Life & Work with Jody Slevin

Today we’d like to introduce you to Jody Slevin. Them and their team share their story with us below:

Jody Christine-Linzy Slevin was a small-town girl with big-city dreams. She grew up in Southern Illinois, in a tiny town of just 5,600 people. Growing up, she always dreamed of being an actress, participated in theatre all throughout school, and even took courses in college.

Jody always did her own thing, had big energy, and was incredibly well-rounded academically, athletically, and creatively; however, that was what made kids dislike her the most. The older and more charismatic Jody got, the more cruel and less charismatic other kids were toward her. It got particularly difficult for her when she began modeling professionally and was chosen to model for the famous wedding headpiece designer, Toni Federici, the famous couture veil designer that designed pieces for A-listers like Britney Spears, Barron Hilton & Tessa Gräfin von Walderdorff, Millie Chapman, and more!

She was signed by the infamous AMAX Talent Agency in Nashville in 2006, and when she made the front page of her town newspaper because of it, the bullying got even worse! She recalls crying herself to sleep at night and begging her parents to let her move because her classmates made things unbearable at school. Often getting threats to be beaten up, ridiculed, and continuously taunted. After receiving the second shot of the Gardisil shot, Jody’s life changed forever.

Preparing for college like most do their senior year of high school, Jody got the recommended vaccines that were suggested by her physician; however, her body didn’t respond as most do. Causing her to miss a month of her senior year while trying to figure out the crazy puzzle that was now her fast-deteriorating health. Luckily her symptoms mostly subsided by the time she graduated, in the top 10% of her graduating class, and in the fall of 2008, she was able to go off to Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville.

There, Jody met her husband, Danny Slevin, while she studied Business Marketing, Public Relations, Acting, and later Nursing. While living in the St. Louis area, Jody was asked to model for the Hooters Downtown St.Louis at Kiener Plaza Restaurant.

While working at the restaurant for only 6 short months, Jody won the Insider STL Hooters Hot 64 Contest, met the owners of the entire Hooters franchise, was featured in several different magazines, won 1st Runner Up in the regional 2009 Miss St. Louis Swimsuit Pageant, competed in the 2009 Hooters International Swimsuit Pageant airing on Fox Sports Network for a year, and earned a spot as a BIG 12 Calendar Girl before quitting and resigning her spot for personal reasons.

In 2010, Jody and Danny moved to Peoria, IL, and Jody went on to continue working, modeling, acting, and working toward her degree while planning her wedding to her fiancé Danny Slevin. Shortly after marriage, they had their first daughter, Sophia, while both worked two jobs and went to school.

They bought their first home in 2015. In 2017, Jody gave birth to boy/girl twins, named Liam and Giavanna. Over the course of 10 years time, Ms. Slevin endured over 30 non-elective surgeries and procedures, most of which occurred after she had birthed her three children. This dark time in her life is what unexpectedly shaped her into the well-sought after influencer and creator she is today.

It was during her bout of chronic illness that Jody started @Slevin_Couture, a children’s clothing boutique, that would later turn into the influential account it is known to be today! Having had a job since she was 15 years old, being stuck in bed recovering from abdominal surgeries was not ideal for Mrs. Slevin, and that is why she started Slevin Couture. A boutique that was more than a boutique, it was an influence!

She aspired to create a brand that was trendy, high-quality and had products that fit everyone’s budget. She did everything on her own including building her own website, photo shoots, editing, SEO, marketing, popups, figuring out the algorithm, and everything in-between. It was the one thing that helped keep her mind off the constant pain she seemed to be experiencing, while also fighting surgery after surgery and slowly regaining her health.

As her brand grew, the more other brands wanted to collaborate with her and learn her secrets to growing an engaged audience on several platforms. Jody always believed in collaboration over competition, and put kindness as one of the most important building blocks of her brand. She believed there was enough room for everyone to succeed!

The first brand she ever got paid to work with was a travel company. This was the beginning of Jody Slevin’s love of creating content and her newfound passion to help other business owners flourish as well! Upon returning from Las Vegas, @Slevin_Couture was becoming a name on social media, and it surpassed a 10,000 following just before going under the knife for what would be her 30th and final surgery, a hysterectomy and appendectomy.

For two years after Slevin’s c-section, she had excruciating stomach pain, and ultimately lived with chronic appendicitis, stage 4 endometriosis, adenomyosis, tumors, hyperparathyroidism, a rare bone infection, amongst several other diagnoses and with each new collaboration, each new diagnosis, came the realization of who her real friends were. She wasn’t sure which one was more painful, the fact that she was in excruciating pain physically, and couldn’t physically care for her children on her own due to the abdominal surgeries, or the mental pain of finding out that the people who promised her they would be her best friends no matter what, really weren’t her friends, at all; in fact, they joked that there was no way she could be having another surgery.

(Sick world we live in eh? As if a surgeon is going to repeatedly cut open someone, and perform several major surgeries… ”just because”). Jody defied odds, and is living a pain-free life today, something doctors said she would never do. They told her she would NEVER not need pain medication. They told her she would never be able to go off all of the medications she went off of, but she was determined to be healthy and happy for her family, and sometimes being your own healthcare advocate is the only way one can make that happen.

She is no longer carrying around a purse filled with medication, and she no longer needs help caring for her kiddos. Jody’s resilience, hard-work ethic, determination, and kindness have clearly proven the difference she will make in this world. In 2019, Jody and her family moved to Nashville, TN to be closer to her family and to have a fresh start.

Since she has worked with some of the top travel, lifestyle, luxury, fashion, and beauty brands in the world including Westin, Lexus, Target, Babor, YSL, Clarins, Dime, Petal & Pup, Hint Water, and so many more! She has also helped grow several brands well over 100,000 followings, and she has helped to create content and manage social media pages for brands across the globe!

