Welcome to another episode of Keeping It Real
On Purpose, your weekly dose of live self -improvement
to build a life that matters. And I'm your host,
Edna White, your life purpose coach. Today, let's
be real. How many of us scroll through social
media and they wonder, what's the perfect life?
What's the perfect body? What's the perfect career?
And secretly say, and wonder, am I enough? What
is my unique contribution? How do I even begin
to stand out and build something real in the
world that feels not fake? Today, we're smashing
those illusions. We're talking to a woman who
embodies authenticity, a global phenomenon who
has literally been immortalized in art. and yet
her journey is all about raw, real self -discovery.
I'm absolutely thrilled to welcome Laetitia Bouffard
-Ropé to the show. Welcome to the show, Laetitia.
Thanks for having me. You know, you are a international
award model, a movement artist, which I'm dying
to hear about, and now a muse, a trained... at
the Paris Opera Ballet. You performed with, I
know this, Cirque du Soleil. I know that, I see
that on television all the time. Wow, that's
amazing. Published five art books and you traveled
87 countries. Wow, you're a six figure, creative,
and the list goes on. I am just so excited to
hear about you. So, you know, please tell us
a little bit about how you show up in the world?
How I show up in the world? I try to do my best
to inspire and motivate others. That's my mission
with my presence on social media. And to do that,
I create with photographers all over the world,
based in my posing. on my career as I had professional
ballet training and I've been performing as a
as you said as an acrobat with aerial silks and
hoops so I gather all the knowledge I have and
now use them with photographers to create art.
Wow that's beautiful you literally showed up
in the world in a way few people will ever Beyond
the lights, the lenses and the stage, how do
you define showing up in the world, especially
if the world is constantly trying to put you
in a box or tell you who to be? Personally, I
don't really care what other people are thinking.
This is how I show up. I show up as what I feel
like sharing, what I feel like doing. And we
can't please everybody, so I do me. And if others
are inspired and want to follow and want to be
inspired by it, it's great. If they don't, they
don't. Still great, right? Still great. They're
great. And that's how I live. That's right. Yeah,
so not really caring about what anybody thinks.
Your purpose is your purpose. It has nothing
to do with anybody else, which is a great way
to be. I mean, I do care about feedbacks from
my fans and followers. I listen to feedbacks.
It's really important to grow as a creative,
but I would not... like a lot of content creators
do at the moment, create to please the audience
or post that because that's going to get engagement
or that's going to get... I create what I feel
creating. So how do you maintain that integrity
when the external pressure is so immense? How
do you do that? Well, I have clear values of
what I want to create. Especially when I reach
out to photographers, I have clear boundaries
about what I do and what I don't do. The values
and the goals I have for my photography. I only
shoot with them if they align with those values.
Right, right. And you stick to them, right? I
do. They are so clear that as soon as I see that
a photographer tries to get out of them, I'm
like, well, that's not a feat. Well, that's so
powerful. It's about showing up for yourself.
That's great. No performance, none of that stuff.
So that's really great. You cultivated a six
-figure creative career rooted in authenticity.
How did it begin? Well, it began first with,
like I said, when I was little with ballet and
then with acrobatics, traveling the world and
performing as an aerial acrobat. And at the moment,
I am a full -time art model. So it started, the
modeling started a bit like was not planned.
I had a photographer reaching out to me on my
yoga Instagram. He's been looking a long time
for a ballet dancer that could also do Ariel
Hoop. And he found me and was thrilled to shoot
with me. And I was like, OK, why not? So I gave
it a try. And then it did the snowball effect
when he started publishing the photos. A lot
of photographers reached out to me. And that's
how it started. Right. OK. So you can encourage
some young people to kind of stay, you know,
do what they love to do. Because I'm imagining
that you love what you do. Oh, yeah, I love what
I do. Yeah, yeah. But it was, like I said, not
something I planned. So I said, be open to opportunities
and reach out, if people reach out, you know,
just, yeah. That's cool. You've traveled 87 countries
and you have a global following of 100 ,000 or
more. And yet you still create such great things
and you have to be deep in yourself in order
to do this. At points, do you get lonely? No.
