So ... Your Child is A Model ... Now What? Model Mom Support Thread.

[janznote]

Yeah...

I couldn't agree more! It's hard enough having your daughter so far from home - trust is a huge issue and you place that in the agency's hands. I would rather have her be extra cautious than too trusting.

Thanks for the offer but it's bad enough that we have to trust the agents, who we don't really know and different ones in different countries, although I will say that Major Models in NY and Paris is exceptional. Katia (the owner) really has taken care of my girls and I highly recommend Major.

 

[model_mom]

I'm back....

You know. I just have some questions....Where's her agency at this time? Why haven't they issued a statement? Who do you call when there is no family around? Where's the fairytail now? If they say. "She was perfectly fine...we couln't see any problems...I'm going to puke!

 

[BetteT]

The point is ... everyone needs a support system ... even if they are over 18. The agency does NOT have the model's best interest in mind ... they exist solely to make a profit. So don't expect the agency to be able to judge their kids' mental health or well being and don't expect them to jump in and help when things are too stressful. An occassional booker might reach out and help ... but that is not the norm.

A model needs a model mom no matter how old she is. She must be strongly grounded with family, good values, and a strong sense of self worth or the results can be disasterous, as we know.

And, MM ...I know how you must feel right now ... things like that are horrifying. Thank goodness Ale had you.

 

[model_mom]

Not responsible..... I am just at a loss to see how an agency can step back and say that. Not responsible for bringing a young girl to the states with little or no language skills or knowledge of the way the modeling industry works. Not responsible for lying to her family that they will look after her. Not responsible for working her all hours of the day and night and putting her in situations that she's not mature enough to handle. Not responsible for taking a large part of her salary for their commission and upkeep of the model. Not responsible when their career starts to level off because they've found someone whose bankroll is more promising....not responsible when a young girl has to be driven to the morgue alone because she has no one that is ........responsible.

 

[model_mom]

I was wondering how long it would take before they rushed to their defense.

Telegraph.co.UK
from Article about Ruslana

But industry observers urged caution in assuming Korshunova's job was to blame for her death.
Life as a young model in a city like New York "can be a carousel ride or it can be a decent into hell," said Michael Gross, bestselling author of Model: The Ugly Business of Beautiful Women.
"People generalise about fashion models to their own peril. We can't draw conclusions about one from the last. The occupational hazards of modelling are well known - there are substance abuse, body issues and self-esteem issues. But we don't know why this girl jumped out of a window. It could be it had nothing to do with modelling.
"People always want to blame the fashion industry or magazine editors," he added. "They certainly deserve a certain amount of generalised criticism but without facts to back it up, I don't think that there's anything here other than a sad story."
Zach Eichman, a spokesman for Korshunova's agency, IMG, which also handles Heidi Klum and Kate Moss, said "she was one our very good working models. She did a lot of shows and successful campaigns.
"Everyone I have spoken to is very surprised and the feedback I am getting from people is that there was little indication that there was something troubling her and that she was always very happy."

"I don't think there's anything here other than a sad story".

In other words....don't blame us...we're not responsible?????

 

[model_mom]

Family, Friends still in disbelief as model's mother arrives in city

BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, June 30th 2008, 12:34 PM
<A href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/galleries/russian_models_tragic_death/russian_models_tragic_death.html">
Korshunova seen here in happier times with her brother, Ruslan. (Click above for photos from Ruslana's tragically short career.)


The mother of the supermodel Ruslana Korshunova completed a 6,400 mile pilgrimage of pain today when she arrived in New York to claim the body of her beloved daughter - and bring her home to Kazakhstan for burial.
Valentina Kutenkova flew in from Almaty and was headed to the Medical Examiner's office to formally identify the green-eyed beauty who stunned her family - and the fashion world - on Saturday by leaping to her death from her luxury Manhattan apartment.
"She has to see her baby," said model's ex-boyfriend, Artem Perchenok, 24, of Queens, before he left to meet Kutenkova at the airport.
Korshunova's brother, Ruslan, said he was heartbroken and not conviced that his sister's death was a suicide, as the Medical Examiner ruled.
"She was a positive person," Ruslan, 26, in a telephone interview from the family home in Almaty, Kazakhstan. "She was not capable of such things."
Her brother recalled how his sister, who was discovered when she was just 15 and left Almaty shortly after that, was "thrilled she was home" when she visited in April.
"She had not forgotten her homeland," he said. "She missed it. She wasn't here very often."
A cousin, Nastya Chkopoya, 19, told The Daily News, "Everyone knows she was a good person. It's not suicide. Of course, she will be buried in her homeleand."
Although born in Kazakhstan, Korshunova was known in the modeling business as the "Russian Rapunzel" because of her flowing chestnut hair.
Just 20, she had already conquered catwalks around the world, graced the covers to top fashion magazines, and had been featured in ads for DKNY, Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang and other leading designers.
Korshunova, who lived downtown on Water St., had just started dating 32-year-old Mark Kaminsky of Staten Island, and a friend said, "She was thrilled."
But in the months before, Korshunova went through a dark period and wrote in her online journal that she felt "lost" in America.
"Will I ever find myself?" she wrote in March on her page on a Russian social networking site.
Not yet old enough to legally buy a drink, Korshunova felt she was over the hill in a business that's always looking for a brand new face, her ex said.
"She was upset that she was getting older," Perchenok said. "Who isn't? But especially in this industry."
Perchenok said Korshunova had always been a very emotional person and they remained close even after the broke up last fall. They hung out at his parents' house in Queens the day before she died.
Perchenok said that if he had known about her dark online postings, he would have "sat her down for a talk." He said he would have not left her alone in her apartment.
"I would have been, like, 'What are you talking about? This isn't you,'" he said. "She just needed a hug."

