Digital Social Hour - Being a Cover Model, Getting Married at 18 and Pistol Shooting | Jamie Villamor DSH #243

Episode Date: January 24, 2024

On today's episode of Digital Social Hour, Jaime Villamor talks about her modeling career, what it was like getting married at 18 and how she got into competitive pistol shooting. APPLY TO BE ON THE PODCAST: https://forms.gle/qXvENTeurx7Xn8Ci9 BUSINESS INQUIRIES/SPONSORS: [e-mail] SPONSORS: Opus Pro: https://www.opus.pro/?via=DSH Deposyt Payment Processing: https://www.deposyt.com/seankelly LISTEN ON: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/digital-social-hour/id1676846015 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/5Jn7LXarRlI8Hc0GtTn759 Sean Kelly Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmikekelly/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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with me. I said, okay, I'll shoot a local match with you. I went out there and f*** it. So I thought I was like, I'm good, I'm shooting with these military guys. It was such next level that I, it humbled me to where I was like, whoa, I literally know nothing. Ladies and gentlemen, we are back on the digital social hour. Very special guest today, professional model, pistol shooter, and podcast host, Jamie Villamore. How's it going? Good, how are you? Good.

Your studio is amazing. Can't complain. Yeah, it's beautiful. Yeah, I love it here. Probably one of the best I've seen. In Vegas, for sure. Yeah. Yeah, I filmed at like seven studios in Vegas,

but I like this one the most. What was your favorite before this? Probably either Sticky Paws or Mediographer. Okay, yeah, John's awesome. Yeah, you film at Sticky Paws, right? I do, yeah. Yeah, your favorite before this? Probably either Sticky Paws or Mediographer. Okay. Yeah. John's awesome. Yeah. You film at Sticky Paws, right?

Yeah. Yeah. I was watching some of your episodes. Very interesting show. Yeah. Dating Intelligence. Talk to me about how that sort of happened, that podcast. So I actually met Christopher Lewis in the modeling space, I want to say like nine years

ago. So I was modeling for a tennis brand and he was a professional tennis player he had his own brand at that time so that's how he linked he started a show um got a hold of me and was like hey do you want to be a guest co-host and I was like maybe let me like check out your show and what you have going um so was the guest on his show and i'm like yeah i can do this like once or twice a month so but yeah now just kind of like in a transition phase and we'll see we we have like i think what makes the show good is we're like we're opposites so he his values are different than mine so we have a difference of opinion a lot um so i think it's good yeah you

have very very unique values you uh got married at 18 two kids by 21 was that by design or did it sort of just happen no i think it it just happened for me like um during that time and space like where where i was like i met my husband at the time. We were together for six months, got married. We had a good run. We were together for 11 years. And when I married him, he had, his daughter was, I want to say eight months. So she's pretty much mine. And so there's three girls. Oh, so he was 18 also, or was he older? No, he was older than me. He was about five years older than me. Got it. Wow. Yeah. I don't think I'd be responsible enough to pull that off at that age.

Yeah. Props to you. It's crazy because part of me wanted to have kids at a young age. So I think when we're in kindergarten, they're like, what do you want to be when you grow up? So during that time, I always wanted to be a mom. So people are like, oh, I want to be a doctor. I want to be when you grow up so like during that time I always wanted to be a mom so people are like oh I want to be a doctor I want to be a teacher so I always knew that I wanted to be a mom and then when life happens like in our teenage years um I was like oh this is probably not in the cards for me right um but yeah I could have never imagined you know what I mean that's what would have played out for me but like now looking back I'm so grateful like it's the best thing that could have ever happened for me really 100%

it's it's made me such I think um gosh I've learned so much for my kids like you're supposed to grow up and and we're like the teachers and we're supposed to guide but i feel like i'm just being a mom at a young age like they were able to pour so much into me and um teach me so many life lessons interesting yeah yeah because usually people these days i feel like are waiting till like 30 now yeah would i recommend it absolutely not like i look at my daughter now and I'm like, wow, at your age, I, I was taking care of three kids and she's in a nursing school. Like she's, she'll graduate next year with a bachelor's in, in nursing, but it's, it's amazing to see the different spaces that they're in. And all three of them are so successful. Amazing. Another thing that impressed me a lot was

