, he put them in touch with a model agent in Toronto. Her parents would eventually allow Karen to work during the summer to get her feet wet doing odd assignments as she eased into and learned about the modeling world.

White Hotty Hot Low Rise Running Short & Women's Yoga Light Support Free to Be Serene Bra Top by Lululemon @lululemon.

Karen represented Canada in Ford Models’ “Face of the 80s” and she continued modeling part-time through grad school. Karen, a rigorous intellectual focused on her education at Brown University, obtaining her graduate degree in England, she shunned the typical New York raucous 80's party lifestyle. Karen later found film production and acting more of her calling, landing on-camera work on soap operas, commercials, and recurring roles on TV shows such as Homicide and The Cosby Show. Her on-screen Law and Order “husband” Malik Yoba introduced her to an outfit called City Kids. It is an innovative youth development program that empowers young people to use their lives as repositories of creativity, healing, insight, and education. It inspired her to create safe spaces for others using creative and dramatic techniques as mechanisms for transformation. Karen eventually co-founded and ran a non-profit production company that partnered with large entities to provide arts-based programming for low-income children and youth.

Karen culminated her experiences by producing movies and documentaries and then later transferred her skills and passion for youth advocacy into healthcare. As a healthcare administrator, Karen implemented culturally relevant outreach programs targeting communities of color at-risk for cardiovascular related illnesses. During this time, she also witnessed first-hand the benefits of evidence-based integrative wellness practices as a compliment to traditional medicine

Karen left the healthcare industry to immerse herself in integrative wellness. While she firmly believes in medicine, she is also a proponent of the body's innate healing abilities, noting that an integrative approach to wellness and health reaps maximum benefits. Trained in different forms of Yoga, medical Qi Gong, Reiki, Aromatherapy, and mindful meditation. Karen incorporates East with West disciplines together as part of her spiritual practice to balance and anchor life's challenges. On the journey of self-discovery, these modalities are available to everyone; it's how we choose them.

Karen believes that wellness is from the inside out, and one should avoid using “for their age” as a qualifier in a statement. Karen says, “Fixating on comparison is pointless since we each have different stressors, genetics, lifestyles, etc. Check-in with your own body, heart, and soul, asking, how am I doing today? Then respond. This is mindful, intentional living.” Karen is an earnest advocate of optimizing health and wellness, in general, move more, laugh more, breathe more, sleep more and fill up your plate with more living plant-based, colorful foods. Eat what God made from the earth, grill, sauté, bake your food and moderate the other stuff as much as you can.

Karen says “Facial wrinkles should not be used as a barometer of aging. Instead, we should question our internalized biases against this most natural gift of living, asking, what's wrong with wrinkles? Who benefits from our fears about getting older? The cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries make billions of dollars promoting "anti-aging" and sick care instead of empowering consumers with "pro-aging" and disease prevention campaigns.” Historically and experientially, people from communities of color often revere their elders as beautiful examples of aging. Karen points out, “Even when our elders experience physical or mental decline, and we may even be their caregivers, the focus is never on what they look like, it’s on how much we love them.”

Karen was asked to return to modeling by IconicFocus, an agency founded to celebrate and showcase fabulous models over 40. The fashion industry is finally beginning to acknowledge that mature models are vibrant, inspirational, and influential as part of a diverse society. She maintains that her chameleon qualities, years of experience, and skills serve her well in the modeling industry. Treating self-care as essential, seizing joy, loving, and living with gratitude is aging well. This is a lifestyle for all to embrace.

Haute is Magazine salutes Karen Williams for inviting us to probe beyond the face's surface and recognize beauty as a very comprehensive holistic sense of soul, mind, body, and spirit all aligned. And what you are seeing is whatever manifestation it is going to be. Karen, you are brilliantly living and aging well.

Beauty Notes

From Makeup Artist Erica Bessinger @erib2000 @movilestylesapp

On Karen: SPF 50 moisturizer mixed into foundation colors, Tarte cosmetics | Shadows The Warrior by Juvia’s | Eye pencil black, Kylie cosmetics | Contour pallet, Tarte cosmetics | Makeup Blended with Beauty Blender | Translucent setting powder | Mascara, Coquette Chronicles Crème Noir | Blush pallet, Laura Mercier | Bronzer dark, medium Bobbi Brown Shine and sparkle on face and body | Artist Couture Diamond Glow Powder in Illuminati | Body makeup and shimmer. Salley Hansen medium glow airbrush leg spray (Apply on hands first and gently distribute evenly on the body). I use additional Diamond Glow powder on the legs and chest area to illuminate. Use a setting spray to lock in natural oils and glow on the skin | Lips, Bobbi Brown’s crushed oil-infused gloss in New Romantic.