In a world where glitter is the only light some can see, all things glam is an obsession for the masses and worldly values are worshipped by a multitude of people who don’t believe in Christ, we are inspired by former fashion model, Katrina McCain. For nearly a decade, she strolled across the runways of New York’s fashion elite, appeared on TV, graced the pages of glamour magazines such as Vogue Italia and travelled in circles most never experience. Yet, with all her success she knew deep within something was missing and her accomplishments were not enough.
Ultimately, it was her yearning for Christ that helped to re-chart the course for her life. Her new book, Beyond Being Good – Seeking Christ’s Perfection for Our Imperfect Hearts, offers a glimpse into her heart and soul, her hopes and fears as she shares stories of her victories and defeats. Having navigated successfully through a world that isn’t always what it appears to be, McCain offers a unique perspective on living above social acceptance and personal perfection. Authentic and transparent, she is passionate about helping other women delve into a deeper understanding of God’s goodness through a total experience of His perfect love. It’s a message of inspiration for women of all ages.
We spoke with her recently. She talked freely about her loving husband, her own personal challenges and their daughter who she describes as “my personal testimony”. There is a lot more to her than the beautiful fashion model on the cover—as you will see.
HimPower: How long did you model and how did you get started?
K. McCain: I modeled for 9 years and had the opportunity to work with Wilhelmina Models out of New York. It was an exciting experience. I’ve also enjoyed contracts in Atlanta, Miami and locally here in North Carolina. Modeling was never a goal of mine. I think, because of my height and body size, people just assumed that I pursued this career, but really, it was an accident. It all began as a favor to a classmate who entered Charlotte’s first Fashion Week. They needed an extra person and asked me to do it. I was absolutely terrified! But I agreed because I was in a place where I was trying to be more outgoing. The show was mind blowing for me—I had never done anything quite like that before. Two agents from NY happened to be in the audience. They came back stage and offered me a contract on the spot.
HimPower: What did you like about modelling?
K. McCain: Before modeling, I was a very timid person. I had a lot of insecurities about myself and I felt very overlooked. I loved the attention and the confidence that I learned to develop through modeling. Meeting new people, traveling and wearing beautiful clothes and taking strong pictures gave me a thrill and I enjoyed excelling in the industry. Runway was thrilling, but the photo shoots and studio time was what made me fall in love with High Fashion. Modeling opened a lot of doors for me regarding my growth and my life experiences. I’ve visited parts of the country I probably wouldn’t have been able to go to, otherwise, and it provided me a creative outlet that I didn’t know was possible.
HimPower: What did you dislike?
K. McCain: What I disliked about modeling was that I allowed it to change my personality. As I developed my confidence, it began to grow into vanity. For whatever reason, I began to mistake my looks and the compliments from others as my self worth and I got lost for a time in performing for others. I began to feel like I needed to prove myself and earn the approval of people in the industry and it began to weigh on me. This isn’t the case for everyone in the modeling world, but this was my experience.
HimPower: What projects or accomplishments do you feel particularly good about and why?
K. McCain: I’ve been in Vogue, national commercials, featured in TV shows like One Tree Hill and Homeland and I even received a roll on The Hunger Games movie. But, honestly, I feel the most accomplished coaching emerging models, now that I am retired. Helping them develop and engage in questions and answers and talking to parents about the fashion industry is very fulfilling for me—even more so than attaining success for myself. I like to help, I like to talk and I like fashion. Coaching allows me to do all three at the same time! It’s a perfect blend!
HimPower: What lessons did you learn from your modelling experience?
K. McCain: The biggest lesson I learned was that self-love and self-appreciation are virtues that are necessary to possess for healthy living and true beauty. Everyone will have their opinion of you. One designer will think you are perfect and beautiful and ten minutes later, you can go to a different audition and they will have the opposite opinion. If you spend your life trying to prove to others that you are special, you will begin to lose sight of who you truly are. Beauty isn’t about someone else’s expectations of you, it’s about loving yourself, as God made you, because He declares that we are fearfully and wonderfully made. It took me a long time to realize that and to accept that. I would lay out in the sun and tan to make myself even darker so that I would stand out more, because someone told me that my skin tone was “In between”. I would straighten my hair because that was more attractive and desirable in the fashion world. I would go days only eating raw vegetables to appear thinner, though I secretly desired hamburgers or shrimp alfredo or a Twix candy bar, now and then. I compromised a lot of who I was because I wanted to be the girl who got picked. I wanted to stay memorable and I wanted to prove that I was just as talented as any other model. I made good friends with my model mates, but I sometimes felt that they had something I didn’t and I was constantly trying to prove that I was just as good. But, eventually, it wore me out. You can’t please everybody and you’re not supposed to. What I learned is that when our identity is grounded in the Lord, we begin to see that we are already accepted and we don’t have to work so hard to prove our worth to others.
