‘No risks, no story:’ Reynolds ’11 tells CGA students to embrace rejection

 

International supermodel Leah Reynolds ’11 encouraged Culver Girls Academy students to take risks, embrace rejection and persevere, saying those choices will lead to the life of their dreams.

“I want you to take risks every day of your life,” she said.

 Reynolds and Nevaeh Navarre ’26 shared stories of resiliency during a Culver Women’s Celebration Alumnae Event on Thursday. A video of the event is available here.

Reynolds told the students that they had already taken a risk by choosing to leave home and attend Culver, one of the top boarding schools in the U.S. She encouraged them to take more risks.

“You don't have a story by saying no, you have a story by saying yes,” she said.

She told the students her story started with a leap into the unknown. At 19, while thriving at Texas Christian University, she was unexpectedly offered a modeling contract requiring her to drop out of school and move to New York immediately.

“They wanted me to give up everything that I knew and do something I had no idea about,” she said.

She took the risk.

“No guts, no glory; no risks, no story,” she said.

If risk begins the story, Reynolds said rejection sharpens it.

“Rejection is your new best friend,” she told the students. “Rejection is the best thing that is ever going to happen to you.”

She recalled being rejected twice by the University of Notre Dame, a school she had long planned to attend because both her father and grandfather were graduates.

“Did I get in to Notre Dame? No. No! Rejected,” she said.

That led to her big break.

“If I didn't get rejected from Notre Dame twice, I would not have been in the office of Ford Models,” she said. “I wouldn't have signed that contract. I wouldn't have moved to New York.”

She calls being rejected by Notre Dame the best thing that ever happened to her.

For students facing intense academic pressure, her message is clear: rejection is not failure, but “pruning out what is not for you.”

 

Reynolds told the students another essential lesson is to never quit.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, when modeling jobs disappeared and many models left New York, she often thought about quitting.

“I did my job when no one else wanted to and no one else had to,” she said.

One of those small jobs led to a much larger break — a national campaign and a billboard in Manhattan.

“That was the biggest check I’ve ever seen. Because I didn’t quit,” she said.

Reynolds saved what she described as her most important lesson for last.

“You're going to have to be yourself,” she said.

She warned students against what she called “an epidemic of sameness,” where people chase the same look, the same path and the same definition of success.

“Everybody wants to be the same,” she said. “Don't do that.”

Early in her career, she said she tried to conform.

“I spent a lot of my early years trying to fit into a box I would never fit into,” she said.

Her breakthrough came when she embraced a different path and leaned into her personality and strengths.

“I became the best market model in New York City,” she said.

Now, she said, her work is in high demand.

“So good that I can no longer take on clients. I'm booked six months in advance,” she said.

The lesson, she told students, is not to chase a predefined mold but to create their own.

“I created my own box, and now I'm irreplaceable to my clients. They fly me all over the world,” she said.

Reynolds said those four lessons -- taking risks, embracing rejection, not quitting and being herself – “have given me everything in life.

“Taking risks, embracing rejection, not quitting, and being yourself will lead you to a story you can be proud of,” she said.

 

Navarre spoke about resiliency, telling her CGA classmates how starting over became a way of life for her. She grew up in an Air Force family and moved frequently, adapting to new schools and communities.

“I learned how to say goodbye before I learned how to stay,” Navarre said.

Those experiences helped build perseverance. Her upbringing also instilled a strong sense of purpose. In her hometown, many students plan to enter the workforce immediately after graduation.

“College is not always the expectation,” Navarre said.

At Culver Academies, her goals expanded beyond what she once imagined possible. Navarre now plans to attend Columbia University, join the Navy ROTC and pursue a degree in biology.

She said Culver opened her eyes.

“I have the ability to dream bigger than I ever imagined possible,” she said.

The journey wasn’t easy, though. Navarre described her junior year as one of the most difficult periods of her life. By her senior year, the demands increased and her mother was deployed to Qatar. This time, she took a different approach.

“Instead of trying to carry everything on my own, I learned how to lean on the people around me, and that small change made all the difference in helping me achieve my goals,” she said.

The advice she gave to Culver students is the importance of understanding their purpose.

“There will be moments in your Culver career where motivation will fade. There will be nights when you are stressed, discouraged and questioning whether all the work will be worth it,” she said. “Those are the moments where your ‘why’ will matter the most.”

She told the students the work they put in now will shape their future in ways they cannot imagine.

“It will be reflected in the college you attend, the opportunities you earn, the people you surround yourself with, and the experiences that shape who you become,” she said. “More importantly, it will be reflected in the person you chose to be, shaped from the long and hard process of hardship.”

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