ALUM PROFILE FROM HIGH FASHION MODEL TO SUSTAINABILITY ACTIVIST What was your experience both personally and academically after Waldorf?
I arrived in Santa Fe in 1998, when I was 10 years old. My family moved from Tucson and the Tucson Waldorf School to the Santa Fe Waldorf School where I started fourth grade. I left when I was 16 in Grade 10 and went to Santa Fe Prep for two years, graduating from there, which is a decision that I regret. I really wish that I had just finished up at Waldorf. Part of the reason that I left was that I made a silly decision, like young people make sometimes. I left Waldorf because there was no off-campus privilege for teenagers, and I was a teenager who really wanted an off-campus privilege at lunchtime. That meant so much to me that I changed schools.
Arizona (Zoe) Muse Grade 10, 2005
CURRENT WORK: Founder, DIRT Greenpeace’s Oceans Ambassador Aveda’s Global Advocate for Sustainability The Sustainable Angle’s Advisory Board Member Model
"I FEEL LIKE WALDORF PREPARED MY BRAIN TO ABSORB TOTALLY NEW CONCEPTS... I MAY HAVE FOUND IT MORE CHALLENGING TO UNDERSTAND IDEAS THAT ARE DIFFERENT THAN MINE HAD I NOT HAD THIS TYPE OF EDUCATION." 6
It was an adjustment, but I don't remember Prep being particularly difficult. I was behind in computer skills, but Prep also didn't really teach me those skills either. So as a 32-year-old activist, learning and developing computer skills has been a steep learning curve for me. I didn't go to university because I went straight into modeling. Many models find time for university, but I never went, which now I'm okay with. But for a while I really regretted missing the whole experience of dormitories, and being a young person with thousands of other young people in the same environment. It would have been so much fun.
How did you choose your previous and current occupations?
I got into modeling as most models do, just because I kind of fit the bill, I was a certain height and looked a certain way. My godmother was a model and she helped me start right after high school. We went to Los Angeles together and got started, which, to be honest, wasn't a great experience. Many models find that it's not. Young women and their parents need to know a much more transparent picture of what modeling might be for their daughters, and the fact that for most people, you never succeed. You end up feeling like you failed at something and you didn't even really know what it was. [Modeling] leaves most people in a very confusing place. And although for me, I succeeded and it supported me financially for a long time—even then, it's not like it's easy and fun and it doesn’t make you feel good. There's a common misconception that models feel amazing about themselves, because they look amazing all the time. That is not true. I think models probably have the lowest self esteem and the lowest body confidence of anyone, because the opposite happens. When you see loads of pictures of yourself, you actually find all the faults, and you don't see how pretty you look at all. You just think about what could be better and you compare yourself to everyone else. Later I moved to New York and got pregnant (with son Nikko, now 12). I went to stay with my mom (former SFWS Board Member Davina Muse, 2003-2009), and thought to myself, "I won't model anymore, I'll probably go live on a farm." At the time, I was in Massachusetts near upstate New York where there are amazing biodynamic farms. But I thought I should try modeling once more because if I hadn't tried again, I would have always wondered if it could have been a career. I had a very structured plan for six months and it did work. I'm still a model, but six years ago, in London, I started my journey into sustainability, sustainable fashion, and climate change. I am now a very happy climate activist.
