In this industry, it seems that everyone wants to be the person who can say, "I discovered this model and she is what she is because of me." I personally believe discoveries aren't by accident but are mainly by fate. (Of course, there is always that friend of a friend of a friend who may have tipped us off to some hot model.) In the case of Joyce Lex, being on our cover was not her goal, it was just something that was meant to be. That said, being in the right place at the right time does help.
We met the Chinese beauty at one of the Import Showoffs in San Diego, which happens to be Ms. Lex's hometown for the past 13 years. The introduction complete, we felt she was a Tuner hopeful. Over the following months we lost contact with her, and that was about a year and a half ago. Just a few months ago an E-mail popped up in our mailbox from her and contact was made once again. A few keystrokes later of "hi" and "how are you" led us to August's cover model, Joyce Lex.
2NR: How did you get started in kickboxing?JL: Well, I workout at the San Diego State University gym and I ended up getting recruited by one of the guys who teaches kickboxing there. He has a lot of titles in kickboxing. It just so happened that he was making a self-defense video and he approached me about being in it. I'm going to go to Florida to shoot the video. It's basically a video to show women how to defend themselves in an emergency situation. It deals with a lot of kickboxing techniques, such as head locks and arm twists.
2NR: So if I jumped on top of you right now would you break my arm or something?JL: (laughing) Yeah, I would definitely try something like that!
2NR: If that's how your kickboxing career started, how did import modeling start?JL: When I was younger I hung out with this one race crew called Blur. I use to go to the shows with them, and eventually I ended up meeting Dennis from Autocannon. I did a photo shoot with him for an ad. It got bigger when I my really good friend Trisha Li put me in contact with Dida from Island Eyes. That's how I ended up doing the Island Eyes calendars for 2002, 2003 and now 2004. We haven't shot the 2004 calendar and I don't know where we are going to shoot it, but if it's anything like the 2003, which was shot in Hawaii, it will be fun.
2NR: I'm guessing at that particular shoot all the models hung out and partied all night?JL: We had a lot of fun in Hawaii. Basically, what you just said is true.
2NR: What else do you have lined up in our industry workwise?JL: I just recently shot for another Hawaiian calendar called "Hawaii Exotic Girls for 2005." I know, I know, that's a long time away but I guess they shoot them early for the Hawaiian locals and tourists. I also shot another one for 24th and Main called "Asian Beauties." Some of the other things for this year include being "Miss Battle of the Imports," "Miss Extreme Autofest."
2NR: Damn, you have your hands full!JL: That's just the stuff on the side! On top of that, I work full time and I'm taking 18 units at San Diego State University and University of California San Diego.