Ali loves some high-energy cardio sessions. “I love spinning, it’s my favorite,” she told VIBE. “It’s really intense and it’s great music. I love it! You burn like 400 to 600 calories in an hour. There’s nothing else that does that, and it’s just fun you know, dancing to the music really fast. So I do that, and I try to switch it up. I’ll do some Pilates one day or I’ll do weights the other day. I try to do it at least three days a week.”
Ali employs a holistic approach to health and beauty. “Loving yourself is all encompassing,” she told Yahoo! Beauty. “Firstly, it starts with how I care for my body. I became a vegetarian around the time that I began working on this campaign. I didn’t expect it to also change the way I interact with my environment and our consumer culture, but it has – completely. Secondly, taking time for myself through meditation is essential. Thirdly, giving and accepting only the best in all of my relationships has built a deeper self-love than I’ve ever felt before.”
Ali forged her own path when it comes to beauty standards and expectations. “I was forced to create my own standard for beauty, because I wasn’t exactly the same as any one side of my family,” she told Yahoo! Beauty. “Growing up in a mostly white community in Long Island made things difficult as well. To be truthful, there are a lot of prejudices in the Caribbean and in Indian communities about hair type and skin color. So, I heard the good, the bad and the ugly and had to decide that I didn’t believe any of it.”
Ali has no regrets about taking a break from the industry to go to college. “If I was pressured to do anything, it was to do well in school,” she told Yahoo! Beauty. It’s not really complicated. I always wanted to go to college. When my sisters and I were younger, our parents took us on tours of colleges. I always dreamed of going to an Ivy League school. When the time came, it wasn’t even a choice for me. I was extremely determined to go to Harvard, and I did.”
Ali loves a low-key look during her down time. “You know, work makeup is something different, but when I’m not working, I try to keep it really simple,” she told VIBE. “I like Kiehl’s. They have this tinted moisturizer that’s really light, that’s like every day. If I want something more for night time, I use Bobbi Brown. They have great colors. Everyday when I go out, I like jeans and heels. I love that leggings are in right now. They are the most comfortable things ever, so I’ll wear those, some high-heeled boots and a t-shirt.”