you're completely sober. Yes. You live in Vegas and you've never done a single. Never. That's actually insane. So define like I get like I've never done. I've never done anything like that. And then growing up where it was like readily available to us constantly. Um, yeah, it's been something that I've always kind of prided myself on. Both of my brothers are, um, my, my youngest brothers are recovering addicts. So, um, yeah, both of my parents did growing up, like we're in, in my industry, we're around it all the time. So, so were your parents models as well? No. Oh, they weren't? No, my dad was a firefighter and my mom was a nurse, and that's how they met. So my dad was burnt pretty bad in a car fire,

and my mom cared for him in the hospital. They met each other and started their own business. Wow. And to this day, it's still, like, very successful here. They kind of parted ways. And my younger brother, he did a little time in the penitentiary, got out. He's been sober for over 10 years, and he runs the business. Amazing.

What type of business is it? It's construction. OK. Yeah. It's always those old school businesses that you don't hear about on social media, but they low-key f*** it. Yeah. And then it's funny because I pull

into parking lots and I analyze everything because I grew up like with my dad helping him in his business like stripe parking lots and lines and bumper blocks and so yeah I'm able like I know where all the fire hydrants are because it's like a blue reflector and so it's it's funny the things that you pick up on that nobody knows. Yeah. That's cool you were exposed to entrepreneurship at a young age. Yeah. Because that happened to me too. And I think it really benefited me. Yeah.

To see that side of the world. What did your parents do? So they had nine to fives. But on the side, my dad sold books on Amazon and eBay. And this was like 15 years ago. And I saw how happy it made him. So I think subconsciously, it sort of took me down that entrepreneur path. Yeah. I think it's so important for kids to find like a niche and something that they're good at

and teach them to create. I think the, I don't know if, I think the school district is the biggest, I'm not like a huge fan. I agree. I mean, it just kind of teaches you to sort of blend in. And when you kind of want to escape, they don't like that. We can't like, like I say, let's color outside the lines. Like there are no rules. Like we can create our own path. But it limits kids into thinking that they have to do everything a certain way and we don't. Yeah. I just wish it was more personalized instead of just certain way and we don't. Right.

Yeah. I just wish it was more personalized instead of just, here's what you're learning. Yeah. It should be personalized to each student, like about what they want to learn almost. Right. Yeah. Like that would be cool. Cause I hated, I thought I hated learning, but I actually love learning. I love learning too.

Like even now I, like your, your guest, I wanted to pop in here and I had so many questions because it's exciting to learn new things. Yeah, especially health stuff. I'm all about that. 100%. Me too. I get so excited. Yeah. But people think that they're like, wow, you're weird.

Yeah, it's like, oh, you're healthy? That's weird. Yeah. And I feel like I'm not like extremely healthy because I guess my vice is like Baskin Robbins so as much as I say that I'm healthy and eat clean and um it's like to an extent right right because everyone knows me like Baskin Robbins even though I know that the the drink has carrageenan in it and it's awful for my gut I'm still ice cream's tough to give up yeah I don't think I could give up ice cream right but i am

like i feel like i'm doing you know eight things right so i can i can have that yeah so as a model you must be on a strict diet i'm not oh you're not no really yeah i thought they have to eat like barely any calories okay so growing up like i um i was probably like always the fat model. So now it's, and I hate saying it, but it's the truth. So I was probably like the bigger one. I had like a little more curves than a lot of the girls. I wasn't as tall as a lot of the models. So if I listened to what everyone else said, I would never have propelled like I did in my career.