 

[janznote]

Family, Friends still in disbelief as model's mother arrives in city

BY VERONIKA BELENKAYA AND CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Monday, June 30th 2008, 12:34 PM
<A href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/galleries/russian_models_tragic_death/russian_models_tragic_death.html">
Korshunova seen here in happier times with her brother, Ruslan. (Click above for photos from Ruslana's tragically short career.)


The mother of the supermodel Ruslana Korshunova completed a 6,400 mile pilgrimage of pain today when she arrived in New York to claim the body of her beloved daughter - and bring her home to Kazakhstan for burial.
Valentina Kutenkova flew in from Almaty and was headed to the Medical Examiner's office to formally identify the green-eyed beauty who stunned her family - and the fashion world - on Saturday by leaping to her death from her luxury Manhattan apartment.
"She has to see her baby," said model's ex-boyfriend, Artem Perchenok, 24, of Queens, before he left to meet Kutenkova at the airport.
Korshunova's brother, Ruslan, said he was heartbroken and not conviced that his sister's death was a suicide, as the Medical Examiner ruled.
"She was a positive person," Ruslan, 26, in a telephone interview from the family home in Almaty, Kazakhstan. "She was not capable of such things."
Her brother recalled how his sister, who was discovered when she was just 15 and left Almaty shortly after that, was "thrilled she was home" when she visited in April.
"She had not forgotten her homeland," he said. "She missed it. She wasn't here very often."
A cousin, Nastya Chkopoya, 19, told The Daily News, "Everyone knows she was a good person. It's not suicide. Of course, she will be buried in her homeleand."
Although born in Kazakhstan, Korshunova was known in the modeling business as the "Russian Rapunzel" because of her flowing chestnut hair.
Just 20, she had already conquered catwalks around the world, graced the covers to top fashion magazines, and had been featured in ads for DKNY, Marc Jacobs, Vera Wang and other leading designers.
Korshunova, who lived downtown on Water St., had just started dating 32-year-old Mark Kaminsky of Staten Island, and a friend said, "She was thrilled."
But in the months before, Korshunova went through a dark period and wrote in her online journal that she felt "lost" in America.
"Will I ever find myself?" she wrote in March on her page on a Russian social networking site.
Not yet old enough to legally buy a drink, Korshunova felt she was over the hill in a business that's always looking for a brand new face, her ex said.
"She was upset that she was getting older," Perchenok said. "Who isn't? But especially in this industry."
Perchenok said Korshunova had always been a very emotional person and they remained close even after the broke up last fall. They hung out at his parents' house in Queens the day before she died.
Perchenok said that if he had known about her dark online postings, he would have "sat her down for a talk." He said he would have not left her alone in her apartment.
"I would have been, like, 'What are you talking about? This isn't you,'" he said. "She just needed a hug."

I'm telling you these girls need a support group, kind of a mom away from home type of organization or something. I want to do something. I don't want to see this happen to another girl. What can we do?

 

[model_mom]

I wish that I could tell you that was possible....but without a tremendous amount of money and time I don't know how any small group could possibly reach out to all the young models who would need that kind of service when they are in trouble. The bottom line is the only way I can see any improvement to this sort of situation is for legislation to be passed to hold the people resonsible for their welfare to be held accountable......and it's way past due. Name me one other industry that traffics 14-18 year olds without some kind of support system...even in the film industry there are rules and regulations about what age and how long a young person can work.

I have been so upset since this happened.....not because I knew the young lady personally but because I have seen her face in the many young girls I met in Ali's few years of modeling....the young girl who was crying with bloody knees because her role in a NY fashion show was to dress like a wild dog on a leash while she was whipped by her master....or the supermodel of the world who was so ashamed to be sent home because of a slight weight gain and disappoint her family in Lithuania....or the young lady who was humiliated because she had let a photographer talk her into posing semi nude and she wanted the pictures back and the list goes on and on...

