By Katie Ginn
If you were around in the ‘80s and ‘90s, you’ve probably heard of supermodel Kathy Ireland. What you might not know is that her first love was not modeling, but business – from as early as 4 years old. You also might not know that as Kathy’s modeling career was heating up, she became a believer in Jesus. Or that because of her brand, Kathy Ireland Worldwide, she’s appeared on more Forbes covers than Sports Illustrated covers. Or that she and her husband established a Christian school in Kathy’s hometown of Santa Barbara, California. She recently spoke with MCL Editor Katie Ginn about her faith, her career(s), and why she founded a Christian school.
KG: How did you come to know Jesus?
KI: I grew up never really going to church, never had a Bible in the house. When I was a teenager, my mom went back to school for nursing, and she met this woman (who led her to Christ). She was initially very quiet about it, but I was noticing a transformation in her that was attractive. But I was a self-absorbed teenager, so I didn’t think too much about it.
Then I was 18 (and) headed off to Paris to model. … I was staying in the apartment of one of my agents and her husband. It was a place where I did not feel comfortable. I would describe him as a predator. I would go right to my room and lock the door.
It was in that (room), it was 1981 …. And without telling me, my mom had stuck a Bible in my suitcase. It was late at night, jet lag, boredom, and I opened the Bible. It opened up to Matthew. (As) I started reading … I knew that what I had in my hands was true.
Jesus was nothing like I thought. I had (heard) “He’s oppressive toward women.” Especially as a young woman in an industry with a lot of men of questionable character, I was blown away by the love and respect that Jesus has for women.
It was at that moment that He became my Lord and Savior. That relationship gave me the strength (later) to walk off jobs when it was wrong.
My regret is that the very thing that led me to Him, His Word, I would question. I was picking and choosing what I wanted and what I didn’t want.
The thing that really led me to read (all of) His Word was a women’s Bible retreat. … There was one woman playing guitar, there was no emotional manipulation, I was just sitting there praying. … I felt the Lord tell me, “You say I’m your first priority, but I’m not.”
I said but Lord … You know my life: three children, husband, the business. … And I felt Him convict my heart again and say, “Put Me first, and I’ll give you more time with your kids and better time with your kids.”
So I started setting my alarm 15 minutes early. … I finally read the whole Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. I used to be scared of Old Testament God, and getting to know Him through His Word, it was like oh my goodness, He loves us so much.
(That) 15 minutes became longer and longer and just my favorite time of day. If I don’t start the day with Him, I’m apologizing to someone by 7 a.m. because I’ve said something rash. (laughs)
KG: How and why did you decide to pivot away from modeling and into business?
KI: When I was 4, I sold painted rocks from my wagon. I was selling things door to door, washing cars, had a paper route for four years. It just felt natural for me to do business. I tried and failed at several (businesses) throughout the time I was modeling. If one of those had taken off, the modeling career would not have gone on. (laughs)
Eventually I was a pregnant aging model in the kitchen, and we started our brand with a single pair of socks. I was offered the opportunity to model a pair of socks. Small budget, no exotic location …. (and) I knew if I didn’t close that door on the modeling career, I wouldn’t live my dream of business.
John and Marilyn Moretz are still a cherished part of our business. We took out a series of loans, hit the road and presented the (Moretz) socks to retailers, and the doors slammed in my face. They said, you can’t start a brand with a pair of socks. But just because it hasn’t been done doesn’t mean it can’t be done. I think one of the best things from the modeling career was the rejection. So when people said no (later in business), it didn’t bother me.
Now we do everything from fintech credit card processing to working with insurance companies, health and wellness, fashion, home, entertainment – but the common theme is, it’s solution oriented (and) it’s bringing great price-to-value ratio in every category.
KG: We’re all called to love God, love people, and tell people about Jesus. How do you believe you specifically are called to do that?
KI: It’s just trusting in Him, letting Him be a lamp to my feet and guide me.
The Christian school, that (calling) was from the Lord. … I grew up going to public school, and when I was 16 in my driver’s ed class, we had a volunteer from Planned Parenthood come and tell us we could have abortions and not tell our parents.
When I (later learned through science) that at the moment of conception, a new life comes into being, a complete genetic blueprint … I didn’t want to be pro-choice. And I thought, why have I always been pro-choice? Oh, right: Planned Parenthood.
So I called Planned Parenthood and I said, OK, give me your best argument for being pro-choice. And they said, well, it doesn’t even look like a baby, especially if you get it early enough. It’s a clump of cells.
KG: That was their best argument?
KI: That’s what I said! We’re all clumps of cells. A baby doesn’t look like a teenager or senior citizen. But a human looks like a human at that stage of development. So that’s a powerful call on my life.
But the Lord (also) put education on my heart. Our kids were going to a Christian school, but we didn’t have a Christian high school. We thought, what are we going to do now?
I considered homeschooling. Yet I recognized, what does that do to the families who for whatever reason can’t do homeschooling? So I met a gentleman, Randy Clark, and his wife, Amy, and they joined forces with me, and my husband Greg joined as well. The hardest thing I have ever done was work on that school, and I would do it a million times over.
The hardest part was our statement of faith. I knew schools like Harvard and Princeton and Yale started out as Christian schools. And a little bit of leaven, it doesn’t take much for these schools to move so far off (base). So I knew the statement of faith was critically important.
I had a board member say, we’ve got families from 27 different churches. What’s going to happen when we have a dispute? And maybe this was naive, but I said, “We’ve got the Bible.” We had to have the statement of faith grounded in that.