Wow. So I was like too short. I was too thick and all these things are wrong with you. But it was something that I feel like it's something that found me. Like I didn't really chase that, but it's something that always presented itself to me. So I was able to take it and find different avenues, if that makes sense. So at first you were getting a lot of negative feedback and denials. Was that tough on you mentally?

I mean, any model hears hundreds of no's before we get a yes. So we're constantly told no, dismissed, we're picked apart. So it's been like such a blessing for me like in business because I think a lot of people are like told no or or fail and they they stop so for us like you can't quit like we just know that not everyone is going to align with us and that's okay and you keep moving and beauty is like so subjective right so someone that you think is beautiful, the next person can be like, she's so not pretty. So I think I learned younger on that it's not,

everyone's not going to look at you and be like, oh, she's so pretty or she has a great body. Yeah, you can't please everybody. Yeah, it's crazy. Like I look at someone and I'm like, I think Giselle's beautiful. And then you ask like five other guys and they're like oh she's too skinny she is and they pick her apart and it's

so sad yeah you know and there's like phases of modeling where sometimes certain years they like the short skinny ones right yeah and then now it's like curvy and then it kind of now it's so now you know it's like popular now believe it not, is like they say heroin chic. So now they're going back to super, super skinny. So that's why everyone's like on Ozempic and trying to get super thin. So it's like, you know, trends. Yeah. I heard of people taking that losing like 20 pounds.

Yeah. I just don't think that like my body, I'm never going to be like super skinny. Like maybe you look at me and think that i think you're skinny right now yeah so this is the thing so i show up to like everyday life and like i'm skinny compared to the real world but when i show up to like a job i'm bigger than most of the girls because you're super skinny right really i don't know i think like yeah i have like my arms are always like thin upper body i'm thin yeah um but i've always had like like meat in my trunk you know like i'm like thicker down here in my legs got it oh so they don't want big breasts they

no yeah we they want you want like a box type because we're selling we're selling like clothes we're not selling like ourselves so it's yeah it's based on a fit but now it's like there's no limits which i'm not like a huge proponent of because i do push for like a healthy lifestyle so as a mother of girls when i walk into target um and i see these mannequins that are huge. I'm like, what are we promoting here? Like this is not like healthy. And I don't want, I don't want my girls thinking, like striving for this. It's not normal. Yeah, for sure. Did you see a lot of models transition into or did they sort of stay as a model? Yeah, I did. Oh, you did? I did. Because the money was better, right?

Yeah. These girls are bringing in like $100,000 a month. It's insane. Even the guys. I have a friend of mine, a male model, and he showed me. He literally logged in as an accountant. He's making like $40,000. Wait, there's guys making money on their own?

$40,000 a month. What the heck? Which is like, and then I'm like, yeah, but like, are you getting naked? Like, what are you showing? He doesn't even get naked. Oh, wow. Yeah. So I'm like, hmm.

That's impressive. Like, I can't believe that's a thing. And it's just like, you know, having the conversations. And I think like primarily his audiences, they're gay guys. Oh, got it. But yeah. That makes sense now. So. You didn't make that transition though. I got it. But, yeah. That makes sense now. So.

You didn't make that transition though. I didn't. I didn't. I think, I have nothing against anyone that does, but for me, I just hold myself to a different standard and I think that I have sexy stuff on Instagram and I have no problem with that, but there's like a limit for me. So, there's nothing nude of me like implied for like some print that I've done. But and that was like hard enough as is for my kids.

So I feel like a lot of people and like I said, I don't want to be judgmental. Sometimes I wish I could. But then I'm like, like, where's the limit? Right. Like how much money do how much money do I really need? I do great and I'm so blessed and grateful for the life that I live. Do I need to be making a few million more? Right.

Yeah, there's a limit. Yeah, where is the limit? Yeah. There's a limit where if you cross it, but you're selling your soul a little bit. Yeah, and that's what I say, but I think that it doesn't resonate with some people, which is fine. Like, you do you, but it's not, like, for me.

