Gabriella Halikas Shares How Rejection Fuels Her Fire to Succeed
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On a recent episode of the Pursuit of Wellness podcast, 2021 Swim Search finalist Gabriella Halikas sat down with host Mari Llewellyn to talk about everything from the modeling industry to social media and more.
The 26-year-old, who is represented by Ford Models and is the self-proclaimed “CEO of confidence,” also divulged how she typically handles rejection: by using it to fuel her fire for success.
“I believe when you have a light and a fire inside of you to do something, you will literally do anything it takes to get there,” Halikas stated. “No matter how many ‘nos’ you get along the way, you still show up. And I let the ‘nos’ be my fuel, I let it be my fire, I love to keep climbing the ladder and proving all the haters wrong, but also just doing it for me, doing it for my younger self, who never felt enough.”
She also noted that through her work, she hopes to show young women who feel unrepresented in the industry how to build a career “from the ground up.” Plenty of Halikas’s 709,700 followers on the video-based platform resonated with her words and piped in to the comments section.
“You’re awesome!!!” one fan cheered.
“Queen,” someone else applauded.
Over the summer, Halikas walked the Miami Swim Week runway for brands like OneOne Swimwear and Sinesia Karol. She announced the exciting news that she had signed with Ford Models on Instagram in February.
