How it all started..

Elite Model Look, so nervous!

A model has and is in fact his/her own business. However, a model is nowhere without modeling agencies. A model always has a ‘mother agency’, a modeling agency mostly in the country where the model is from and lives in for most of the time. I guess the words ‘mother agency’ make sense, because (if you’ve got a good one) they do sometimes feel like your mom/family. They take good care of their models; whether I’ve got good or bad news, I can always call my bookers. Even in the night time. A mother agency arranges a lot for their models. Bookers send their models to castings, arrange tests, make polaroids (more about that later), keep in touch with clients, and of course – book jobs. A model and her booker are almost, if not every day in touch. I call, text or email with my bookers about options, bookings, castings, etc. For me, the contact and communication with my agency is very important. In fact, I just got a really sweet text message from one of my bookers. That made me feel so good!

For me it all started in 2005, where I competed in the Elite Model Look. The EML is an annual modeling contest held by the Elite agencies all over the world. My mom read about it in the paper and she convinced me to participate. So I took some selfies (wow I just realize that selfies exist for a long time already – I guess there just wasn’t a word for it yet #feelingsoold). Anyway. I sent in my photos and eventually I got picked from around 5500 Dutch girls. After several rounds I made it to the finale, where I ended up being in the top 20. I didn’t get signed with Elite and so nothing really happened. At first I was sad, but in a way, when I think about it now, I’m happy that I finished my high school and went to University just like any other girl. I have to say that if I knew back then that I actually did end up modeling I would’ve felt better ;-)

In 2010, I went out with my friend in Amsterdam. It was then I met Jeroen van der Mast again after five years. He used to work for Elite in 2005 and now he is the owner of VDM Models in Amsterdam. He invited me to the office of VDM the week after, where we had a nice chat about the modeling industry. Jeroen and the bookers from VDM decided they wanted to do a test shoot (these free shoots I was talking about earlier on my blog) to see if I could work the camera. After that I got signed with VDM Models. I did some more tests to practice my facial expressions and to build up my book/portfolio.

Now, 3,5 years of modeling on the side, a masters degree and almost 2 years of full-time modelling later, I know how to move my body and make different faces. I have a good book now and I travelled quite a lot, including being on stay in Istanbul, Cape Town, Athens, Milan and London. Those have been amazing experiences for me. I got to know both myself and other cultures/people/cities so much better thanks to traveling. I wouldn’t have want to miss it for the world.