Kelly has two guilty pleasures: shopping and people-watching. The former model and HSN host continues encouraging women to see themselves for who they are and not as size tags.

WHICH OF KELLY’S STATEMENTS BELOW ARE TRUE OR FALSE?

1. “Running between TV studios, my skirt fell down in the middle of the call center. I pulled it up, kept running and acted natural!”
2. “Hosting an expensive business dinner, I left my wallet in my other purse and used my tennis bracelet and cell phone as collateral to return home to get it.”
3. “To be THE girl on full figure bra boxes, I used padding to go from B to D so the bras would fit.”

Scroll to the bottom of the article to see which of the three statements is a lie!

More on Kelly
Kelly admits that after high school, she wasn’t completely sure how to spend the rest of her life professionally. “I didn’t know what I wanted to do two weeks before I was supposed to go to college! But I’ve always been bright and pick up things quickly,” she says. The Bradenton native headed off to FSU to study fashion merchandising and design, a topic that had fascinated her. “I thought about going into architecture at one point but realized I had more money invested in my closet than on my draft table,” she says with a laugh.

Fourteen years later, she caught the attention of another media mover and shaker, Home Shopping Network (HSN), after her agent secretly submitted her portfolio for consideration. She interviewed and soon signed on, becoming one of the network’s most popular personalities, remaining on the network through early 2008. “I was so naive and didn’t really know what would be expected of me. It was exciting and overwhelming and for me, that’s always been the best thing – taking a jump like that,” she says. “But I put in the work, did the research and studied my butt off about the products and just kept my eyes and ears open.”

Kelly says her work as a TV host brought her a different level of recognition than she had ever experienced even as an international fashion model. “The women who followed me on my television show knew everything about me. I always told it like it is and hid nothing. They knew my height, my weight, dress size, bra size,” she says. “I think I had such a huge following because I laughed at myself and offered real, practical advice, so they saw themselves in me.”

Kelly, who lives in St. Pete, can be spotted around town bowling, shopping and people-watching. She just completed a 30-minute television special for a West Palm Beach FOX television affiliate and is working on a book. A frequent guest speaker on the subject of self esteem, Kelly will be doing a media tour in 2009 speaking about fashion and trends in the industry. “We need to raise young girls to hold a positive self-image, strong women of size, not size tag. I didn’t have that growing up,” she says.

She says the first step to accepting who you are is seeing yourself for all of your assets and flaws and loving it all. “Get to know the person standing there in front of you in the mirror. It’s not someone on the outside, it’s you! So work on a great smile and a firm handshake and become comfortable with the space that your body commands,” she says.

To learn more about Kelly’s future appearances, go to kellyrepassy.com for details.

Answer to True or False?
The second statement is false.