MEET Costa Rica December Influential: LesPaul Ibanez

I had the honor of sitting down with this month’s Influential LesPaul Ibanez. This being my first Influential’s interview I was a bit nervous but LesPaul is so gracious and has the ability to make a person feel so at ease that it was a real pleasure to chat with him.

LesPaul Ibanez is professionally an accomplished model and man of style and distinction on SL. Some of his accomplishments and affiliations include Costa Rica Sims Productions, Queens  & Kings, Arcobaleno Modeling Agency, Pasarella and Maniera’s Man of Style 2010.

Let’s get right to the interview.

Sydney Bonde: LesPaul thank you so much for sitting down with me, Sam says I should get all the dirt 

LesPaul Ibanez: Ok…  go ahead…

LesPaul Ibanez: There are no limits… 

Sydney Bonde: (laughing) That is what I love to hear!

LesPaul Ibanez: Can I tell you a brief story first, about myself?

Sydney Bonde: Of course, please do.

LesPaul Ibanez: I’m 3 years old here… but I had a first second life… kind of… I stayed something between 10 months and a year… and then left… I came back 5 or 6 months ago… back in July…so that probably opens the door for lots of questions… 

Sydney Bonde: (smiling) yes it does! What brought you to Costa Rica Sims once you came back into SL?

LesPaul Ibanez: When I came back I was really into some SL magazines…. (I’ve always wanted to write something) and I saw all those ads about Costa Rica… then… I came to see the place… and saw all those familiar names from magazines… and I decided it was the place I wanted to live. I’ve changed my mind since about my reason for living here… I discovered a beautiful place full of even more beautiful people… and I mean beautiful in every sense of the word.

Sydney Bonde: I think many have done and felt the same about Costa Rica Sims.

LesPaul Ibanez: Sure… and the Executive team… I know people come and go… but I’ve never met one person I haven’t found nice and a valuable part of the team.

Sydney Bonde: That is really nice of you to say, I have to ask though what prompted you to come back to SL after so long an absence.

LesPaul Ibanez: I still don’t know…when I left… it wasn’t like I was escaping from something or someone… so I have no regrets in coming back… I just left ’cause I didn’t have time to come here on a regular basis… and I also discovered through the offline Magazines other worlds here… like fashion and building… and stuff like that.

Sydney Bonde: What was your “first” second life like?

LesPaul Ibanez: In my “first” second life…I had no clue about what I was doing, (laughing), but now… I can say I have a career and some goals to accomplish.

Sydney Bonde: Speaking of your career, what made you choose modeling?

LesPaul Ibanez: I guess modeling chose me… I wanted to write for a magazine… that’s what I still want to do… or a blog or something… but it’s really hard… English not being my native language…anyway… I was so into reading BOSL and Glance and Maniera that I kind of got myself into modeling by accident…   so I went to Glance academy… and it all started… 

LesPaul Ibanez: Do you want to know something funny?

Sydney Bonde: Always!

LesPaul Ibanez: In my first class at Glance, my teacher (RicoRacer Flux) told me to go to every casting… and Sam posted a casting call for CRSP like 10 seconds after Rico said that…so I came to the casting… and got picked for Boys of Summer show…when I told Rico, he almost passed away… lol!

LesPaul Ibanez: I ended up doing modeling boot camp to be ready, but I think Rico did an excellent teaching job… 

Sydney Bonde: That’s a great story!

Sydney Bonde: Any interesting modeling/runway disaster stories?

LesPaul Ibanez: I still haven’t fallen off any runway fortunately… not yet… nor sudden crashes either… but I’m keeping my fingers and toes crossed!

Sydney Bonde: After your experience in the CRS “Boys of Summer” show what did you do next?

LesPaul Ibanez: After that Rico “strongly suggested” I enter Maniera Man of Style… and well… it all started that way.

Sydney Bonde: You mentioned goals earlier, writing for a magazine or blog being one, any others?

LesPaul Ibanez: Sure… lots of them… but they’ve changed since I first came here…  writing is still up there… but I also want to keep on knowing people… I’ve met some wonderful and interesting ones… especially in Costa Rica Sims and at Costa Rica Sims Productions.

LesPaul Ibanez: Modeling-wise… well… I just want to be regarded as a professional model… someone agencies, designers and co workers can rely on.

Sydney Bonde: in your profile you say your biggest accomplishment in SL has been the friends you have made, what would you consider your biggest career accomplishment so far?

LesPaul Ibanez: mmm… tough question ’cause I’m really proud of everything I’ve done here… from store modeling to photo shots… everything… I have a quote from a happy  store manager in my profile about professionalism…. that’s for sure something I’m really proud of, and I’d place it up there with my biggest accomplishments.