HimPower: What advice do you have for young women aspiring to become models?
K. McCain: My biggest advice is to be smart. Keep your family involved in your journey, ask questions of everyone—never believe face value. READ everything before you sign it. Have the confidence to say “No” to opportunities that don’t feel right. I tell every model that I work with, “you are not always going to be understood—not everyone will think you are beautiful and not everyone will want to give you a chance. But don’t let that put you in a place of desperation where you become “too eager to please”. Enjoy the opportunities that you do get and push yourself to grow with each session you shoot or show that you walk in. Set high standards for yourself because the industry is crowded with people who will try to prey on girls who don’t have standards.
HimPower: You decided to retire, why?
K. McCain: I enjoyed my career, a lot. I was always on the road, driving to Atlanta. I did photo shoots in New York and various runway shows. I was very busy, especially because I was also pursuing a Bachelor’s degree at the same time. During my first two contracts, agents kept altering my age. I was “17” for like 4 years! I retired in 2014 when I became pregnant with my daughter. I was honestly tired of pretending to be years younger than I really was. I would be 26 in a room full of 18 year olds. I wouldn’t wear my wedding ring to some auditions because that would contradict my image. I was also growing tired of all the traveling. When we found out we were pregnant, I decided that I was ready to transition into living my life for my family and no longer for fashion. I took a year off with no fashion at all, but then found opportunities to coach aspiring models in 2016 through Fashion Beyond Borders—a Charity Runway Show that I founded through Pearls of Hope. We use fashion to raise money for families in need. Many people in the fashion community, whom I’ve had the pleasure of making relationships and friendships with, volunteer their time to help this production and I am very grateful. We’ve had lots of success and it’s a thrill to relive my modeling days for the purpose of uplifting others. I doubt I’ll ever be rid of fashion completely.
HimPower: A lot of people are excited about your new book that’s coming out. Tell us about, Beyond Being Good and how you arrived at the name?
K. McCain: Beyond Being Good is probably my greatest personal accomplishment! The full title is Beyond Being Good: Seeking Christ’s Perfection for Our Imperfect Hearts. I’m so excited and absolutely terrified at the same time because I am very vulnerable in this book. I share a lot about my personal journey and growth including mistakes, life lessons and what led me to Jesus. In a nutshell, Beyond Being Good is about coming to a place where we realize that our ability to be good has nothing to do with being loved by God. Our culture likes to use labels and I think “Good Girl” is a dangerous label that many of us have tried to aspire to be known as, only to fall short in some way or another. We aren’t perfect and we never will be until we meet Jesus face-to-face. I struggled a lot with being a “Good Girl”- trying to do everything right while at the same time dealing with silent struggles and too afraid to admit it because of the fear of being a hypocrite. But, Jesus didn’t save us to be “Good Girls”. Salvation goes beyond our attempts at personal perfection and the book deals with discovering how His perfect love has the power to do the perfect for us and in us, even in our struggles and messes.
HimPower: Once your book is released, where can our readers get a copy and what do you want them to take away from it?
K. McCain: Beyond Being Good will be released April 10 on Amazon.com, BarnesandNobles.com and ChristianBook.com. It’s been a year’s journey and I am thankful and excited to see the results of this project. I hope local bookstores and church bookstores will be open to selling the book and allowing me to do some in-person readings and book signings. What I hope is that women of all ages will take away from this book that Salvation is not about our efforts to be “good”, it’s about allowing God’s goodness to change and transform us for His glory. So we can be open about our struggles, knowing that no one is disqualified from Salvation. It’s a gift—not a trophy to be won. God’s perfect love is the only thing that has the power to change our hearts and once we begin to rely on His perfection and not our own, then we begin to live in the abundance of His love and begin to walk in our mission and individual callings in more authentic ways.
