Meet Lexi Kaleiia, the winner of the prestigious 2023 Maxim Cover Girl competition, hailing from the picturesque suburb of Bloubergstrand in Cape Town.

• Lexi has captivated audiences with her unique, natural look and multifaceted talents.
• Despite never having entered a beauty pageant or modelling contest before, she emerged victorious among 10’000 hopefuls.
• Her prize also included securing a $25’000 cash prize and an exclusive cover shoot in Venice, Italy, with famed photographer Gilles Bensimon.
• Visit www.sandtontimes.co.za for more stories.

Lexi Kaleiia’s journey is as diverse as it is inspiring. When she’s not riding the waves as a talented surfer or modelling in her self-designed bikinis, she’s busy growing her Twitch gaming channel and writing horror short stories.

In this exclusive interview, Lexi shares her excitement about winning the Maxim Cover Girl competition, her plans for the future, and the journey that led her to this significant milestone.

ST: Congratulations on winning the Maxim Cover Girl Competition, Lexi! How does it feel to achieve such a significant milestone in your modelling career?
LK: Thank you so much! It honestly feels so incredible to have achieved this milestone so early on in my career. I have always wondered how people get to be in magazines and when I started my modelling and content career it had been my dream to feature in a big, respectable and totally awesome magazine like Maxim! I became very passionate about making this dream come true and with the help of my friends, family and fans voting for me every round and with the support of the Judges this insane dream came true! And sometimes I’m still in disbelief.

ST: Can you share the journey that led you to participate in the Maxim Cover Girl Competition? What motivated you to enter?
LK: I have been a follower of the Maxim Instagram account for a long time and as soon as I turned 18 in May 2024, I entered the competition, which started in November 2023 because I was finally old enough! As soon as I entered I took the competition lightly and when I realized I could actually win this thing it literally became my entire life for a few months. I was super passionate about the competition!

ST: Winning the competition includes a cash prize of $25’000. Do you have any specific plans for how you will use this prize?
LK: I invested a portion of the money into my modelling career as well as into my content creation. I am also investing the money into a sailboat, which I will learn to sail, fix up, live & travel on! Then the rest of the money I put away into savings, which is me trying to be responsible while at the same time taking all these exciting risks!

ST: You flew to Venice for an exclusive photo shoot with Gilles Bensimon. How excited were you about working with such a renowned photographer, and what did you learn from the experience?
LK: I felt like I could just jump out of my skin! I couldn’t fathom the fact that I was going to do a photoshoot for one of my dream magazines, with the incredible photographer who shot multiple supermodels and models who I have looked up to since I was a little girl. Women who I have seen as my idols for months or even years! I was nervous to meet and shoot with him because he is world renowned and such an amazing photographer but I focused on keeping myself calm so I wouldn’t hit a blank and forget how to model. And it turned out so amazingly! The photoshoot was such an adventure and so fun and interesting. He was really nice and easy to talk to and so was the crew! It was one of the best experiences of my entire life! This experience taught me many things but it really taught me not to take things that happen in life so seriously and to just have fun with it. Go where the wind takes you and you will end up exactly where you must be. I also really learned a lot about myself which I am so grateful for.

ST: Maxim is known for its iconic covers. What does being on the cover of Maxim mean to you personally and professionally?

LK: Professionally it is my greatest achievement and something I could use to gain exposure as I hope big brands and agencies notice me and scoop me up. Personally I am so proud of myself for achieving this dream. Looking back now, if I told my younger self I made the cover of Maxim and have an amazing article in the magazine she would call bull!

ST: The competition must have been fierce. What do you think set you apart from the other contestants and ultimately led to your victory?

LK: I don’t just model with my body or my face, I model with my emotions and soul. I really express my energy through my modelling and a lot of my friends, family and fans notice this. I think the judges did too. I was incredibly passionate about doing my best in the competition, I wanted to challenge myself to see what I am capable of. But not only that, I really wanted to prove to myself that I could make my risky and crazy dreams work. And that’s what I did! Now I won’t let anything stop me from reaching my goals and living my dream life. Because I achieved what I thought, as a 18 year old South African girl, was impossible.

ST: Modelling often requires a lot of confidence and self-assurance. Have there been any challenges or obstacles you’ve faced in building these qualities, and how did you overcome them?

LK: Being insecure is something every human being deals with no matter how confident and self-assured they might seem. It is something I have struggled with, sometimes more than other times in my life and something I still am currently still struggling with every now and then, as we all do. But my parents taught me to love myself and my flaws. Which in turn has made me the type of person to fall in love with things other people see as flaws for example, traits like clumsiness. I gain self-assurance by getting things done. I believe I can achieve my dreams because I have already pushed myself this far and changed my life so much that I feel I would be unhappy to turn back and choose, what people will call, a ‘normal’ life. I gain confidence or keep my confidence consistent by working on my body and by doing the things I love. Happiness and positivity does this for me, it allows me to be confident. It is when things like negativity surround me in life either caused by me, other people or just circumstances that I start to lose that confidence. One of my main goals is to help other people build the confidence I have built. To make them realize they are more than worth it and they are beautiful. This is the reason I put myself out there the way I do.

ST: As the new Maxim Cover Girl, you’ll have a significant platform. How are you planning to make the most of this opportunity?

LK: I really want to use this opportunity to try and get scooped up by big brands, and an amazing agency based abroad as I’ve mentioned before. I won’t let an opportunity like this pass me by, that’s for sure! I will try my best to achieve what I can from this kind of exposure and experience.

ST: Looking ahead, what are some of your goals for the future in your modelling career and beyond?

LK: I aim to build up a really successful modelling career. I would love to model a lot more fashion for sure and work with a lot of big magazines, fashion houses, brands and agencies, ect. Another dream of mine is to take my modelling career to the next level, and I fully intend on making that happen. I mean I’ve gotten this far and it makes me happy, so why stop now? Go big or go home! I will keep pushing and improving myself, my modelling career and my content creation for as long as I feel like it makes me happy! Trust me I know it’s not all sunshine, smiles and rainbows. Modelling and content creation gets tough, overwhelming and sometimes unbearable but as long as you are willing to stick it through and fight to get to the sweet spot again, it will be worth it! And I have proven that to myself many times.

ST: What advice would you give to aspiring models who look up to you and dream of achieving similar success?

LK: To keep fighting for the things that make you truly happy, never to give up on your dreams even if they seem wack! And to always remember that you are capable, you are beautiful, you are strong and you are amazing! You can follow through with it, you just have to put yourself out there because the magic really does happen outside of your comfort zone! And even if you just have one person who has your back in your crazy adventure, that is enough and more like minded people will find you and want to support you.

The stunning Maxim cover featuring Lexi Kaleiia was brought to life by an exceptional team of professionals. Photography was expertly handled by Gilles Bensimon, while Clementine Brown provided the impeccable styling. Celia Evans used Merit Beauty products to achieve Lexi’s flawless hair and makeup, and the entire production was seamlessly managed by Rachael Evans for RE.Pro Agency. This talented team worked together to create a truly captivating cover shoot in Venice, Italy. Lexi Kaleiia appeared in the July/August 2024 issue of Maxim magazine.

Visit Lexi Kaleiia Instagram profile for more.

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