Boost your confidence with Lucie Petit, founder of HK Model Camp

Lucie Petit’s HK Model Camp offers classes for modeling and building confidence via offline and online platforms. By empowering individuals and equipping them with modeling skills and confidence, HK Model Camp recognizes the importance of self-love and works to develop tools for both personal and professional settings. The program aims to help you “boost your confidence and reveal yourself, no matter who you are.”

Founder Lucie Petit has an extensive modeling career, having worked with “brands such as Kate Spade, Calvin Klein, Armani, Victoria’s Secret.” For two years, she also trained alongside “the amazing and successful entrepreneur who is also a supermodel, Coco Rocha.”

“This is when I realized there was actually an interest for me to be teaching and guiding, not just aspiring models but just any young girl or women in general who would like to just feel better about themselves or have a better self-esteem,” Petit says.

The story and aim of the HK Model Camp

Petit hadn’t always wanted to be a model. From a young age – around 15 – she believed that she “was not good enough” for anything she was doing. However, once she started developing her passions, she “had to give [herself] a shot and apply to an agency.” That was how it all started for Petit. Through this experience, she says she “realized that it all goes back to confidence and self-esteem.”

She explains that Hong Kong Model Camp is more than just classes, it’s an experience for people. Over the four days that students attend classes in the program, there’s a transformation within most participants. While pushing their limits through intensive workshops, participants can undergo “a wide range of different things that they can evolve from and find ways to develop that creative mind, and at the same time still feel empowered by, with their learning in the meantime.”

“It’s a set of different modeling services, and it’s really for everyone and anyone who wants to give themselves the chance to live and experience like a model,” explains Petit. “So it goes from pose classes to catwalk classes to even experiences such as for photoshoots and video shoots, for everyone to kind of give themselves that boost of confidence as well and be able to say, ‘I’ve done it, and I can do even more than that.’”

Aside from just working with aspiring models, HK Model Camp invites anyone to join and learn to boost their confidence. Petit exclusively shared with TMS an anecdote of a student who attended HK Model Camp. The student initially appeared very shy and reserved; however, throughout the process of HK Model Camp, this student had an “evolution” where she had transformed entirely, amazing Petit and substantiating HK Model Camp’s mission in building modeling skills and self-confidence.

“It’s more like a service to actually provide to anyone and everyone who wants to give themselves the shot to become a more model student for a day, and simply have the access to such training and coaching that could perhaps lead them to some opportunities that will not happen if they’re not given the chance to.”

Tips on presenting yourself to others

Leading from HK Model Camp’s mission to boost student confidence, Petit offers tips to individuals useful for personal and professional settings unrelated to modeling. From basic posture to attitude, Petit emphasizes the importance of finding methods that fit you personally to boost your confidence in everyday settings.

“Your confidence, and the way that you present yourself, is really enacted by the way you behave,” Petit says. “So, you stand straighter, talk slowly … and naturally, there’s a lot of things as well that comes with PR, not just the way you are as a person.” Reassessing yourself and looking back at your evolution is key.

If you need some quick tips to overcome nerves, Petit advises to “take the time to breathe,” and during this time, think of what you are going to say, readjust your posture and envision your attitude. “It’s all about finding ways to present yourself and get that first impression that matters,” she says. Whether this is used when meeting new people, going into an interview or even professional meeting settings, it makes all the difference.

Petit firmly believes that “if you do pretend like you are confident, you are going to eventually act like it.”

What’s next for HK Model Camp?

Petit perceives the current modeling industry to be evolving regarding the social concepts of beauty. But, she also believes that this movement and change isn’t happening fast enough in the modeling industry – including in Asia.

“There is modeling for everyone, and I believe it’s important to actually finally state a word about that and represent more people who actually come from different backgrounds, from different ages, so that everyone can finally be represented,” says Petit.

Building on this sentiment, Petit hopes to “inspire and empower as many young women as possible.” As she has been directing HK Model Camp mainly on her own, she aims to build a team to bring different aspects, opinions and perspectives to the team for coaching.

“It can expand to so many different things, but just finding ways to boost that confidence to another level.”