HimPower: Tell us about Pearls of Hope, the organization you founded.
K. McCain: Pearls of Hope Outreach is a nonprofit organization founded to foster accountable Christian friendships among young adult women for the sake of encouragement, Bible Study and outreach opportunities. We strive to operate in authenticity so that women from all backgrounds realize that Salvation is available to anyone and that we are all in a growing process, whether you’ve been a Christian for 10 years or one week.
HimPower: What led you to found it, what is its mission and what is your vision for it?
K. McCain: It was an unintentional decision. God really laid it in my lap. I’ve always had a heart to help and to problem solve. There was a ministry that didn’t have the resources for a women’s ministry and a few of my friends confided in me about their desire to start a women’s program at this church. Unfortunately, their leadership wouldn’t allow it, so, I figured, since I’m constantly doing personal devotions, maybe they’d like to join me. This was in June of 2013. I was only married for 1 month when I found myself hosting 9 women in my living room every Tuesday night, discussing scripture and ways we could share God’s love in our community. By 2014, there were 12 women between the ages of 19 and 27, joining me for Bible Study and Prayer. The first devotion we did was Lord I want to Know You, by Kay Arthur. In 2015, we received our Federal accreditation as a 501c(3) nonprofit organization and we are currently completing our 17th Bible Study.
HimPower: How many young women are currently involved, and how can others get involved or support your efforts?
K. McCain: Currently, there are 17 active members spanning from Fayetteville, Winston Salem, Greensboro, Charlotte, Cornelius in North Carolina and one special Pearl who Skypes in from Hawaii Because our membership base is in North Carolina, those in the area are welcome to join us by inquiring through our email or social media accounts. Instagram is a great way to learn intimate details about us, such as viewing videos, interviews and pictures. Another way to connect with us is through our website which is www.PearlsofHopeOutreach.org. If anyone is interested in supporting us financially, all giving is tax deductible through our website and would truly be a blessing for all the outreaches we conduct. We do our best to raise the funds we need, but every donation—no matter how small—helps our mission to bless those in need. This is our passion: to take what we are learning in our Bible Studies and apply it to real life situations, people and environments.
HimPower: What can you tell us about your husband?
K. McCain: Jarrett. I love him. My husband is a man with deep thoughts and an appetite for truth. He’s really funny about knowing what is factual. When we go to the movies, he will do his research so that he can compare what was factual and what Hollywood fabricated! He keeps me grounded because I am highly emotional. I tend to operate on my feelings and not always the facts. He sees life in black and white—so he’s not so distracted by minor details. I see life in pastel colors and I scribble scrabble out of the lines! I make his life exciting and he makes sure that I don’t run into walls! We’re a great team!
HimPower: How did you meet this special guy and other half to your team?
K. McCain: I met Jarrett at church, actually. We were 24. He had these long messy dreadlocks and, although I was in a place where I was seeking Jesus sincerely, I still had some vanity issues and I ignored Jarrett for the longest time because he wasn’t very clean cut. But Jarrett was patient with me, he watched me a lot—even when I wasn’t paying him any attention. We eventually became friends and God was renewing my mind about how to love my self and others in a healthy and humbled way. The closer I got to God the more I began to see people’s hearts and not just their appearances. As we began to grow in our friendship, I started to really admire how sincere Jarrett was in living for Jesus. He would raise his hands in church in such an awkward way that I thought was really cute. He wasn’t pretending or preforming, he was just very honest about who he was and where he desired God to take him. I really respect that about my husband—his authenticity and genuine heart. Me being a Pastor’s child, I knew a lot about the Bible in my head, but I loved how Jarrett was practicing the Bible from his heart. He inspired me to want to grow more in Christ. I think some people don’t realize that—they think I was the one to encourage Jarrett’s faith, but really, it was the other way around. I saw God begin to move in his life and I saw these beautiful changes in him that I wanted for myself. One Sunday, in 2010, Jarrett came to church in a suit and a fresh hair cut and that was the beginning of the end for me.
