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November 13, 2023 • 12 mins

This week on Money Moves, we're thrilled to welcome the incredible Cynthia Bailey as our guest! While you might recognize her from 'The Real Housewives of Atlanta,' Cynthia is far more than a reality star. She stands as a world-class model, gracing some of the highest-selling covers in Essence magazine history. Beyond modeling, Cynthia has carved her path as a prominent brand ambassador for Seagram's Escapes and has embarked on successful business ventures. Join us as Cynthia shares her inspiring journey into the world of modeling, her experiences in reality TV, and her exciting transition into the realm of acting. It's a conversation filled with insights and lessons from a multifaceted entrepreneur!

Host IG:@itstanyatime

Guest IG: @cynthiabailey

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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know everything in my life. It feels like I
didn't know. It was never a plan, like I didn't
plan to I didn't plan to be a model, I
didn't plan on joining a reality TV show, and honestly,
I didn't even plan on transitioning into acting.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
You're listening to Money Moves powered by Greenwood, a finance
podcast dedicated to dropping all the knowledge and gems from
the world's leading celebrities, entrepreneurs and experts, and tech, business
and more. I'm your host, angel investor, technology enthusiast, and
media personality Tanya Sam. Each week, we talk with guests
who are making significant strides in their fields and learn

(00:37):
how they are making their money move. If you're someone
who's looking to make your money move, you're in the
right place. So open up your notes app and lock
us in, because this podcast will give you the keys
to the kingdom of financial stability, wealth and abundance you.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
So rightly deserve.

Speaker 2 (00:53):
Before we start the episode, I'd like to remind you
to check us out at Gogreenwood dot com and follow
us on social media at Greenwood and me on all
Things social at It's Tanya Time to stay locked in
to new episodes Hey, Money Movers, Welcome back to another
episode of Money Moves. You know, I love what I

(01:13):
do and the best part is when you actually get
to interview people that you can call a friend on
the podcast. So this week's guest might be familiar to
you from her appearances on the hit reality show.

Speaker 3 (01:24):
Oh Have I heard of this one?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Moneymovers, I just want you
to get a great understanding. This woman is so much
more than a bee tolder. She's a renowned, world class model.
He's graced some of the highest selling covers from Essence
magazine to runways all over the world.

Speaker 3 (01:40):
Not only that, she's.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Been a prominent brand ambassador for big brands such as Seagrams.
She's an entrepreneur in her own right. She's wants Glasses,
Companies and so much more.

Speaker 3 (01:49):
So.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
It is my pleasure to welcome to the Money Moves
platform today someone who embodies success across so many fields
and not just a pretty face.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Money Movers. Let's give a warm one.

Speaker 3 (02:00):
Welcome to the incredible Cynthia Bailey.

Speaker 4 (02:02):
Cynthia welcome.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
Oh, thank you so.

Speaker 4 (02:04):
Much, Thank you, Dany, It's so good to see you.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
Well, I'm super excited to have you on the podcast
today because although we embraced the screens across TVs across
the world, we get a nice chance to sit down
today and talk about something super important. Yes, get into
the money, into the bag, Get into the bag.

Speaker 3 (02:22):
And you know this is important.

Speaker 2 (02:23):
And I especially love having women on the platform who
have had varying careers. There's so many people across the
world that look up to you the longevity that you've
had in multiple careers across many disciplines. But for those
of the Money Moves audience who aren't familiar with you
from housewives and other endeavors, can you walk us.

Speaker 3 (02:41):
Through your journey starting from like the beginning. I want
to know you know how you sort of launched into
making money, modeling, et cetera. Taking the liberty of breaking
down my journey into X because I talked about this
a lot, so EG one was big starting my modeling career.
Eighteen years old, born and raised, small town Alabama. I

(03:07):
was in my one and only beauty pageant.

Speaker 4 (03:09):
I did not.

Speaker 1 (03:09):
Win, didn't even play, not even miscontinuality, nothing, But it's
how rude turns out one of the judges was a
model scout from Wilhelmina Models. And although I didn't win,
I am the only contestant that she approached after the
pageant to offer a five year modeling contract with Wilhelmina

(03:32):
Models in New York City. So I didn't win, but
I kind of won.

Speaker 4 (03:36):
But you came out winning.