In 2019, Jody decided that she found more joy in helping other brands grow their platforms, than she had in owning her own boutique, and closed Slevin Couture Boutique. @Slevin_Couture became a Creator Account, and has consistently ranked as one of the top 5000-6000 Family Influencer accounts in the United States since 2020. In 2020, Jody was invited to #rsthecon a conference for the top performing LTK ambassadors. In 2021, Jody was 1 of 5000, invited to the first-ever Creator’s Week, hosted by Facebook and Instagram for the world’s top up-and-coming Creator’s.

Having gone through what seems like hell and back both mentally and physically, it is no wonder Slevin_Couture was nominated for Family Creator of the Year 2021 at the Influencer Agency Awards. Slevin_Couture also ranks worldwide in the family space.

She aspires to continue creating amazing content, stay ahead of the ever-changing algorithm, and spread kindness and empathy to all. Jody recently modeled for an incredible body-positivity campaign with the award-winning photographer, Christie Newell, the owner of Bold and Beautiful Boudoir by Christie and Sonshine Girls. As seen pictured. Jody Slevin aim’s to continue her entrepreneurial journey, and she hopes to be a light of the change in the world.

This photoshoot was incredibly special to her because the photographer is from Peoria, and she had not done a photoshoot post-surgery. To her, sharing these photos was about leaving the past behind her, and moving on to bigger and better things here in Nashville.

When Christie asked her to do this shoot, at first she was hesitant, but then she realized the impact it could make on others, and how important it is to do something that makes you feel beautiful for yourself! Jody wanted to do this photoshoot so that women feel beautiful, confident, and sexy in their skin no matter what story their body tells, or what others might think or say.

She aspires to inspire. Life is short, it’s important to live it! She hopes to continue to show her kids, family, and fans that if she can overcome health woes, being bullied, chronic pain, etc. They can too!

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Life has been anything but smooth for Jody; however, she has never let that get in her way! There is no mountain she cannot conquer, and she will never give up on the vision and goals she has set for herself.

The greatest struggles were certainly her health issues, but deeper was the fact that she had overcome so much, yet still lost those she thought were her closest friends along the way. It was like the more success she gained, the more distant her friends grew.

With everything crashing down, she was determined to overcome her health battles, and show the world she could and would prevail. She was determined to be better than her illness. She wasn’t going to let the illness define her, but once she worked through those battles, is when everything good started coming her way!

When she realized the problem wasn’t within her, but within those that were doing wrong to her, she was able to overcome the pain and teach others how to overcome the same obstacles as well!

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Jody Slevin aka @Slevin_couture is most known for creating content on social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Jody Slevin has consistently ranked in the top 6,000 family influencers in the United States since 2020 and ranked in the top 100,000 over all in the USA. She also ranks worldwide. In 2022, Jody Slevin has organically grown nearly 10 times the size of her hometown, Carmi, Illinois, boasting over 64,000 followers on Instagram and over 20,000 on Facebook.

Jody is also known as a professional model, actress, freelance writer for several professional publications, a social media manager, and the US Director of Talent for the world’s 1st Luxury Crypto/NFT Magazine called LAPSOFLUX Magazine that can be found at luxe events such as Formula 1 races, music festivals, and in Hilton Hotels. She is also known as the momager and mom to three professional models. Her littles have modeled for American Girl Doll Store, V-Tech, Meijer, Sears, and more before moving to the Nashville area.

Jody is also known for her long career in the modeling world, but most notably known for being 2009 Miss Hooters Downtown St.Louis Kiener Plaza, featured in several Hooters Magazines, Hooters Calendar Girl, Hooter Hot 64 Contest Winner, walked the runway in St. Louis Fashion Week, competed in the 2009 Hooters International Swimsuit Competition on Fox Sport’s Network, the face of Toni Federici, as well as an ESPN Promo Girl STL, and she has modeled for several other brands over the years, but most recently modeled for Bold and Beautiful Boudoir by Christie. Jody also owns Slevin Social, a social media management and freelance PR company.

She is grateful that she has and continues to work with some of the top brands in the travel, fashion/beauty/lifestyle/luxury/ industry, and CAN’T wait to see where Slevin_Couture will go next! Her dream collaboration would be to have an ongoing partnership with Hilton and Westin Hotels/Resorts, the Marriott Hotel Group, Opryland Resorts, American Airlines, Walmart, Abercrombie & Fitch, Vici Dolls, Target, and other local designers and events like Daniel Diamond, and CMT festival. She hopes to work with more Travel, Fashion, and Entertainment brands in her near future.

What do you think about luck?
Jody doesn’t believe luck has had any impact on her life or business whatsoever, despite the fact she was born at 11:11 on Christmas, quite possibly the luckiest time a person could be born!

Jody gives credit to endless hard-work, perseverance, a great support team, faith in God, grit, and a lot of sleepless nights and surgeries to get where she is today! To say it wasn’t painful would be a lie; however, nothing worth it is ever easy. She doesn’t regret anything she has been through, and says she wouldn’t change a thing if she could. If she had to do it all over again she would, because the difficult times shaped her into who she is.. and that is what makes her unique. Jody Slevin now has the tools and strategy to survive whatever life throws at her, and she can help other’s surpass those obstacles as well!

Hard-work ethic is something that is incredibly important to Slevin to pass off to her children. She hopes they tell their children one day just how much they watched their mother overcome, and they share how it shaped them into the humans they have become! Jody wanted to remind you, that no matter what, if she can, you can too, and above all else always be kind!

Contact Info:

• Website: Slevinsocial.com
• Instagram: Instagram.com/slevin_couture
• Facebook: Facebook.com/slevincouture

Image Credits
Christie Newell and Beck @itsmadebybeck