HimPower: What can you tell us about your daughter, and is she going to have a brother or sister?
K. McCain: Kailyn Rhea is my joy! Her name means to Rejoice in the Light and she is absolutely radiant! She’s very smart. At two years old, she knows all of her alphabet—upper and lower case, as well as all the phonemes (sounds) and she’s starting to spell. She’s constantly singing her little Sunday school songs and she loves, loves, loves blueberries! Her favorite things are Elmo, Balloons and Peanut Butter sandwiches and she loves to pray. She’s always asking if it’s time to pray! She’s a very special little girl and my personal testimony, because I almost died in labor with her. God saved us both and I cherish everything about her. She is my reminder of God’s love and mercy. Being a mommy seems easy from the outside, but it’s the hardest and most selfless thing I’ve ever had to do. I love motherhood, though! And, in July of this year, we will be adding another addition to our family—Jaelle Kelly! It’s mind blowing for me—the thought of having two little girls. I’m excited, but I feel overwhelmed: what a big responsibility to raise two women!
HimPower: As a parent, what is your greatest hope for them?
K. McCain: My prayer is that Jarrett and I raise them in the love of God so that they will be women who live by the truth of God’s Word and not swayed by the world. The meaning of Jaelle’s name is Heroine from God. We chose the name based off the woman, Jael, in the Bible (Judges 4: 17-22). She won a mighty victory for Israel because of her courage. My prayer over Jaelle is that she will live courageously for Christ in this culture, which will try to discourage her from doing so. I want her to walk in victory over the negative influences in our world. I pray that she will develop a heroic type of faith.
HimPower: You are obviously in a very special season right now as a wife and mother. You also have a lot going on with your foundation and new book. What’s next, or have you looked that far ahead?
K. McCain: What’s next for me, honestly, is to continue to use my life, skills and talents to pour into the lives of other women. I strongly believe that God has missioned me to encourage other women in their identity, their purity, their value and their callings. In my opinion, there aren’t enough encouragers out there—women who are willing to kick off their heels and roll up their sleeves in an effort to reach those who feel unworthy. Those are the women I desire to reach—the ones with hidden regrets and uncertainties, the ones who hold so many dreams in their hearts, but are unsure of how to pray about them or how to navigate their relationship with Christ. I desire to reach those women because I used to be that woman. I wanted God, but not sure if I could really do it. I wanted to change, but wasn’t sure how to love God the way I knew I needed to. I wasn’t sure how to leave my old life behind and I struggled a lot. But, Christianity is for that woman. Jesus came to save that woman and I hope to have opportunities to meet women who are in that season of life—where they are hungry for God and looking for a friend to encourage them in their pursuits of Christ. I hope the book will help open doors for me to speak and share God’s love with others. I’d love to visit churches, women’s groups, Bible Studies, Home book clubs, dorm rooms, coffee shops—anywhere there are women, that’s where I want to be.
HimPower: Is there anything else you would like our readers to know about you?
K. McCain: I want the world to know that I am a woman in progress to perfection and I will continue to be in progress until I meet Jesus. I don’t want anyone to read my book or look at my life as if I’ve “got it”. I don’t. I cry at night, sometimes, like everyone else. I deal with mean girls, like everyone else. I mess up, disobey, and have to confess my sins, like everyone else. Just because I wrote a book doesn’t make me more spiritual and just because I am a model doesn’t make me more beautiful. I am a sinner, just like everyone else, who desperately needs Jesus, just like everyone else. I’m proud of all that I have accomplished in my life and I am eager to experience what God has next for me, but I want to always be sure that people know that I am approachable, relatable and sincerely interested in just being a good friend to anyone who needs one. At the end of the day, I am just one of the girls. I laugh too loud, I drink coffee with too much sugar in it and I think pink is the coolest color on the planet! I love to smile and give hugs and I love to love. I hope, when it’s all said and done, people know me and remember me as a woman who truly cares about others and truly desires to see every woman #BeTheShe—which basically means to live out the life she believes God has promised over her (Luke 1:45). This is true beauty and true freedom and I am on mission to discover this for myself and help others discover this in their own lives, as well.
To keep up with Katrina, visit her website
www.KatrinaMcCain.com. You can also follow her on Instagram @_katrinakatrina_
