Answering a Reader Question #918

Liz Wrote:

 Hi Dania!

 My name is Liz I am an aspiring model with no experience. I have always been told to go out for modeling (I'm 5'10" and measurements are 34/25/34) but I have always been slightly self-conscious and too afraid of being rejected by agencies. Now I am not self-conscious and I actually want to go for it, but I have one slight problem. I'm from NJ but I will be studying abroad in Hawaii starting in early January until mid May, I have been looking at a few agencies in New York but I am unsure as to if I should try to get signed to an agency here in NY or wait til I go to Hawaii. I have heard the term "Mother agency" but I do not know exactly what that is or how it would work. I could really use your advice, thank you.

 I tried to post this comment earlier but idk if it went through so I'm trying again, if it did go through then whoops, my bad.

Hey, Liz!

I screen my comments to weed out spammers so I do receive all comments posted and publish them if they are legitimate. :-)

I'm happy to hear that you're in a good place with your self confidence to want to pursue modeling!

To learn more about mother agencies and how they work you'll want to read the link below to a blog post I did about the topic:

http://amodelsdiary.blogspot.com/2011/12/understanding-role-of-mother-agencies.html

Because you'll be going to Hawaii in a matter of weeks, I don't know if you'd be able to pull off getting a mother agent in NYC and setting up all the things needed to allow you to work with agencies in Hawaii by next month.

There is usually a process that has to be in place first, such as setting up your test shoots to build your portfolio, create your comp/zed card, headshots, etc. Then the matter of the mother agency wanting you to book work to get your feet wet and then potentially shop you around to agencies in other markets when they feel you're ready.

Of course each mother agency handles new models their own way but the timing with the holiday season may also be a challenge to getting a mother agency in NYC before you leave. Some agencies close for business (so to speak) until January. By that, I mean they may choose to not sign new talent during December because work tends to be slow and they aren't able to market a model like they normally would so they prefer to wait until the new year to consider new submissions.

That being said, you can still submit to agencies in NYC (it's not like you're not allowed to) as your plan A and see if you get anywhere. If not, then your plan B would be to research and submit to agencies in Hawaii so that you can arrange which open calls you'll attend when you get there and have a game plan in place.

I hope that helps but feel free to email me at: daniadenise@gmail.com with any other questions you may have!

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