Sydney Bonde: I have to ask about your name of course.  LesPaul, being the pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar which “made the sound of rock and roll possible” and an accomplished musician, along with Ibanez being a brand of guitars also. Was that on purpose?

LesPaul Ibanez: Sure…and well… that’s something I’m also proud of… because I didn’t cancel this account back when I left SL the first time… I’m not a musician in RL… far from it… but I’ve played different instruments since I was 6 years old and music is still my biggest hobby…  I have a band… and I play bass guitar on it… we play Classic Rock… 70’s 80’s even some Beatles… and of course some Glam/Hair Rock… 

Sydney Bonde: So you chose the name based on your admiration for the RL musician?

LesPaul Ibanez: Yes and when i picked the name… back then you picked the last name from a list, and when i saw “Ibanez” (a well known guitar maker)  I thought of picking another guitar brand/name that sounded first-name-ish…  and then I came up with LesPaul.

Sydney Bonde: If you had to share only one thing about your RL with all of SL what would it be?

LesPaul Ibanez: I have no problem when people ask… there’s nothing off-limits if you get to a certain degree of friendship… but now… well… I’m an engineer in my mid-30’s…  male… straight… and I manage the IT department of a big company here in my country.

LesPaul Ibanez: That’s really boring isn’t it???  (Laughing)

Sydney Bonde: Not at all!

Sydney Bonde: And if you shared one thing with people in RL about SL what would it be?

LesPaul Ibanez: not much really… and not because I don’t want to… it’s more because people don’t have a clue about what SL is… but I have a friend who used to play (now he can’t ’cause he’s living in China)  and we exchange emails all the time… I keep him updated… lol… I share with him almost everything that happens here… but he’s no really into fashion. So he says he pretends to be interested!

Sydney Bonde: You discussed your” first” second life earlier and how you made all the mistakes that we all do when learning our way around SL, what was your most embarrassing newbie moment that you can recall?

LesPaul Ibanez: Well… this friend I told you about… he invited me to SL to begin with… and he didn’t told me he was dating a girl… so the first time I came I found this really interesting and nice girl, and I was IM’ing her like crazy, until she told me she was dating my friend that was really embarrassing…    /me blushes… (Laughing)… I remember that and got all embarrassed again…  but it was really an honest mistake… I had no clue… 

Sydney Bonde: What advice would you give to others in SL?

LesPaul Ibanez: Ohh… from me??? omg… I’m still learning… but I think I would like to say this:  Have fun, and be sure the people around you are having fun too… RL is fully loaded of s**t already so if you don’t find SL funny… what’s the point?

LesPaul Ibanez: May I say 2 things I’d like you to post if you find some space?

Sydney Bonde: Most certainly

LesPaul Ibanez: Ok… thank you very much.

LesPaul Ibanez: First, I’d like to say THANK YOU (with capital letters) to all the Executive team that runs Costa Rica… From GC to Sam to all the team members that have made Costa Rica Sims such a wonderful place… I don’t deserve the honor of having an Influential’s party… but I’m certainly honored…  so… again… THANK YOU ALL GUYS!

LesPaul Ibanez: And secondly…

LesPaul Ibanez: I’d like to thank and congratulate all the models and staff at Costa Rica Sims Productions… what a wonderful bunch of people… I don’t want to say any name because I’ll leave someone out and I’ll feel like s**t for doing so… but certainly…. to share a RW with Payton, Mikey, Todd… and all the others in Costa Rica Sims Production, it has been one of the most amazing and rewarding experiences of either my RL or SL life.

Sydney Bonde: Thank you LesPaul, I have thoroughly enjoyed chatting with you, it’s been a real pleasure.

LesPaul: Thank you!

Interview By: Sydney Bonde for CRSP

For More Info, Pls Visit the BOSL blog: http://thebosl.com/bosl_blog/

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I was browsing through websites and blogs today when I came across LesPaul’s interview and I thought I’d share it with you because he is an extra-ordinary guy. I met him as a student of mine at GLANCE Academy. After our first class, he told me he got casted for CRSP “Boy of Summer Show” and needed runway lessons fast. We usually don’t teach the runway portion until Lesson 5-6, but I had to do a model bootcamp with LesPaul and he was a pro. He learned fast and took to it like fish to water. LOL. LesPaul was one of my two students that I pushed hard to enter the Maniera Men of Style 2010. I won the title the previous year and I knew he could do it. I was ecstatic when both LesPaul and Seedus won.  Anyway, Congratulations to LesPaul Ibanez for being CRSP December Infuential. Best Wishes, Buddy. I’m sooooo happy for you.  =)

❤ RicoRacer Flux

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