 

[model_mom]

"Calling us in the middle of the night, calling us because of a personal situation, a boyfriend, parent, something happening - management, management, management...

"A personal crisis with a career. We have personal contact everyday, so with each individual - that's what we do. There's so much more terminology to what we do, but I'm not even going to discuss it because each and every person here is a Manager. That is our philosophy, and pushes us forward."

You want to guess whose quote that is....Ivan Bart...senior VP of IMG models

 

[model_mom]

and another while discussing the girls from the former Soviet Union

"There are so many of them out there because they're dying to get out and they really have the hunger," explained Ivan Bart, the president of IMG, the industry's top agency. "It's like they've scrubbed floors back home, watched kids, sold fruit for a living. They want to be models. They're willing to do what it takes, to stand on one foot for 10 hours."

 

[janznote]

I wish that I could tell you that was possible....but without a tremendous amount of money and time I don't know how any small group could possibly reach out to all the young models who would need that kind of service when they are in trouble. The bottom line is the only way I can see any improvement to this sort of situation is for legislation to be passed to hold the people resonsible for their welfare to be held accountable......and it's way past due. Name me one other industry that traffics 14-18 year olds without some kind of support system...even in the film industry there are rules and regulations about what age and how long a young person can work.

I have been so upset since this happened.....not because I knew the young lady personally but because I have seen her face in the many young girls I met in Ali's few years of modeling....the young girl who was crying with bloody knees because her role in a NY fashion show was to dress like a wild dog on a leash while she was whipped by her master....or the supermodel of the world who was so ashamed to be sent home because of a slight weight gain and disappoint her family in Lithuania....or the young lady who was humiliated because she had let a photographer talk her into posing semi nude and she wanted the pictures back and the list goes on and on...

Well I have met Ruslana once and Sessi has worked with her and knows her well.

I think starting small would be a great start. (I tend to dream big anyway). I want to offer any model my support, whether it's just advice on challenges with your agent or situation, just being a listening ear or bringing you something to eat when your roommate has eaten all of your food, you don't have any money to get anything to eat and your parents are far away; the least I can do is bring you a plate of food (NYC). Or you're with a roommate who wore (stole) your good clothes when you're away from home and your agents are ignoring what has happened (I've seen it all).

I'm not rich by no means but I will try to help any model as much as I can. This industry is STRESSFUL alone but when you compound normal life challenges such as boyfriend troubles, getting robbed and losing your passport, no sleep and starving because you don't have any money and any other Murphy's Law situation –– anyone would lose it! I'm not sure where I'm going with this but all of the girls who know Sessilee and know me call me "Mom" anyway, so I'm here to help. Just instant message me and all I can promise right now is that I'll see what I can do.

 

[model_mom]

I understand your hesitation in admiting that the fashion industry has anything to do with the welfare of their young models.....I used to be in that same situation myself.

I also admire your offer to help in whatever way you can. I've done the same myself whenever I was in the city....but it is just a drop in the bucket compared to what needs to be done. I don't have the answers....I wish I knew someone who did.

 

[LOVEITALL]

Oh I'm so sad about Ruslana. My daughter met her in Milan and had breakfast with her a few times. She said that Ruslana was so sweet and nice and would see her from time to time in NYC. This unfortunate death just makes me want to gather up these girls and hug them all. I wish peace and love to all the young girls who are far from home and struggling. Please reach out to someone... somewhere... like Janznote has offered - it's an offer extended in kindness. Building a network of friends and support isn't easy for some people. Who is looking out for these young women and making them feel safe, solid & secure.... it's almost an oxymoron in this line of work. I'm so glad my daughter is coming home this weekend - I think I need a hug too after hearing about Ruslana's tragic death.

 

[Yellowstar09]

Another interesting thread.

 

[model_mom]

Here's a real eye opener from ABC News

I couldn't believe that good ole Patrick McMullin spilled the goods on what a young model's life is like in NYC.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/story?id=5293003&page=1

 

[LOVEITALL]

Whoa... that abcnews article is something. I guess there are a lot of things that can be said about any teenage girl growing up without parental guidance, far from home and so young. We can only speculate what was really happening in her life that made her snap. I hope as the authorities investigate that they come to find out more as to why. I feel so bad for Ruslana's mother and wonder how she'll cope with this loss.

 

[model_mom]

NY Daily News....It broke my heart to read this....