That makes sense. And then it's, like, in some weird way, like, I've met people and they're like, I'll give you 75, like, one guy offered me 75,000 cash just to see my ****. Whoa. So my friend's like, I'll show him my ****. He's like, I don't want to see your ****. I want to see your ****. But it's like um i'll show him my he's like i don't want to see your i want to see her but it's like i can't that's a lot i know but then looking back sometimes i'm like why am i like this is it am i being dumb like why don't i just show him my everyone has but i think there's always been like that part of me um like that little fire in me that like no you don't get to see that like that's for like my partner or like my husband someday you're married right i'm

not married you're not no got it yeah man i'm in a relationship but not married yeah that's good um how do you move up the ranks and modeling is it like i know cover models are important right stacking those up is that kind of how you move up? Yeah, covers are always good. But I really feel like what I learned in modeling is the relationships. So that's what's really important. And you're always going to have the jobs that want to party with the girls or they want girls like that. And those are the brands and the companies that don't really align with me because I'm

kind of the girl that goes to work and I go back to my room and I want to read or like work out or do things like that. I'm not going to be the one that's going to go out and party with you and drink. Um, so I've lost jobs because of that. Um, but I've also built like a lot of respect in the industry. So they know what they're going to get when I show up, like I'm going to be on time. Like I may not be the skinniest, I may not be the prettiest, but no one's going to outwork me. So you know that when you give me a call time, like I'm going to be on time, like I'm not going to be tired, I'm not going to be hungover. So I feel like that's what's really propelled my career and why I've lasted so long in the industry. Yeah, because the average model probably doesn't last more than five years, I assume.

No, like 27, you're donezo. At 27? Like back in, yeah, I would say like 20 years ago when like the supermodels were like a thing or I don't know, like in the 80s when we had like all the supermodels. Like it was Cindy Crawford, Claudia Schiffer. It's not like that anymore. Like I miss that and I wish our industry was geared more towards that because it was such a fun time.

But I understand too, like we, we evolve, things change. Yeah. Um, but yeah. I want to talk about this crazy transition into pistol shooting. Yeah. Model the pistol shooting. Yeah. That's like insane. I'm telling you like modeling has opened the doors for so many like it's just presented so

many opportunities for me from like travel to like even competitive shooting. Like I would have never been exposed to that world if it wasn't for modeling. Right. Which I I hate and I love it the same in the same sense. Right. So like I don't want to bite the hand that feeds me because it's provided so much opportunity for myself and my family, but there's like a side of the industry that I'm not like a fan of and I don't really like fit in. That's the side I see on social media, the dark side of modeling. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of manipulation and yeah. Money. Yeah. Which I can't, I feel like I just can't be like bought or bribed. Like it's great. Someone else is going to take it, but it's not going to be me. Yeah.

So how exactly did that happen? Did someone see you on a cover and invite you to a shooting event or something? Okay. So I cast for a show in Australia. So my agent had come to me and they were like, hey, they're doing a show and we want you to audition for it. And I'm not about like the acting world at all. Not like a huge fan of like reality show. I don't even watch TV. So I'm like, well, tell me a little bit

about the show. So she told me about like the weapons training. And so I was like, Ooh, and I'm super competitive by nature, love sports. Um, and I was like, well, let me look at it. And I said, no, in the beginning. And then something, it presented itself again. She said, they're going to be in Vegas, just go to the casting. So I went to the casting, um, and then I ended up like making it. And then along the lines, it was like, you're going to get to train with like the special forces and military. So I was just like all about the new skill, um, started training with like a lot of those guys, the Israeli special forces. I got to train with some of those guys. Um, and then I, I, I found out that like during that time, it's crazy because you have like the military side of shooting,

right. And that type of training and then the competitive shooting, which most people don't know about. Like I knew nothing about competitive shooting. I didn't even know it was, was a sport. Like, yeah, it's an Olympic sport. Um, so I met, I was, I went into like a random gun shop. I met JJ Ricasa and he was like, you should shoot a match with me. And I was thinking, a lot of the military guys that I was training with at that time,

