Kathy Ireland
Kathleen Marie Ireland is an American model and actress turned author and entrepreneur. Ireland was a supermodel in the 1980s and 1990s, best known for appearing in 13 consecutive Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues. In 1993, she founded a brand marketing company, kathy ireland Worldwide, which has made her one of the wealthiest former models in the world. As a result of her career as a businesswoman, she had made a $420 million personal fortune by 2015. In 2012, $2 billion worth of products bearing her company's brand were sold.
Early life
Kathy Ireland was born in Glendale, California, the daughter of John and Barbara Ireland. She graduated from San Marcos High School near Santa Barbara, California.Modeling and acting career
Modeling
When Ireland was sixteen in 1979, she was scouted at her high school by Elite Model Management.She has appeared on covers for Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Forbes, and Mademoiselle.
As a teenager, Ireland reported that a photographer once "crossed the line" with her and wanted her to pose topless. She did not feel comfortable and he did not respect her "no." He reportedly pushed her and got physical and she "decked him."
During Sports Illustrated swimsuit's 50th Anniversary event, Ireland's 1989 cover was awarded "The Greatest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Of All Time" by its publisher.
Film and television
Ireland has appeared in a number of television and movie roles. Her first movie, 1988's Alien from L.A., was later skewered during the fifth season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.Ireland's other appearances include Melrose Place, Boy Meets World, The Larry Sanders Show, Muppets Tonight, Side Out, Mr. Destiny, Necessary Roughness, Mom and Dad Save the World, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Once Upon a Christmas, and its sequel Twice Upon a Christmas.
She also participated in the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars, where Ireland and her partner Tony Dovolani were the third couple eliminated in the second week of competition.
In 2016, she made an appearance in the sixth episode of the fourth season of The Profit, offering advice for the CEO of Murchison-Hume, Max Kater.
Entrepreneurship
Kathy Ireland Worldwide
Founded in 1993 as a brand marketing firm in an exclusive business relationship with Kmart, kathy ireland Worldwide grew to become one of the world's most valuable global licensors after cutting its ties to the department store chain in 2003. It has consistently ranked among the top 50 licensors, most recently standing at No. 26 on License Global's "Top 150 Global Licensors" 2019 list with $2.6 billion in retail sales.1993-2003: Foundation and the Kmart years
In 1993, Kathy Ireland's name on a line of socks sold 100 million pairs and Kmart took notice, subsequently giving Ireland her own clothing line including swimwear, active wear, accessories, sweaters and more.Buoyed by the initial success, Ireland founded kathy ireland Worldwide, at the beginning a brand marketing firm, which she and her related trusts own in its entirety. The company concentrated on building its business in home products after 2003, when it cut its exclusive ties to Kmart.
2003-2013: Continuous growth
At the advice of Warren Buffett, Ireland's friend and mentor, kathy ireland Worldwide soon entered into the home furnishings business. "Fashion and apparel is consistently changing, but in home it's more consistent," Buffett said. To this day, Buffett opens each Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting with Ireland and Bill Gates.Already in 2004, Ireland's annual take was thought to be around $10 million. Forbes described Ireland as a "prototype for model-turned-mogul" in a 2006 article about the trend of modelpreneurs. By 2004, kathy ireland Worldwide was marketing products from 16 manufacturers - including those of Nourison and Pacific Coast Lighting - selling them in over 34,000 retail locations in as many as 14 countries.
Between 2005 and 2012, products bearing Ireland's brand generated $2 billion in annual retail sales and the company became a leader in its industry. In a May 2012 British Vogue article, Ireland was called the world's richest model.
Afterwards Ireland started designing wedding dresses and social occasion gowns. She launched her line of wedding gowns by presenting a runway fashion show at the Festival of Brides held in Disneyland Resort in 2012. Sterling/Winters Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of kathy ireland Worldwide, which is the management company for multi-Grammy Award-winning artist Janet Jackson.
American Legend launched a Kathy Ireland collection consisting of 30 styles, which was featured at Macy's beginning in Fall 2011. Ireland is chief designer for Royal Footwear & Accessories. She has established a relationship with manufacturer Gorham designing dinnerware, glassware and flatware.
Ireland designed a collection of jewelry inspired by Elizabeth Taylor. Ireland launched a collection of pet products called Loved Ones, which includes furniture, bowls, collars, toys and luxury bedding. She teamed up with Worldwise Inc., a pet products company based in San Rafael, California, to create the pet collection.
2013-present: Strategic relationships
In 2013, kathy ireland Worldwide entered into a licensing agreement with rug manufacturer Nourison, to create a new collection of affordable area rugs. Since that time, Kathy Ireland Home by Nourison has expanded to include more than 20 distinct rug collections.In 2016, in association with Paul Raps New York, Yaron Turgeman from Taly Diamonds and Roland Krainz from Krainz Creations, Kathy Ireland launched "Diamonds by Kathy Ireland", a collection of sixty-five jewelry pieces: engagement rings, wedding bands, patent-pending earrings, bracelets and pendants. The collection premiered at the 2017 Luxury and JCK shows in Las Vegas.
In January 2017, Ireland teamed with Michael Amini to create a new home-furnishings line. The line, consisting of bedroom pieces, occasional tables, couches, chairs and dining sets, debuted in October 2017, at the High Point Market trade show.