Friends, family bid sad farewell for model Ruslana Korshunova

By VERONIKA BELENKAYA and CORKY SIEMASZKO
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS
Updated Thursday, July 3rd 2008, 2:40 PM
Clad in black and carrying single red roses, family and friends of supermodel Ruslana Korshunova gathered Thursday at a Greenwich Village funeral home for a somber farewell.
Her mother, Valentina Kutenkova, was among the mourners who filed silently inside the Perazzo Funeral Home on Bleeker St.
When she felt weak, Kutenkova leaned on the arms of Korshunova's boyfriend, Mark Kaminsky, 32, and her ex, Artem Perchenok, 24.
Several tall, slender women who appeared to be models also tried to comfort the heartbroken mom.
"She holding up the best she can," a family friend, who asked not to be identified, said while stepping outside for a cigarette.
Korshunova fell to her death on Saturday from her luxury Manhattan apartment building. She was just 20.
Although the green-eyed beauty did not leave a note, police ruled her death a suicide.
Kutenkova continues to insist Korshunova did not kill herself, but she said her daughter had "problems at work" a year ago and was thinking about getting out of modeling.
The model's Moscow-based "life coach" told The Daily News on Wednesday that she was depressed over a failed romance with a married Moscow man - and that she was broke.
"There's a collection box inside to help her with the air fare" to get Korshunova's body home for burial, the family friend said.
Also, the elite IMG modeling agency has helped pay for Korshunova's funeral, a company spokesman said.
It is not clear why Korshunova, a much-in-demand model who appeared on the covers of top fashion magazines and lived in a luxurious building on Water St., would be strapped for cash. Her lawyer declined to discuss her finances.
Vladislav Novgorodtsev, her adviser at the Roza Mira Training Center, told The News she had hinted strongly she was being fleeced, but wouldn't say by whom.
"She wasn't rich and all the money she had, she sent to her mother," he said.
Korshunova's wake came a day after friends in her hometown of Almaty, Kazakhstan held a somber party to mark what would have been her 21st birthday.
"We got together with friends and cake," said Eva Behar, who helped launch Korshunova's career at age 15 by having her pose for a inflight magazine. "We just sat around and remembered. In the morning, we went to church and lit a candle for her."
Although Kazakh by birth, Korshunova was an ethnic Russian.
So following Russian tradition, a second wake for her will be held 40 days after her death in Almaty. Among other rememberances, there will be an exhibition of Korshunova's fashion photos.
With Abdujalil Abdurasulov in Almaty, Kazakhstan

NY Daily News

 

[model_mom]

Also, the elite IMG modeling agency has helped pay for Korshunova's funeral, a company spokesman said.


How kind of them!

 

[model_mom]

another good story

Ali's agent called me from NY after Ali went back to school to ask if I would sign a release for a picture a photographer had taken of Ali. This person was making a book of a lot of famous stars and models and wanted to use one of Ali's for the book....catch was she was partially undressed.....It was suppose to be unrecognizble according to the release. Ali really liked this agent and she called us several times to sign it....well I DID!

The book came out and lo and behold.. there was Ali's picture....she was getting dressed after a shoot.....true enough you couldn't see her face but right underneath the picture was Ali's name.... Moral of this story....if you can't trust your best friend in the 'industry'...who can you trust?

It was not even a sexy picture.....just a young kid at the end of the day after a long shoot dressing to go home.

 

[Fontenrose]

This is big news in Canada right now after the murder of a Canadian model in China. Article on how some small mother agencies might not be looking out after you as they should.

Reputable mother agency key to overseas modelling
From Saturday's Globe and Mail



Before budding Canadian models can chase their dreams in the pulsating fashion markets of Europe and Asia, they must first find a mother agency.
Responsible for securing a reputable foreign agency to host the model, ensuring their models get well-paying gigs and making sure their work never puts them in harm's way, these Canadian-based firms are entrusted with hundreds of young lives.
When Rande Kanne launched her international modelling career, she – like fellow Saltspring Islander Diana O'Brien, the Canadian model slain in Shanghai on Sunday – went to Barbara Coultish Talent and Model Management, a Victoria-based agency run by Barbara Coultish and her daughter, Laura. The agency has a long history of placing models overseas.
Ms. Kanne expected to meet one of the divas the fashion industry is so famous for when she first walked through the agency's doors. In reality, “Laura [Coultish] was probably the nicest agent I've ever come across. I trusted her right away.”
That's why, when Ms. Coultish offered the model the opportunity to work with what she called a small but promising agency in Milan, Ms. Kanne jumped at the opportunity.
Her enthusiasm soon soured. The small Milanese firm was run by a man who talked up deep ties with fashion moguls but never seemed to land his models anything more than cut-and-dye jobs, where they sat for a haircut and a few pictures worth no more than $400. From those meagre fees, the man gouged out a 55-per-cent fee.
“He was really dishonest about his position in the fashion industry,” Ms. Kanne said, “and sometimes he would snap at the girls for what he called inappropriate attire.”
JH Model Agency, the Shanghai firm Ms. O'Brien had been working for when she died, claimed on its website to be one of the biggest agencies in Eastern China. In reality, it was virtually unknown in the industry.
Ms. