Today’s Special
with Jessie Sims
Photography by Ashlee Krutzfeldt / @ajphotography1
MUA John Cotter / @johncottercosmetics
PR by LSA Publications / @leo.alderman / @lsapublications
Jessie, such an honor to have you as our February cover! You’re quirky, funny as well as drop-dead gorgeous, what does it mean for you being on the cover of Playboy? Thank you. This is honestly such an exciting experience for me. I’ve been wanting to model for Playboy for years and I am so thankful for the opportunity!
What has been the most exciting part of your journey as a model? The modeling journey in itself is such an incredible experience. Traveling, meeting new people and having all these opportunities I wouldn’t have if I didn’t take the chance to model. I am just very thankful for every step along the way.
What are some of the things that keep you motivated to do what you do? I wouldn’t have it any other way. I am living the dream. I am my own boss and I get to have this glamorous job. I think that is what keeps me going through the long hours, hard work and stress.
Being active in competitive sports like Gymnastics has to be the reason you look so amazing! Keeping in shape can’t be the easiest thing especially in these Covid times, what are some of the things you have done to keep fit? It has definitely been hard! The gyms in LA have closed since COVID started. I recently found a private gym that I can workout at if I work with a trainer. That has been great and it feels amazing to be back in the gym working out again even though it is only a few times a week.
What is your biggest aspiration in life from this point on? Continue living life to the fullest, personal and career growth, making memories with family and friends.
Given that you have achieved a high standard as a model and moved to LA to pursue this career, what are some of the challenges you have come across in the industry to get to this point? When I started modeling I was working in Boston and living in Maine. I grew up in a small town and everyone had that small-town mindset of going to school, getting married, having kids and never leaving. That was never really something that interested me. When I started college I was still living in Maine, doing gymnastics, coaching gymnastics and bartending. The summer after graduating high school I was playing around with photography with my friends and realized I really enjoyed it. I went to a modeling agency in New Hampshire and the next day booked my first gig. As I continued working as a model I became so busy with traveling back and forth for gigs I had to drop out of school to keep up! After doing this for about 2.5 years I managed to get signed by agents in NYC, Boston, New Hampshire and Maine. My agent in Boston recommended that I move into a major market such as Miami or LA. So after a long chat with my parents, we decided to pick up and move across the country to continue my career. My dad had to stay in Maine until we sold our house which took almost 2 years. It was really hard being away from my dad for so long and the financial burden of being bicoastal caused a lot of stress for my parents. It took a while for me to get established in the LA market, so during this time I was working several jobs: coaching gymnastics, doing bottle service and working at Hooters. My gymnastics job seemed the most consistent, promising and I actually enjoyed it so I quit the other 2. Shortly after, I began doing photoshoots for Instagram to build a following and my portfolio. The gymnastics gym did not like that and I ended up getting fired because I refused to put my Instagram on private. This was a blessing in disguise. Even though I was unemployed and broke I used that to motivate me to work twice as hard and within a few weeks, I took my Instagram following from 20k to 100k.
A little birdie told us you have a fear of heights and flying, how do you cope with that given that modeling takes you many places? It is definitely very hard! I have to take anti-anxiety pills whenever I get on a plane and it is still a pretty terrifying experience for me. It is a bit easier for me to fly with a friend or family member versus being alone.
What can we expect to see from you this year, anything exciting we should keep an eye out for? I have a few more magazine features which I am really excited about! Playboy New Zealand being one of them. Other than that I am focused on my social media accounts and creating content for those.
What are your favorite things to do when you are not in front of the camera? RELAX! I usually don’t have a lot of time to relax. If I’m lucky I get one day a week where I can relax for a few hours. I enjoy playing video games, doing creative projects like crafts/painting/drawing and watching movies. I really enjoy traveling, experiencing new things, spending time with my friends and family but with COVID that has definitely made it very difficult.
We noticed you’re always up for a challenge and you’re fearless in your pursuit for greatness, what are you most proud of having made it this far? Probably just making it this far! If you asked me 10 years ago would I become a model I would have laughed and said yeah right, I wish! I’ve always wanted to be an actor and model. It just didn’t seem realistic and I never had the confidence in myself. I have never been a super outgoing confident person but stepping out of my comfort zone to go on this wild ride has been challenging and rewarding enough in itself. I am proud to say that I just got out there and did the damn thing.
Something that we would be surprised to learn about you? I was not the popular kid growing up. Sure, I had friends but I wasn’t that pretty popular cheerleader everyone wanted to be. I spent most of my time by myself and practicing gymnastics. A lot of the girls I did gymnastics with went to different schools so I didn’t have that sense of a team like a traditional school athlete would. This probably isn’t much of a surprise but I was always very interested in social media. I spent a lot of time on Myspace, YouTube and Facebook when they first came out. I think that was to find friends that didn’t go to my school. I never really felt like I fit in. I LOVED YouTube and would make these cringe silly videos at home with the chipmunk voice filter. I also used to edit gymnastics montages and post them on a Youtube channel.
It’s been an absolute pleasure getting to know you, Any last words to our readers that you would like to share? Keep following my journey on social media! Instagram, Tiktok, YouTube, Twitter, OnlyFans. I do it all!!
Follow Jessie’s journey on Instagram @jessiesimsofficial for all her latest news and story updates!