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Health & Fitness

Crys Richards Athlete, Model, Journalist, Entrepreneur By Mr. Charity Christopher Annino

Anything Crys Richards touches turns to gold; she is a successful independent woman who is willing to get her hands dirty in order to do the job the right way. She doesn’t take short cuts and she is one of the most professional individuals I have ever met. She is national Taekwondo champion, a model, journalist, editor, and she is co-publisher along with Fearon ‘Mr. 1n2’ Wright of the very well-known online newspaper “Get It Wright Here” http://getitwrighthere.com/ Her co-publisher Fearon Wright is a URI Alum who’s an All-American and who also played for the Minnesota Vikings, it is said he has the hardest hit ever documented. Crys keeps flying towards greatness every step she takes. She has done modeling shows throughout the country and keeps on living her dreams which is something that is astonishing in itself. Some people say if you can do what you love you will never have to work a day in your life. Crys is doing what she loves and more. 

Who are some of your early inspirations? 

Crys: “Grace Jones, Tyra Banks, and Naomi Campbell are a few. There were not many women of color in the modeling industry when I was growing up. Especially in the U.S., the industry was predominately built on the more slender white models. The black women were became more of a success in Europe. But eventually they became more mainstream here.”

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 What was it like competing at a national and professional level in Karate at a young age? Crys: “The sensei that I studied under was my father, Master Richards and, above him, my Grand Master, Grand Master Shin who oversees 300 dojo’s across the nation and in the Caribbean. I started to compete professionally from the age of 16-19. My first year of competition, it just so happened to be against a young man. I was supposed to compete with the women but at that year, I was the only woman in my age group, so I was forced to spar against a boy. I was the first yellow belt to compete in an inter-gender match at that level and won gold medal and trophy. With my dad being my sensei, if you lost you would have to face him and I never wanted to lose. He was always there for me, always in my corner.” 

 How did you get your start in modeling? 

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Crys: I met someone through my sister; she was doing a young lady’s hair. I was 16 the young lady was a fashion model and went by the name Xzy. She was in New York City for a fashion show, my sister mentioned I was interested in modeling, She told my sister the next time she was in the area she would bring me to a fashion show. She kept her word. My dad who was originally against the idea of me modeling actually helped me with the expenses. I got my hair, nails and feet done, bought new clothes and shoes, everything, all the works. However, things didn’t go as expected that day. I never made it to the show… miscommunication of time. After years of dealing with rejection, if it wasn’t my height, it was my color, me being too dark, too curvaceous, nose being too big, etc., etc. So, I took it up on myself to reconstruct myself! I lost weight, got back into the gym, and with the help from myself and my friend, Mr. 1n2, we created a new person. Long story short, after reinventing myself, my image, I made my magazine debut in the summer of 2010. 

How did you begin your journalism career? 

Crys: “It was nothing that I aspired to do, I stumbled upon it. Mr. 1n2 and I combined our talents and now we have our own online newspaper Get It Wright Here. I started by blogging and Fearon being a great motivator, he knows what was expected, what we needed to do to become successful, and why we should never become stagnant or content. After a good year, I have become more disciplined to produce the best on our site. Every day you have to be focused and keep your eye one the prize, it doesn’t matter how long it takes, I learned that it will happen.”

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