A certain mystery surrounds the modeling industry. How does one become a top model? There is no clear cut answer to that question. Because of this mystery and uncertainty, a great deal of room exists in which a scam artist can work. Since a modeling agency is often the key to becoming a successful model, this is where many scams take place. How do you find a legitimate modeling agency? There is no easy answer.

First, there is no rating service for modeling agencies; there is no governmental authority; there is no licencing organization to tell you which agency is legitimate and which is not. Most agencies are small, independent businesses working in a very competitive market place. These seem to be in constant flux with new ones starting, old ones merging, and some closing up shop. This makes it a real challenge to find just a legitimate agency, let alone a good agency.

The following are some ideas on how to find and then check out a modeling agency in your area:

1) To find the modeling agencies in your area you can check the yellow pages of the phone book under Modeling Agencies. Remember, a modeling agency wants to be easy to find so a phone listing is a must. From the agencies' listings you may find they are often, also, modeling schools. If there are no agencies listed for your area, you may have to check with the closest large city. If some one approaches you and says they are a scout for some agency and you can't find them in the phone book, be very skeptical. Also, check out some of the model agency directories listed on the Modeling Agencies Links page to see what is in your area.

2) Check with the Better Business Bureau. They may have information on the modeling agencies you are interested in or complaints against them. Usually an agency has to be pretty bad for the BBB to have anything. Businesses that are bad businesses, or new scams, won't show up. When I checked on modeling businesses in the Portland area, I found that all of the modeling schools were members of BBB, the legitimate agencies were not, and the one known scam agency did not show any complaints. The BBB is not a perfect source for information, but it is a place to start. You will find many regional BBBs have web sites on which you can find information.



3) One thing I like to do to check out agencies is to call them after business hours. I can find out fast which agencies are trying to be legitimate businesses. The idea behind this is that modeling is a very competitive, fast moving business and things don't just happen 9 to 5. If, I, as a photographer, have an emergency come up after business hours (a cancellation, a client who has to shoot tomorrow and will pay anything to do it) I need to be able to contact someone now or I am down the road to another agency. A good agency knows this and you will find, when you call them after hours, they will have an answering machine or service that will give you an emergency number to call (a cell phone or pager). If you find the machine just tells you to call back during business hours or they have no after hour answering service at all, look for another agency.

4) The best way, which takes the most work, to find a good agency in your area is by studying and researching your market.

A) If you follow the local news media (newspaper, TV), there is a good chance information on local agencies will show up. This past year the Portland newspaper had articles on a local girl who was discovered and went off to Europe to model (the article gave the name of the local agency that signed her) and a new face modeling contest the paper put on ( the judges were from three local modeling agencies and the article gave the name of the agency and the contact at the agency). One of the local TV news stations did a story on a rip-off modeling agency and interviewed people from some of the legitimate agencies. In one year of just following the news (which you should be doing anyway to be an informed voter), I was able to find three legitimate agencies and one scam agency.

B) Another method of researching the local market takes even more work - follow the local fashion print advertising. When you start to see which stores use local models regularly, you can start making phone calls. Call the store and find out who handles the advertising. You can hope that the person at the store who does this can direct you to their advertising agency, their photographer, or may even direct you to the modeling agency they use. Basically, you are making phone calls to trace your way to a modeling agency suppling the models for the store ads. This will lead you to an agency with working models. I hate making cold calls like this myself, but this can be an effective way to find a modeling agency. Then again, if you can make cold calls like this, you may want to forget the modeling and become a photography rep!

There are three styles of contracts that you typically will run across. Some modeling agencies will work with exclusive contracts. This means that they are your exclusive representatives and they get a commission on any work you do. They get this commission whether they find the work or you find it on your own. If you sign this kind of contract, be sure the agency is really going to be working for you. If they are providing a lot of guidance getting your career started and are out there beating the bushes to find work for you, this type of contract is fine. If the agency signs you just to fill space in their roster and then leaves you hanging in limbo for the length of your contract (usually one to two years) it can be a bad way to try and start a career. Another type of contract is a non-exclusive modeling contract. In this case if the modeling agency finds you work, they get paid their commission. If you find work on your own you pay them nothing. You are free to sign non-exclusive contracts with other modeling agencies. This way you might have several agencies representing you at once. Now don't expect the same service and help from a non-exclusive agency as with an exclusive agency. In smaller markets, where you are expected to provide all of your training, portfolios, composites and other marketing materials before an agency will work with you, signing an exclusive contract is a kind of a rip-off.