Speaker 3 (03:37):
You came out winning.

Speaker 1 (03:39):
Exactly exactly, and you know the lesson there is sometimes
some of your biggest losses can be your biggest wins
because sometimes you have to lose certain things to win
other things.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
So a loss of that or.

Speaker 2 (03:50):
Something better, Oh money, members, get out your notepad today,
because I love when someone comes in dropping gems from
the beginning, right in the first five minutes.

Speaker 4 (04:00):
Okay, in the first five minutes, already to drop me. Yep,
that's what we need, that's what we need. I love
this energy, Cynthia. It's such a joy to be back
with you. Okay.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
So Act one.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
That's Act one.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
Okay, So move to New York start my modeling career.
I've never considered myself a supermodel, but I am super
proud that I had a very very successful modeling career
for many, many years.

Speaker 4 (04:21):
So that was Act one.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Act two was when I moved from New York City
to Lanta, Georgia, to be with my.

Speaker 4 (04:29):
First husband, mister Peter Thomas.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
I love when we get there.

Speaker 2 (04:33):
I love this is the real life because it's like, okay,
so I'm moving around, there's boys in here. This is great,
absolutely absolutely So anyway, long story short, I'm a Pisces woman,
love of love.

Speaker 4 (04:43):
I follow my heart.

Speaker 1 (04:45):
There's nothing on the horizon here in Atlantic except what
I'm thinking. You know, you know, this man that I
plan on being with for the rest of my life
get here. Maybe like three months later, I keep getting
passed about the house and I'm like, you know, in
New York, I didn't even have TV. Like I was
like totally like, you know, world traveler, you know, read
books all the time, and I know you can relate

(05:06):
to this Tan because you're a big book reader with
your book club.

Speaker 3 (05:08):
Oh my gosh, talk books to me.

Speaker 1 (05:11):
That's a whole nother conversation. I have to, like, you know,
we'll talk about that later. But anyway, long story short,
my ex husband Peter convinced me to just do an
interview just to see what, you know, just take a
meeting and see what was all about. And I was
super reluctant because I'm not actually a big drama conflict controversy,

(05:33):
like I don't like smoke.

Speaker 4 (05:34):
I don't want any of that stuff.

Speaker 2 (05:36):
Oh my gosh, this is so funny because I feel
like this is exactly how I came onto House Like two,
I was like, yeah, it should be fun. I don't
like drama, so I'm sure there won't be that much.
I don't know what we were thinking, naive little sheep like, but.

Speaker 1 (05:48):
Anyways, an interview turns into a screen test, turns into
another screen test, and the next thing I know, I
am brought into the show actually as the friend of Nini.
So anyway, long story short.

Speaker 4 (06:02):
They brought me in and they were like, hey, you know,
we're gonna just see how it all works out.

Speaker 1 (06:07):
You know, we like you, were also bringing in this
young lady, Phaedra, who I didn't know.

Speaker 4 (06:11):
Fader and I came on the same time. Blah blah
blah blah blah.

Speaker 1 (06:13):
Long story short, we ended up being so different. When
I first came on, I was a housewife. They said,
you know, one will be a housewife and one will
be a friend. Whoever has the best story will be
the housewife. I didn't even know what any that's meant.
I was like, storyline, what is the story? What is
the storyline? Like all I had was my life. So
I just kind of came as I was, Vader came
as she was. We were totally different. And in the end,

(06:35):
like right when it was getting ready to come on,
they were like, hey, both of you guys are going
to be housewives.

Speaker 4 (06:39):
So it just kind of happened.

Speaker 1 (06:41):
Eleven years later, you know, the rest is history. Again,
like I put myself in that situation. I didn't know that,
you know, everything in my life. It feels like I
didn't know. It was never a plan, Like I didn't
plan to you know, I didn't plan to be a model.

Speaker 4 (06:58):
I didn't plan on joining the reality TV show, and honestly,
I didn't even plan on transitioning into acting, which is
my third act.

Speaker 1 (07:06):
Okay, so I decide at the right age of fifty
five that I'm gonna walk away from reality TV sweet.

Speaker 2 (07:17):
And Ripe age right age. Because you guys, this is
an audio podcast, but if you don't know what Cynthia
Bailey looks like, google her. Girl, you are the like
epitome of anti aging beauty.

