Kamie Crawford Talks Building a Successful Career by Simply Being Herself

The television host has authenticity to thank for her impressive accomplishments to date.

Kamie Crawford / John Nacion/Getty Images

It’s been a whirlwind month for Kamie Crawford. On Oct. 3, she announced that she would be stepping away from Catfish: The TV Show. After serving as a cohost for six years, she’s ready for a new adventure.

A first step in that direction came sooner than the 31-year-old might have anticipated. On Saturday, Oct. 12, Crawford had the chance to sit on a panel at the 2024 Black Love Summit, an annual event that combines self-care and entertainment. It was there that the three-time SI Swimsuit model took the chance to break down her career trajectory thus far.

Fresh off of announcing she was leaving Catfish, work was undoubtedly top of mind. And Crawford, as always, had a lot of meaningful insights to share throughout the event.

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If you asked the television host how she has managed to build a successful career, she would tell you “being myself” was of the utmost importance. “I’ve been able to build a brand off of that,” she said during the panel discussion, “so I’ve never had to be anybody else.”

Throughout the course of her career endeavors, though, that hasn’t always been the case. “When I tried that in the beginning, in my pageant days, you try to fit the mold of what you think a beauty queen is supposed to be like. It wasn’t working for me,” she revealed. But when it comes to television hosting gigs, authenticity has been key for Crawford.

“When I decided I wanted to become a TV host and I actually started working towards it and working with a coach, I realized that I wasn’t connecting with whoever was behind the lens because I was just talking just to talk,” she said. “I made a decision to just radically be myself and see what that would get me. And it got me really, really far. I ended up booking Catfish, that was my big break at 25. I’d been working as a host for seven years up until that point. I feel like I’ve been able to just be myself authentically the entire time and I’m not going back, that’s for sure.”

It’s yet unclear what Crawford’s next steps will be. But we know one thing for sure: whatever she does next, wherever her career might take her, she is determined to be authentically herself every step of the way.