MODEL AND ENTREPRENEUR ISKRA LAWRENCE AND MUSIC INDUSTRY ENTREPRENEUR AND FORMER UT FOOTBALL PLAYER PHILIP PAYNE OPEN UP ON LOVE, FAMILY, 2024 & MORE

Austin Lifestyle spent a delightful day at Soho House Austin with Iskra, a model, mom, entrepreneur and founder of SaltAir and Self-Funding, Philip, a former UT football player turned music exec who founded Plan A and next semester will also be a professor and their adorable three-year-old son Alpha. We later caught up for a chat on Zoom in the run-up to the holidays.

Let’s start at the beginning, how did you meet?
Philip: I had known who Iskra was from social media and from what I saw she seemed like a really genuine person. I knew we’d connect, but I was very intentional about when we would meet. We had opportunities to meet before, but it wasn’t time yet. We eventually met at a Grammy party for an artist I used to manage. I saw her and tried to not act like I was looking at her. She said she caught my eye, but I thought I was being pretty smooth. I walked up to her and the first thing I said was, ‘Are you in a relationship?’ She said, ‘It’s complicated,’ and I introduced myself and put my number in her phone. Then I just walked off. I thought I left an impression. She smiled, it was perfect. But, she didn’t text me immediately, so I was like, did this not work? So, I found her number from someone. I wasn’t going to text her, but I texted her the next morning and asked why she didn’t text me. From there we kept in touch and work would put us in the same places, which is how we got to build our relationship. She was in LA doing a show called the Marriage Challenge and invited me to set and I got to see her really help people work through struggles, whether it was body image or with fertility.

Iskra: It was a very emotional but wonderful day. I’ve met many humans on my journey and for a man, I know how hard it is to tap in emotionally, and then be able to communicate that. I have exes who couldn’t be comfortable on set, conversational or blend in with everyone – and care about what I’m doing. Philip walked on set and immediately it felt like he was meant to be there. His presence just made everyone feel seen and comfortable, made the whole vibe calm and peaceful. He still does that to this day with our son and anyone. It’s definitely a gift of his to make everyone around him feel at ease.

read the full interview here