I hear them and I listen and they kind of make fun of the competitive shooters. If you've ever seen someone shoot a stage or a match, I get it. You look silly. You look ridiculous. How do they shoot? It get it like they're like they you look silly you look ridiculous how did they shoot like it's just like they're running around like shooting stuff oh is that what uh keanu reeves did yes it at taryn's um yes i saw that video yes so taryn has a range and that's what they do they shoot steel you shoot cardboard whatever so for me like i kind of laughed at it and i was like i'm more about like

kicking down doors and blowing up like that's like my that's where i get my excitement and he was like just shoot one match with me so i said okay i'll shoot a local match with you i went out there and yeah so i thought i was like like i'm good good. I'm shooting with these military guys. It was such next level that it humbled me to where I was like, whoa. I literally know nothing. So that's what propelled me into that. And then just being so late in the game, most of these shooters, they've been shooting like, especially like,

so Asia's a lot better than us. Like they're, they're, I would say like Russia, Asia, when I shoot like overseas, they dominate there. They win everything. But these kids are starting to train from such a young age. So it's like four and five years old and they're on the range. Like, so when I saw that, I shot my first major match in the Philippines and I was like man I should just quit now like I'm never like how do you catch up to that right but then it just becomes like I'm really competing with no one but myself so if I can come out here and finish and shoot all these stages every time I shoot I'm getting better and most people never thought I'd even make it

over there. Yeah. So that's crazy. Yeah. Yeah. I saw Keanu do it. So it's like real bullets and everything, right? Oh yeah. Yeah. So the thing with like, okay, so the thing with competitive shooting, it's like, it looks easy. So you go out to a range and you see like the setup. I think my manager sent me some videos when I was just in Bali, I shot a match out there. So it looks simple, but then you put someone behind you with a timer and then other people following you through this obstacle course. And pressure. It's so much pressure. Right. So it's kind of like shooting at someone when someone's shooting back at you. Wait, someone's following you? Yeah. They follow you with, they're not someone's following you yeah they follow you with they're not shooting at me but they follow you with like a timer and you have to

make sure that like if i'm shooting this way like i my pistol like my barrel can't break the 180 oh so at any like so we're doing reloads i have to run back right and your pistol has to remain like downrange at all times for safety reasons. So it's just like all these things. And when you really break it down and think about it, I'm like, man, every time we come out here, someone could die. I was thinking that, yeah. You know?

Because even the recoil, right? I mean, the recoil is not going to kill you. But I shoot 40, so my recoil is a lot more than someone who's shooting nine got it um like a but do the bullets kind of ricochet sometimes sometimes they do off the steel like people have been like accidentally like in the range so yeah if you which typically if the steel in the range is up kept properly I mean accidents can happen anywhere right so I'm not trying to detour anyone from the sport by any means but I mean we get in our car every day and you could get in an accident and die. So, I mean, I was shooting, it's so crazy. I was shooting a match in Thailand and it happened

to rain. And one of the, like their mosquitoes were like ridiculous. was so crazy someone got bit by a mosquito yeah and died what got a mosquito from a mosquito he got dengue like the oh my god that virus so i'm like not safe anywhere that's terrible so when you think of it in in that sense you're like wow but sometimes i do i'm out there shooting and i'm like any like we all have like loaded weapons on us it's like hundreds of people at any point in time someone could could just go crazy yeah money must be insane then for the risk to be um yeah so that's that's the thing I think it's um you know we're not getting paid like what the NBA is paying or or that um yeah, I don't know if you could really make a living off of it. Oh, so it's not that good.

Yeah, like endorsement deals and your sponsorship deals are, they can be lucrative. But I think, I mean, the best shooter in the world is like Eric Graffel and he's based out of Paris. And I think JJ Riccazza is definitely the top. He's in Florida. But I mean, we're not bringing in. Damn.

I guess because it's newer, right? Like multi-millions. It's like Pickleball, almost kind of a newer. Oh my God, Pickleball? Like what is up with that? I played. It's actually kind of fun. Do you love it?