The final contract is a Mother Agency Agreement. I have not seen one of these so I am not sure how they make it legally binding but you do hear about them. In this case the modeling agency knows there is not enough work locally to support any one over the long term. Their position then is to move you on to a major market and get you signed with a major modeling agency. They may get you work locally but it is more with the idea of getting you ready for the major market. For helping prepare you and helping to place you with a top modeling agency, they get a percent of your earnings for a long time to come. You, in essence, never leave the mother agency - you are just loaned out to the top agencies. This can be an attractive arrangement if the mother agency invests time and money in your career and gets you on with top money making agencies. The trouble comes when this gets attached to a modeling school. You not only have to pay for all of the classes, the photo shoots, the career guidance session, you then must keep paying these people again for doing nothing. You need to examine these agreements very carefully before you sign.

Supermodel Veronica Webb speaks out on

In the fall of 1994, I shared the cover of YSB with Black male model Clayton Hunter and with Roshumba, who had been featured in the Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue three years in a row. I, like more than a few other Black models, would consider the middle of the decade a prime time for us. Our popularity may have had much to do with a flood of media stories indicating that racial and ethnic groups would outnumber Whites by the middle of the twenty-first century.

The fashion, publishing and advertising worlds--the institutions where our desires and dreams are synthesized and sold back to us--were clearly taking notice and action.

More Black models began to grace the pages of fashion magazines, both in advertisement and editorial layouts, and Naomi Campbell's star was shooting into the stratosphere as she clocked a stunning number of covers. In Milan, where runway-show trends begin (because the first international showings are held there each season), Riccardo Gay Model Management had 12 to 16 Black women on the roster for fashion shows. In fact, every show I worked from 1992 to the first season of 1995 had at least seven or eight Black models. Considering that a show usually features 20 or so models, we had an impressive 35- to 40-percent representation. Things really got exciting in 1995, when Tyson Beckford snagged an exclusive contract as the face for top designer Ralph Lauren. Tyson went on last year to be named Male Model of the Year by VH1.

Fast forward to 1996... When the year came in, we went out. Today there is only one Black female model I know of with a major cosmetics contract: Tyra Banks for Cover Girl. As of this writing, Riccardo Gay in Milan has only six Black models in working rotation. And from the Italian runways to the French fashion scene to the catwalks in New York City, there has been a worldwide trend to exclude Black models from fashion shows. Only a few shows for the fall 1996 season included a Black face, and even then in several cases that face could have been mistaken for White. The result: Magazines and newspapers--many of which use pictures from runway shows throughout the year--will have few chances to include us in their pages. And, as it is, we are seldom the focal point of the main fashion layouts in general-market publications. Clearly the Black model is the subject of a damaging and demeaning "disappearing act."


I don't necessarily cry foul because my livelihood and that of my colleagues are at stake. Some of us have had a pretty lush life because of this profession, and we've gone on to do other meaningful and lucrative things as well, like writing, acting or running our own cosmetics companies. The real crime of our being excluded is that it leaves Black people with far too few self-affirming images in television commercials and other mainstream media.

This is not the first drought for Black models, and though it pains me to say it, it probably won't be the last. Fashion, by its very nature, is fickle. What's in one year is often out the next. I'm outraged, though, that race would be subjected to fashion's whims. I could handle short hair versus long hair, skinny waiflike bodies versus more voluptuous ones, or sassy attitudes versus fresh playfulness, because there would always be a place for some of us. But when what's in is pasty pale and bland blonde, well, enough said.

"Yes, I agree completely that this is a totally blonde season," says Katie Ford, CEO of Ford Models, Inc. "It's a trend started by the minimalist designers like Prada and Gucci. By using models who all have the same coloring, they took the identity out of the model. Their goal was to take the attention off the models and put it back on the clothes. If you were a brunette, it was hard to get on the runway." Think about where that left us as Black models. At least White brunettes could turn to a bottle of peroxide.

Model bookers do the daily work of calling clients and pitching models for jobs. I asked my booker at Ford, Neal Hamil, what the general response to Black women was at the agency last show season. "Clients were saying that they were `going in a different direction." It's the industry's standard brush-off," he says, adding that the look being requested was a "very, very pale, skinny, glassy-eyed look, like a junkie, really." When I asked Neal if he thought the lack of interest in Black models was racially based, he paused and then said, "The discrimination is so subtle that I don't realize it until the season's over."