Also in January 2017, American Family Insurance tapped Kathy Ireland for an ambassador role. To launch their relationship, Ireland was the keynote speaker for their Dream Fearlessly campaign. In July 2018, Fox Business reported that Ireland has ventured into the shipping container business, partnering with SG Blocks, an innovative company renowned for designing and constructing numerous container-based buildings and structures in the United States.
On 8 May 2019, singer and actress Vanessa Williams signed a management and partnership agreement with Kathy Ireland Worldwide.
In late 2019, Padlist launched with Kathy Ireland as the Chief Editor & Brand Strategist alongside Co-Founders Blake Van Leer and Lindsay Van Leer.
Other projects
Fitness videos
Since 1994, Ireland has published several fitness videos that led to her design of athletic apparel and launched her brand licensing of fitness equipment. Several of these were VSDA Award-winning, including Total Fitness Workout, Core Workout, Absolutely Fit, Advanced Sports Fitness, Reach and Health and Body Specifics, which was awarded Fitness Video Of The Year.Writing
Ireland has written numerous books, most of them for children. Her debut effort, Powerful Inspirations: Eight Lessons that Will Change Your Life, was published in 2002. Real Solutions for Busy Moms: Your Guide to Success and Sanity and Real Solutions: 52 God Inspired Messages from My Heart were published in 2009. Mona's Favorite Words, What Do Mommies Do? and An Angel Called Hope, her first three children's books, were released in November 2005. Since 2013, she has published few more for Bendon: Where Are the Bears, Choo-Choo Colors, Who Wears What, P-O-T-T-Y, Gracie & Delilah: A Tale of Two Precious Pups, and the three-book collection A Big Kid Book Set, consisting of Proud to Potty, Brush Up and Tubbie Time.She has also written six more "blocky books", published by Bendon as well: Cow, Sheep, and Pig, from the "Farm Friends Blocky Books" series and Giraffe, Lion, and Zebra, from the "Safari Friends Blocky Books" series. In 2020 Kathy Ireland Released her first novel 'Fashion Jungle' with #1 New York Times Bestselling Author Rachel Van Dyken. The novel is based on true events from her storied career in the modeling industry.
Public speaking
Ireland has delivered numerous keynote speeches at corporate events, industry conventions, expos, entrepreneurial events, social media conferences and pro-life events.She spoke at the fourth Youth Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters on August 13, 2007, encouraging young people to engage in activities aimed at ending poverty. Ireland gave a keynote at the Googleplex, the corporate headquarters for Google on July 12, 2012. She delivered the keynote at Licensing International Expo 2012 in Las Vegas.
Along with statesmen Barack Obama and Shimon Peres, Ireland was the key speaker at the 2012 AIPAC policy conference in Washington, DC, where she expressed her support for the Israeli people and warned against the dangers posed by the lack of knowledge about the history of the land of Israel.
Philanthropy
Kathy Ireland is renowned for her charity work and philanthropic activities, which include pro bono work for numerous non-profit organizations such as March of Dimes, PTA, Feed the Children and City of Hope.In addition, Ireland has lent her estates to charitable organizations such as the US Marine Corps' Toys for Tots to generate funds for charity. According to Major Bill Grein of the US Marine Corps, Ireland's company and her book business partner Bendon Publishing International, the world's largest publisher of children's books, donated $10 million to supplement the 2013 annual Toys for Tots gathering and distribution of Christmas gifts for millions of at-risk children and youths.
On World AIDS Day 2017, Ireland donated $100,000 to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation.
Legacy
In 2015, Forbes named Ireland one of America's 50 most successful self-made women in its first ever list of the kind. Lending her name to several thousands of different products, she has been repeatedly listed as one of the biggest licensors in the world, and compared favourably to Martha Stewart. It has been argued that Ireland's branding strategy has paved the way for numerous other "modelpreneurs," serving as the inspiration for the likes of Cindy Crawford and Heidi Klum.In addition, Ireland's successful transformation from a cover girl to a multimillion-dollar entrepreneur has been explicitly cited as inspiring by numerous active fashion models. After appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in 2012, in a subsequent Today show interview, Kate Upton stated that she would like to follow in the footsteps of other cover girls, specifically Heidi Klum and Ireland. Three years later, in an interview with Matt Lauer, Hannah Jeter, the 2015 Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model, echoed the same sentiments, revealing that she "would like to model career after someone like Kathy Ireland." Ireland has also been cited as a role model by one of United States' foremost plus-size models, Ashley Graham, who has singled out her as "one of her favourite people to follow on Instagram," because of her morally conscious online presence and her business savviness. Kathy attended the US Open as a guest of Serena Williams Aug 26, 2019
Personal life
Ireland married physician Greg Olsen in 1988, and they have three children: Erik, Lily and Chloe. She is a devout Christian and an anti-abortion advocate. She has also been outspoken in her support for Israel.Ireland's sister, Cynthia, has a child with Down syndrome. Ireland wrote an article about her niece and the need for an increase in research.
In 2009, Ireland appeared on Larry King Live to discuss her weight gain and women's health issues. She had gained a pound a year for 25 years and the cumulative effect had become obvious to her in a candid photograph her son had taken.