by: Gabrielle Traylor
Model and Celestial Swim founder Desiree Scholtz opens up about the idea behind the brand, her spirituality’s influence on her projects, and Celestial Swim’s future.
Desiree “Desi” Scholtz is no stranger to having her life on display for the public eye: when she was just 13 years old, a catfish account with her modeling pictures had gained over 500,000 followers. After establishing her true identity online, Desiree had a large following, and many of those fans have stuck with her all these years. Desi’s loyal fans continue to show interest in her everyday life which emboldens her to create content that is authentic. Desiree and her followers have established a connection, and she is not scared to showcase her true personality online. After years of hard work in the industry, Desiree started a business that reflects her character and spirituality.
According to the brand’s website, “Celestial Swim is a community-based brand created from passion and fueled by purpose.” It is bringing high-quality and meaningful swimsuits to their customers. “What I’ve been doing is just being myself. I’ve been so grateful to have people just interested in that and follow me for years,” said Desiree.
But a few aren’t as kind towards the businesswoman and entrepreneur, throwing negative comments and critiques her way. “It can be super draining, but I constantly have to like snap myself back into my spiritual practices,” Desiree said. “Whatever you give out, you’re gonna receive back, so even if I feel like people are hating on me, I still just send them love and happiness and positive energy. I just try not to feed into it.”
As a young social media influencer, Desiree had an opportunity to travel to the Caribbean island Antigua with other models and creatives. With all the ambiguity and chaos in the world throughout 2020, Desiree jumped at the opportunity. Ready to immerse herself in another culture, Desi escaped to Antigua and began admiring the country’s beauty. However, she quickly realized her island getaway would not be what she expected. Desiree was forced to stay in Antigua for over six weeks due to airport closures.
“I was stuck in this resort with a bunch of people that I didn’t know, and they shut the airports down in Antigua,” said Desiree. “It felt like I was in solitude. I really had to sit with my thoughts and just really think about what was going on in the world.” Amidst all this uncertainty, Desiree leaned on her spirituality for comfort and began meditating, journaling, and doing yoga daily. Antigua was now a very special place for Desi because her time there became her most eye-opening traveling experience. The isolation ignited her spiritual awakening, and once she returned home, spirituality became an even bigger focus in her life.
The idea for Celestial Swim originated as Desiree was about to reach one million followers. To commemorate this milestone, Desi and her best friend/business partner, Jessica, developed their brand. Through manifesting, journaling, and talking about gratitude, the two women practice spirituality on a day-to-day basis, and they decided to incorporate that aspect of living into the brand.
“We just kind of wanted to have that spiritual aspect because it’s really who we are,” continued Desiree. “And we wanted to showcase who we are because we are the face of the brand.”
Each swimsuit is carefully designed with the fullest intention and includes a divine message to amplify feminine beauty. In ‘Ethereal,’ the brand’s first collection, each swimsuit is named after a goddess and modeled after her characteristics to empower the wearer to feel just as strong and confident as the goddess.
“And we came up with the name Ethereal because we really just wanted it to feel timeless, with staples that you could have in your closet forever,” she explained. “And so we wanted to pair that with goddesses that are timeless and really just tie in that spiritual aspect with a tangible product.”
Desiree herself resonates most with Celestial’s Iris bikini, which was inspired by the goddess of communication. This swimsuit reminds women to always articulate and express their desires while maintaining dignity and kindness for others. “I feel like that’s something that I really implement in my life on a day-to-day basis,” said Desiree. “I try to just communicate well with myself and with others. It has always been a difficult thing for me but, I just have to speak my truth…and it’s the perfect tanning bikini.”
As a first-time entrepreneur and business owner, Desiree had much to learn before the launch of Celestial Swim. But her experience as a freelance model and makeup artist gave her plenty of insight to kickstart her brand. Her previous knowledge guides her business practices to ensure that Celestial Swim products are ethically sourced.
“Just because I’ve been a model for so long and I know how much fast fashion really hurts the climate and pollutes it, like adds so much pollution. So by using eco-sustainable fabrics, I feel like we’re leaving somewhat of a good carbon footprint as well.”
Celestial Swim material is dedicated to providing women with high-quality suits without the cost of environmental degradation. These types of decisions come easily to Desiree and Jessica since they are a self-funded powerhouse and have full control over the brand.
What can you expect from Celestial Swim in the future? Desiree and Jessica are hard at work designing their next collection, which will be inspired by different travel destinations– an ode to Desi’s life-changing Antigua trip. Although we’ll have to wait until 2024 for that collection, Celestial will continue producing one-piece swimsuits for women who desire a bit more coverage or just prefer the fit! The “Thea” body chains have also dropped recently, and we can expect more to come soon. No matter which Celestial Swim products you want, rest assured they will be made with a conscious, spiritual mind to empower you to feel as good as you look.
