Model citizen: Aoife Walsh on taking small steps to protect the planet
Former Miss Ireland Aoife Walsh believes in taking small steps to protect the planet.
It started when she was a child, regularly taking a flask of tea to school.
It was “a natural move” to live more sustainably as an adult, she says.
“I don’t purchase disposable coffee cups anymore and bring my own reusable cup to cafes when ordering tea and coffees,” says the 30-year-old.
"Straws are a big thing for me too and wouldn’t use a plastic one.
"I’m also making a conscious effort to buy fewer clothes and purchase more investment pieces that will stand the test of time.
From Clonmel, Co Tipperary, the former secondary school teacher and now model lives in New York with her Sligo-born fiancé, Gary who proposed last Christmas in Paris.
Aoife recently helped to launch Three’s Connected Restaurant.
The ‘Fairytale of New York and Dublin’ dining experience offers US-based Irish emigrants, who are unable to return home for Christmas, an opportunity to connect with loved ones as if they were sitting at the same table.
It opens from December 6 to December 8.
I do my best to exercise as much as I can, schedule permitting. I wouldn’t have called myself much of a gym bunny until this summer when I started working with my personal trainer in New York.
She taught me basic exercises I could do at home by myself and how to use machinery in a gym and I’ve built it up slowly.
I also love yoga and particularly aerial yoga. It’s amazing for building core strength and a lot of fun too.
My healthiest eating habits would be that I always try to have a least one piece of fruit a day.
It’s kind of my way of increasing my vitamin C to ward off any nasty colds or sniffles all year round.
My guiltiest pleasure is chocolate. I have to have at least one piece every day!
I also love a good reality TV show. I was obsessed with Love Island and watching our very own Maura Higgins over the summer.
If I had a very early call time for work the next day. I wouldn’t be able to properly settle thinking about it and making sure I’m ready for it.
I travel a lot so jet lag would definitely keep me awake too.
It takes me a good seven to 10 days to get back into a normal routine after trans-Atlantic flights.
I love to read and find it really relaxing. I don’t look at my phone at night anymore and try to read before bed.
If I’m stressed or anxious I find reading is so calming. I love a good thriller with lots of twists.
I also enjoy yoga regularly.
Oprah Winfrey, Amy Schumer and Adi Roche.
I’m obsessed with citrus. I could even eat a lemon whole, even though I’ve never tried.
I also enjoy wearing the scent in my perfumes — Atelier Cologne has a great citrus range.
I wouldn’t change anything. I’m pretty happy with my lot.
But as a woman working in the fashion and beauty industry, I indirectly change my appearance every day whether it’s wearing different clothes or changing my hair or wearing different makeup.
Last time I cried I was watching Meet Joe Black. A Thomas Newman score gets me every time.
Pessimism. I try to have a positive outlook. I would also consider myself a really honest person and value that characteristic in others.
I’m a complete nightowl and wish I was more of a morning person.
It takes me a while to wake up and I feel I would get a lot more done if I was a morning person.
I wish I could get up at 5am and go to the gym. That would be a complete lifestyle change for me.
Yes, I pray.
Nothing cheers me up more than the sun shining.
The advice I try to live by is to never be disappointed when things don’t work out the way you thought they would.
That everything happens for a reason and what’s destined for you will never pass you.