I don't love it, but it's fun. I mean, if you're with your friends two on two, it's definitely competitive. I have to try it. Yeah. I wouldn't like go all out on it. It's more of just like a weekend activity. Like do you have like a legit?

There's $250 rackets. Yeah. Do you have a legit or does it matter? No, it definitely matters. Like you can put spin on it if you have a nice racket. Okay. Because I bought the Walmart one at first and they destroyed me. So I had to.

So I say the same with like our pistols yeah like if you want to go shoot average go get a glock they're not to say that there aren't people that can't shoot you know great with a glock but in my conceal carry is the glock so i'm not hating on glock but um if you want like something next level like yeah oh so you can use different guns at the competition yeah so there's different um yeah you shoot like standard or open like i shoot iron sights so some people shoot with like a red dot right i like wouldn't that be way easier it is easier so i like to torture myself and i want to shoot iron sights and 40 so make it a little difficult so yeah i like when you see someone shoot before me that's like

shooting an open gun they're running through a stage and they're like and then i get up and i'm like that that that that that because i it takes me a little longer to like pick up my sight when i'm shooting at distance i hate it i hate it but i love it because it's definitely instilled like a level of discipline nice yeah i gotta ask this question because when I was researching you on Google. Yeah. Did you know someone made an AI chatbot of you? No. Like what does that even mean?

So there's an AI chatbot. If you Google your name, it's on the first page. Okay. Someone made an AI that basically talks as if they're you. Okay. So they compiled all your posts on social media, put it into an AI. And the guy's obsessed with you so much, I guess, that he wants to feel like he's talking to you.

So he made a bot for other people to talk to it. So do other people talk to it? Yeah, there's a whole Reddit thread. There's tons of people talking to you. That's freaking crazy. So you got some fanboys. Yeah. I was like, damn, I've never seen that before.

You might have to reach out to the guy who made it. Yeah. How do you find him? I mean, I'm sure we can find him, right? It was on Reddit, yeah. We could probably find him. Yeah. Damn.

I mean, there's like a ton of like fake accounts. And then I get like the messages like, I've been giving you money for a year. And I'm like, wait, you have not been giving me money. Sugar daddy. Or yeah, I've sent you thousands of dollars in iTunes cards. I'm like, iTunes cards? If you want to send anything,

send me like Baskin Robbins. Who still uses iTunes? Yeah, I don't know. What the heck? I used that when I was like 10. Right? Yeah. Well, I guess, yeah, that was like a thing.

Everyone was, I don't know. Yeah. Well, what's next for you? I saw you just came back from Bali. That looks sick. Yeah, we had an incredible time in bali i was there probably like three weeks too long um did you get sick okay i want to know why why do you ask that everyone that goes there gets sick everyone in my group got sick except for me wow yeah from the water i think it's from the water and they were set on like i brushed my teeth with the water

and usually i'm like a weirdo like i'll use the bottled water but i don't drink well i only drink water and coffee so um but i didn't drink the coffee there unless i used like bottle water to make my own coffee so that could be it um yeah it could have been the coffee then maybe they use tap water in it they probably do yeah but i don't drink soda so there was no ice um nothing like that but everyone in my group got right could have been the ice too got sick like they call it bali gut yeah that's why i'm scared to go there because really you get you get sick for a week when you get it right it's like yeah it doesn't go away like you they could not get out of bed they're throwing up nauseous like and i was like yeah i

think i have like a gut of steel wow because i even the my girlfriend that was staying with me um she would brush her teeth with bottled water and i just i'm like lazy and i'm like answering yeah but when i get back from anywhere um like that i always always do a parasite cleanse. Yeah, that makes sense. Well, anything you want to promote or close off with? No, I think your studio is amazing. Thank you so much for having me. Yeah, thanks for coming on, Jamie. It was a fun episode.

Yeah, cool. Thanks for watching, guys. I'll see you next time. Peace.