Meet Markita Tims | Model & Fitness

We had the good fortune of connecting with Markita Tims and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Markita, do you have any habits that you feel contribute to your effectiveness?

Some habits that helped me succeed is honestly replacing social media with things I need to get done or to better myself in my career. This help me kick start my fitness journey and have the love to work out. For example I’d be scrolling on social media for hours and won’t even realize it until I seen how much time went by. So I replaced my scrolling for “hours” to going to the gym, making vision boards for the next photo-shoot, or anything that help build my brand.

Another habit that helped me is constantly saying affirmations. I would say “today is going to be a great workout” or “My photo-shoot is a success”. I tell myself “Focus on the dedication and not the plan” because a plan can always go sideways but if you focus on the dedication you’ll always get to your destination.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?

I started modeling at the age of 12 but I didn’t know what all modeling entailed. I just thought being pretty was enough. I remember telling my mom I wanted to model and my older brother taking me to McDonalds to introduce me to a guy name Jeremy, which was a child hood friend of his that was in the fashion/model industry. Jeremy owned a local model agency and he taught me how to run way walk and pose. Everything came pretty natural to me and I became one of his lead models where I taught other models how to pose and run way walk. I then made a name for myself in my city Flint, MI and eventually branched out to being known in Detroit, MI. I worked hard to work with photographers and doing trade photo-shoots because I was young and didn’t have money to pay for a photo-shoot. I had to prove to photographers and casting agencies that I wasn’t a waste of time and that I was serious and open to doing different styles of photo-shoots. I had to overcome challenges of doing photo-shoots that wasn’t in my comfort zone at that moment but I knew I wanted to do it, which included nudity. I had to deal with judgment from people in my family, friends, and boyfriends I had, but I knew what I wanted. I had to learn at a young age to put what I enjoy doing and what I wanted FIRST. The most challenging part is when I first started modeling size and height mattered and no matter those “rules” I kept going standing at 5’7 and 123lbs, which was consider short in model industry. Doing just that got me pretty far in modeling and modeling for brands I didn’t even think I would even be a consideration.

I didn’t get into fitness until September 2021. What help kick start my fitness journey is when I became the biggest I ever been in life and it took a toll on me mentally. I eventually stopped modeling often due to my confidence being shot with the weight gain. The weight gain took place year of 2016, which is one year after moving to Georgia. I kept modeling and doing photo-shoots but I never liked how the pictures looked due to the weight. I became my biggest critic and insecure. I remember stepping on the scale and the nurse telling me I was 188lbs and I’m thinking how I went from 123lbs to gaining 65lbs in a year. The year of 2016 I was also diagnosed with PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome), which caused my drastic weight gain and making it hard to lose weight. I did tons of research and did plenty of “diets” but nothing wasn’t working because all of them was quick ways to lose weight and wasn’t a lifestyle of mine. I also worked in OB-GYN as a Medical Assistant, so I would constantly see women get diagnosed with it and not given much info on how to manage PCOS and given ways for short term benefit.

This inspired me to start looking into holistic health and noticed it was working for me. Fast forward to 2021 I had started my fitness journey that became a lifestyle and this time I made sure I didn’t give up because of course in the past I tried to work out but I often stopped. Now I am down 30lbs and feeling better than ever. I’m also considering to become a personal trainer and I started back modeling again. I would definitely say my confidence is back to 100%.

The main lessons I’ve learned is that no matter how much you want to rush a goal in life, sometimes rushing won’t give you the best results and being impatient is the reason we give up as humans. Having patience is the most underrated advice that’s not taken. Everybody always looking at how fast something can be done but it’s a journey and if you want it to last, you got to make it a life style. I always say, “ I am not ashamed of my failures because they made me wiser today”.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?

I still consider myself new to Atlanta because I honestly haven’t been out much but if I had to choose it’ll be getting some food at Real Tacos or some soul food that can be found anywhere in Atlanta. Drinks at a roof top bars for some good vibes and views. I love fun spots that have arcades and go-carting, splatter which is a fun painting spot and BYOB, hiking, spa’s, and Atlanta belt line for some bike rides and food.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?

I want to shout out my mother Barbie (yes that’s her real name) because no matter what she always pushed me to be the best person I can be. She the one who introduced me to modeling and was always consider the models “mom” because she was at every fashion show rehearsal and photo shoot of mine. Especially during my younger days. I also want to shout out my grandmother. She introduced me to a lot of creative activities as a child such as ballet, tap dance, and hip hop dance, which I believe jump started my creative side. Far as my fitness I want to shout out my past self for getting me this far and not giving up when things got hard during the start.

Instagram: MarkitaSade

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/markitatims

Other: Tiktok – MarkitaSade

Image Credits
Photographer- Shot by Sed Photographer- Kissa @ August_rae_photography Photographer- Sharieka