Speaker 4 (07:29):
Thank you, Thank you. So much. I appreciate that. So anyway,
I decide that I'm going to make some changes.

Speaker 3 (07:38):
At my age a woman of her age.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Personally and professionally, and I and I decide to walk
away from my second marriage and also from the Real
Housewives of Atlanta. I thought about going back as a friend.

Speaker 4 (07:56):
I was contract. Actually I love that because I actually
came up with the friend contract. It's like a full rate.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
And as a friend, I overstand because this is something
really nice about being a friend. You know, you're you're
on the job, but you're not entirely like accountable to
the schedule.

Speaker 3 (08:14):
You could show up like there's a lot of autonomy
in it.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Yes, and you don't have to really share your personal life.
And you know, I felt like after two marriages and
two divorces on the show, I kind of feel like,
you know what, I just don't know if I could
have if I can give a third one. I just
don't know if I can scare my personal life. At
this point I walk away from I just cut the cord.

(08:37):
I felt like I was at a time in my
life where, well, I'm also the kind of person that
I'm either all in or I'm all out. I felt
like I would like kind of breaking up with the show,
but maybe they still have benefits, you.

Speaker 4 (08:52):
Know what I mean.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
Oh my gosh, that's exactly right, a show with benefits.

Speaker 1 (08:56):
Yeah, I'm like ringing up, you can still have sex
with me, you know what I mean.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
So I was like, it's my clean breakup. I just
need to I need to just walk away from now,
and uh I did, and it was great.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
It's been great for me because I still have a
great relationship with the network. There's other things that you know,
I'm able to do with them, and uh, I was
able to just really properly start this third act, which
is my acting career, like on a clean slate, to.

Speaker 4 (09:27):
Really be able to totally focus on it.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
I never really wanted to get into acting when I
was modeling and when I was on TV, because I
didn't want acting to be my side job. I knew
that it was something that I had to focus on.
I knew that focus. Yeah, And it was important to
me to have the respect from the other actors and
from the writers and the producers and directors to be

(09:51):
taken seriously because quite honestly, you know, when you come
from reality or even just modeling. A lot of times
we're just taking very seriously as actors.

Speaker 2 (10:00):
You know what. I always struggle with that because it's
such a fun you know, and I don't know who
those gatekeepers are who keep pushing those narratives of like, oh,
well they came from reality or they made a pivot
to come from another career to do that. They're not
a true actor, they're not seasoned, or you know, they
haven't done the work. And I think that, you know,
you look at big, huge, famous celebrities like from Kim
Kardashian to now you where you hear this and I'm like, here,

(10:22):
you are probably putting in double time and overtime to
you know, hone your acting chops, be the best that
you can be and really just like bringing so much
to the stream.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
Yes, yes, you have to, Like I feel like I
felt like I had to overprove myself. And it's almost
like when ye like Will Smith started as a rapper
and he's like one of the best actors in the
game right now.

Speaker 4 (10:46):
So yeah, I think it's.

Speaker 1 (10:49):
Not fair to to assume that although that you know,
we grow up our whole lives wanting to be an
actor that you know, once we decide that's what we
want to do, and if we're willing to do the work,
that we couldn't have success, that we can't have the
same success as anyone else.

Speaker 3 (11:07):
Take it to the sun, Take it to the moon,
Take it to the stars.

Speaker 2 (11:09):
Thanks for listening to today's episode. If we helped you
make your money move, please share it with your community,
Subscribe and leave us a review on iHeartRadio and Apple podcasts.
Follow us on social media at Greenwood and visit us
at Gogreenwood dot com for more financial tips and remember,
money movers, If this were easy, everyone would do it.
So take the lessons you've learned from this episode and

(11:31):
apply it to your life. Money Moves is an iHeartRadio
podcast powered by Greenwood Executive produced by Sunwise Media, Inc.
For more podcasts on iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you get your podcasts from.

Speaker 3 (11:47):
Make sure to.

Speaker 2 (11:48):
Tune in Monday, Wednesday and Friday and subscribe to the
Money Moves podcast powered by Greenwood, so that you too
can have the keys to financial freedom you so rightly deserve.
Until next time,
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