I actually enjoy being sometimes on my own because
I mean all day when I travel I am actually like
not socializing but I am with people so I am
talking with photographers all day so when I
get my time alone let's say in my hotel room
after everything I am actually really enjoying
it I love my My alone time. Yes. Oh, my goodness.
I didn't realize that you're always talking.
I didn't think about that. But yeah, I get like
that, too. But yeah, you're right. You're always
with somebody with that many places that you've
gone and probably still going, you know. What
is the difference in this world of likes and
follows and your constant, you know, performance?
How do you cultivate real connections? Well,
I. I'm actually really engaged with my followers.
Like for me, they are not just followers. They
are actually people. So when people write me,
I write back. So I do build connections with
the people that want to engage with me. And yeah,
I actually have a big support system from my
family, from my friends. So all that is really
important too. Right. So you're intentional about
those relationships, kind of keeping those together.
It's really important. Yeah. Very important.
Is there any time that you're not validated at
all? You know, being that you're so busy and
maybe you need to say something. Is there any
time that you're not validated or not heard?
I don't think so. I always have somebody to listen
to me when I need it. Okay. All right. You surround
yourself with people that, you know, that can
support you, you know, especially, and I know
every, every day is not a good day, but when
you have those bad days, you have somebody there
that can support you. I do. I do. That's great.
Can you share one? I know you've had some monumental
times. Can you share just maybe one, you know,
extraordinary time that you did something for
the first time? For the first time. Wow. Well,
performing in front of 20 ,000 people was like
one of my big things. And it was the first time,
it was quite an event, quite an unforgettable
moment. You got that right. Well, yeah, you can't
forget that 20 ,000 people. Were you nervous?
How were you feeling? extremely nervous yes but
also I had to be very focused because I was performing
on silks at 90 feet up in the air on flying winches
and so yeah and it was an outdoor show so it
was rain or shine it was wind there was all kind
of things that could go wrong Yeah, but every
day we celebrated after the show that we made
it and we were alive because it was quite a dangerous
show. That is so good. I know you built your
career on precision, grace, and a lot of physical
and emotional sacrifice, it sounds like. There
must have been moments of intense pressure, maybe
even pain sometimes. How do you... get through
those times that maybe you feel like there's
a failure or you're in pain or something. How
do you get through those? Yeah, I think the hardest
time were actually as a kid at the Paris Opera
Ballet School. It was very, very difficult mentally
because they basically tried to break you down
because their competition is so high. There are
so many girls and every year they need to cut
down and So there's a lot of mental pressure
and actually there is also a lot of physical
pressure because you train a lot and you're a
kid and you are growing and the teachers are
not taking it easy on us. So yeah, in those moments
you just have to remember the why, what's the
goal. And my dream when I was a kid was to become
a professional ballet dancer. When you really
want it, you just squeeze the teeth and go through
the pain and the sacrifice. What did those times,
those unseen struggles that maybe we don't even
know about, what did they help you do by evolving
to yourself? How did they help that? Well, they
helped a lot because I mean after after a training
like that when you're a kid It's hard to break
me like I've been through I'm like go ahead like
you can tell me what you want. I've heard it
all I've been told I was fat and bad and I will
never make it since I was a kid. So Yeah, yeah
It tough you up. Yeah, that's great. I know it's
not a straight line, right? It's not a straight
line always. You know, we see the bronze statues
and the magazine covers of you with your success.
But one thing they don't say is what you went
through. And I know as a girl, I would see things
in the newspaper. I was like, oh, I want to do
that. I didn't know the... The backstory, like
you said, you had to sacrifice a lot. And I think
that's important to share with the audience.
There's a sacrifice that goes with it. You just
don't pop up and you become that person you want,
that professional like you are. You don't just
don't pop up. There's work that you have to do.
Can you share what that takes from your perspective?
I mean, it's still daily work, meaning keeping
the body in shape, keeping the mind in shape,
like you said, with all the travels, all the
back work, because everybody sees the beautiful
photos, see the Instagram stories with travels,
and it looks like this glamorous and cool life.
But behind it, there is a lot of admin work,
a lot of... Wow. There is a lot of admin, yeah,
like in a way, like... planning a lot of paperwork.
accounting, all this not sexy stuff, which nobody
thinks of, but I'm a one -person business, so
I do it all. Oh my goodness, I was going to ask
you that, did you do everything? It's all on
me, so I book all my flights, I book all my hotels,
I do all the contracts, I do all the negotiations,
I do all the social media, the marketing, the
customer service, you call it. Oh my goodness.
And so, yeah, it's all on me. So it's a lot when
you see just a beautiful photo and you're hard
to understand everything that goes behind. Yeah,
it really is. It really is. I mean, because I,
you know, I remember as a kid saying that and
then I was like, when I did go towards doing
it, I was like, this is a lot of work. This is
a lot of work. It is. So you've been immortalized
in bronze sculptures, your published muse, your
work bridges the art and photography, you inspire
others to create, but ultimately you are an ongoing
work of art. So for someone listening right now
who feels stuck, who feels like a blank canvas
and doesn't know where to start, creating their
own purposeful life. What is the very first most
authentic movement or stroke they need to do
to become their own life masterpiece? I would
say come back to the things you enjoy. Passions.
Going back to your passions and see how you can
link your passions to your daily life. If there
is an opportunity that you could link your passions
to your work, then yeah, then it's the mastery
when you can try to have your passion and your
work be one. But don't forget about your passions.
We can forget about them in the daily life with
work 9 to 5. you know, kids, whatever people
have, which take them away from what they truly
enjoy doing, like their passion. You put that
aside when you have other problems and other...
But I think going back to really, really think
what do I like to do? What are my passions? What
makes me happy? What are the little things that...
brings me joy and trying to re -implement them
in a way in the life. Yeah, that's good. And
I know that my audience is always looking for
ways to improve on things. And I wanted to incorporate
here, because you keep your body in tune. And
could you share a little bit of like that also
is part of being your best self. Exactly. Movement
is primordial to mental health and physical health.
So keep moving, don't sit down, try to implement
a bit of movement per day, go for a walk, do
a little stretch. And then try to come back to
your breath sometimes, because this is why we
are alive. Absolutely. We are too short on breath,
just taking a couple deep breaths can change
the whole body tensions and aches and pains.
Yes, exactly. And one last thing is, you've been
in a limelight. Was there ever a time that you
didn't want to be in the limelight? What do you
mean by the limelight? Like, you know, being,
you know, featured. Spotlight. Yeah, uh -huh.
Spotlight. Yeah, in the spotlight, yeah. So far,
I'm happy like this. Maybe it's going... It may
change. But so far, I'm good the way it is, as
long as it's not pressuring me. Right. And I
do it the way I do it. Right. It's good. You
have command over it. And that's wonderful. Yeah.
You're creating your reality. That's really beautiful.
I'm not told by some agent or I'm not told what
I have to say or what I have to create. So yeah,
you're creating your own reality. That's beautiful.
So you're not going to have that bad moment or
a bad, bad instance, but you know, that's really
great. That's really, really great. So if there's
one last thing that you have in your heart that
you could tell my audience, no matter what they're
going through, no matter what they're experiencing,
share that with them today and then share how
we can follow you. I know I have all of your
information, which we provided in the content,
but just share what's your next adventure. My
next adventure? Now I'm a bit transitioning from
modeling. I'm still modeling, but I'm slowing
down. And I'm starting to pass on my knowledge
now to aspiring models to do what I've done.
So I help them with... with the business side,
because this is something nobody speaks about
that I found when I started. You see the models,
you see the Instagrams, you see this, but you're
like, how do you do this? How do you handle the
whole thing? So now I'm there to support aspiring
models with that side of the modeling. That's
right. Oh, that's beautiful. That is going to
be powerful all in itself. Thank you again, Leticia.
I really appreciate this. What an incredible
conversation about sculpting a life and authenticity
and purpose. And for you listening now, don't
wait for someone else to make you a masterpiece.
Do like Leticia did. Create your reality. You're
already the canvas, the artist and the art itself.
You're on the move in action today and take one
small step. an authentic step towards defining
your own purpose, one brushstroke at a time.
This is Keeping It Real On Purpose. I'm your
host, Edna White, and thank you, my amazing guest,
Letitia, for being here today. Truly, you make
us matter. Thanks so much. Thank you so much.
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