Ford says she has consistently found it difficult to start and maintain models of color. "I continue to take Blacks, Asians and Latinas in hopes that things will change. But I know it's always going to be twice the work for half the reward."

Even Naomi--who in many fall 1996 shows from Europe to New York was the only Black model on the runway--concedes that any model of color has to work that much harder. "But I love rising to the challenge," she says. Much controversy surrounded Naomi's appearance in the May 1996 issue of Vogue. According to reports in the press, Campbell had been promised the front cover of the issue. But for the first time in the magazine's history, Vogue printed a double cover, with White supermodel Niki Taylor on the cover facing the newsstand and the world, while our Naomi was tucked away on the inside fold. Campbell took the high road concerning the incident. "Personally, I was a bit disappointed, but I hope the magazine will [regularly] regard Black models as cover subjects the way they do Whites," she says.

"How do I become a model?" is a frequent question from ESSENCE readers. Answer: A pretty face and great legs aren't all you'll need to break into the biz. Our insiders' tips:

1. Learn the lingo. A manager at an agency introduces you to clients and helps steer your career in exchange for 20 percent of your earnings. Your book, or portfolio, shows you in a range of professional photos. A camp card is a flyer featuring several shots of you, your measurements and your agency's contact information. A casting, an open call or a go see is an appointment with a prospective client.

2. Study your look. "Spend time staring into the mirror," says Maiysha, a Ford model and official print-campaign girl for Lane Bryant. "Know what your face does when you make different expressions." Kyle Hagler, a modal manager at International Management Group (IMG), advises, "Do as many test shoots as possible, even if they're only snapshots." Critique your photos: What is your best pose? Your most flattering angle?

3. Find a good agency. Most major modeling agencies are based in New York with branches in large cities like Miami and Los Angeles. But many smaller cities have modeling or talent agencies. Send local agencies you r best snapshots and arrange an interview. Before you agree to be represented by an agency, do your research: Who are the models it represents? What kind of work do they get (newspaper circulars, local fashion shows)? Is the agency listed with the Better Business Bureau?

4. Beware of scams. No one should ask you to invest a lot of money in camp cards, portfolios or test shoots. A reputable agency that's serious about representing you will arrange for test shoots with some photographers willing to shoot you free of charge and sell you prints for a nominal fee, says Hagler. Or they'll advance you the money and deduct it from your first paycheck.

5. Understand the requirements. To model full-time, you must be able to work long hours (a shoot can last more than 12 hours), sometimes with little sleep. You must be determined, focused and in possession of extraordinary genes: Models are typically at least five feel nine inches tall and well proportioned (usually with hips and waist measurements that are approximately ten inches apart, such as 34-24-34). You'll also need flawless skin, straight teeth and symmetrical features.

6. Consider modeling school. "Schools can give you an advantage over others by teaching you how to walk, behave and dress," says Hagler. Ask if the school has an affiliation with a reputable agency. Find out how many working models the institution has graduated in the last two years. Check on consumer complaints with the Better Business Bureau.

7. Be persistent. You can't expect modeling jobs to come to you, says booker Sharon Elcock, who works with the New York management company Mode Squad, Inc. If you're just starting out, one approach is to contact the public-relations manager at your local mall and inquire about any in store fashion shows. Let your hairstylist know you're available for hair shows. If you live in New York City or can afford to travel there, call the fashion or beauty department of your favorite magazines and ask if they're planning any makeover stories. Indicate whether you're willing to cut or color your hair. If you're signed to an agency, "make sure they're aware of any talents you have--dancing, Rollerblading, acting. You never know what someone is looking for," says Elcock.

8. Develop a thick skin. "You're going to be turned down for being ton fat or too skinny, too ethnic or not ethnic enough," says Maiysha. Clients will critique your pictures and expect you to take it like a pro. "It's all about how the client envisions selling their product," Maiysha says. "It has nothing to do with you."

9. Don't be a diva. Jay Manuel, creative director-producer of shoots for UPN's America's Next Top Model, says, "Models are there to be molded by professionals who understand the industry. Don't arrive thinking you know more than they do."

10. Have a plan B, cautions Maiysha. Few modeling careers last longer than ten years. Seek financial advice, save money, and cultivate other marketable skills.