Lisa Opie

Lisa Opie is a 24 year old entrepreneur, model, and swimsuit designer. Lisa was born in Denver, Colorado, but has been raised worldwide. Lisa has lived in Japan, Barbados, Spain, and in California, Illinois, Texas, Virginia, and currently resides in Miami, Florida. She is half Japanese, half caucasian and speaks English, Japanese, and Spanish.

Lisa is a travel enthusiast and has traveled to 48 of the 50 states and 30 countries. She’s always on the go and loves blogging about her jetset lifestyle and travel adventures.

EDUCATION  

Lisa completed her undergraduate studies at Virginia Commonwealth University where she earned her Bachelor of Arts in political science with a minor in history. During her undergraduate studies, she spent a semester abroad at the University of Barcelona studying the politics of the European Union, and another semester at the University of the West Indies where she studied the history of the African Diaspora.

POLITICAL INVOLVEMENT

Being homeschooled, Lisa was raised to be an independent thinker. She became passionate about politics at a young age and accompanied her grandfather and father to the Constitutional Party National Convention in 2004 and the Republican National Convention in 2008. Although she was not old enough to vote, she learned the process of federal elections and was interested in learning more. As a freshman in college originally majoring in Art, she became more and more involved in politics. Lisa joined Young Americans for Liberty, Young Democrats, and College Republicans (this may seem like a strange mix but she states that she became involved in all three political organizations so that she could learn as much as possible about the roots of each political party). Lisa earned two scholarships to attend seminars at the Leadership Institute in Washington DC. After spending her spring break volunteering for the successful campaign of Senator Rand Paul in 2010, Lisa was given the opportunity to be a delegate to the Southern Republican Leadership Convention in 2010 where she met Michael Steele, Mike Pence, and Ron Paul. Although most of Lisa’s involvement may seem to be with the Republican party, she does not claim to be associated with any political party.  Lisa enjoys studying politics therefore she approaches each issue with an open mind.

SCHOLASTIC ACCOMPLISHMENTS

During all four years of her time at VCU, Lisa held leadership positions. In 2009, she ran a successful campaign for Vice President of her Hall Council in her residential building. That semester, she also ran for Senator in the VCU Student Government Association. As an SGA Senator, Lisa served as Chair of the Student Dining Services Subcommittee, Applicant Liason and Treasurer of the SGA Appointments Committee, and a member of the Student Life committee. Lisa was then appointed to be an Executive Aide of the VCU Student Government Association during her senior year.

As a junior, Lisa was selected to participate in the prestigious Capital Semester Program where she interned for Senator Frank Wagner and Delegate Christopher Peace. During that time, Lisa also founded her own organization, the Japanese Student Association. She was also a founding member of Zeta Tau Alpha’s Lambda Eta chapter and served as the first appointed Director of Academics for Zeta Tau Alpha.

VIZCAYA SWIMWEAR

In spring of 2012, Lisa stumbled into her career. After having trouble raising money for her competition swimsuit at Miss United States 2012, she decided to make her own swimsuit on her mother’s sewing machine for the competition. After getting numerous compliments on her suit, she decided there was an opportunity to start a business. Lisa has been modeling since the age of 14 and decided to use her network that she had established in the fashion industry to incorporate a swimwear line. Lisa named her line Vizcaya Swimwear after the street that she lived on during her time abroad in Barcelona, Carrer De Vizcaya. Through the help and support of her network and friends in the industry, Lisa has been able to show her designs on the runways of New York, Atlanta, Richmond, and Miami. Vizcaya Swimwear is now the official swimwear sponsor of the Miss United States Pageant.  Although her original plan was to become a foreign consulate or earn her Juris Doctor, Lisa is very pleased with the way things have turned out for her business.

PAGEANTRY

Lisa was home schooled for elementary school, attended a private Christian school for middle school and attended public schools for high school. Throughout middle school and high school, Lisa was bullied by her peers for the way that she looked and acted. She was able to overcome her struggle with bullying through pageantry. Being a contestant in a pageant required her to be healthy, fit, confident, and philanthropic. Lisa has held the titles of Miss Teen Williamsburg, Miss South Florida USA, Miss American Samoa, Miss North Dakota, Miss Florida Nationwide, Miss Virgin Islands, and Miss Nationwide 2014. Lisa placed in the top 8 at Miss Virginia United States, top 5 at Miss United States 2012, and top 15 at Miss United States 2013. Lisa believes that pageants are not about winning that sash and crown, but it is about who you become in the process. 

Lisa now serves as a host on the pageant based channel, PageantLIVE, and has personally interviewed Miss Universe 2014, Pia Alonzo Wurtzbach, as well as Miss USA 2014 Olivia Jordan and Miss Teen USA K. Lee Graham.

MODELING & ACTING

Lisa started modeling at the young age of fourteen. Due to her height, she was frequently turned down and faced challenged breaking in to the industry, but she didn’t let them hold her back. Lisa has modeled for numerous clothing and jewelry brands and used her experience in the industry to launch her swimwear line, Vizcaya Swimwear. Lisa has also been featured in commercials for Nike, AT&T Latin America, HSI Hair Styling Tools, Westin Hotels and Resorts, and more, alongside working on television shows and movies including Chef, Burn Notice, Graceland, and hosted two episodes of Japan’s World Summer Resort, which was broadcasted nationwide on the Tokyo Broadcasting System in Japan. Her career accomplishments led her to frequent the tabloids including the Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Yahoo! Celebrity, ZOO Weekly, New York Daily News, and the Daily Star. She has also been interviewed live on CBS and NBC.

LADY CODE

Lady Code was founded in late 2013 by Lisa Opie and Stefania Sita. Lisa, being a former victim of bullying wanted to create a platform that provides resources for women who may be facing challenges. Lady Code uses multiple platforms to provide daily resources for health, wellness, motivation, creativity, fashion, celebrity interviews and more.