Joan Smalls Quotations

When you want something so bad and when something great happens, I think it's instinct that you say, 'This is gonna be the moment that's gonna change everything. Everybody is gonna see me a different way.'

When you look at the world, the world isn't just one palette. It's a beautiful rainbow, and why not have someone to represent that rainbow?

I've always been athletic. Growing up in Puerto Rico, and being in the countryside, I was always running around. I also played volleyball, basketball, and I ran track. I was always very conscious of my body.

I adore my two older sisters, Erika and Betsy.

I also work out because I have scoliosis. I have to maintain certain strength in my core.

I try not to go to sleep with makeup, because I think it clogs your pores. I always wash my face with something that contains salicylic acid.

I think its nice to know that people in the industry are paying attention to all of the hard work youve done throughout the years and rewarding you for it. It reminds you to keep doing it, to keep pushing yourself, and to always remain that way.

I'm a little bit of everything. Sometimes people think I'm not Puerto Rican, because my name doesn't sound Spanish.

I felt most beautiful on the red carpet in Givenchys sheer lace dress at a dinner hosted by Givenchy in honor of Marina Abramovich at the closing of her Museum of Modern Art retrospective, The Artist is Present, in 2010. It was the first time I had been dressed for an event, and everybody just fell in love with the dress.

A career high was when I did a cover for W Magazines July issue with Steven Meisel. So few girls shoot with Meisel in their career, and a lot of people had told me I would never achieve that, so it was a dream come true.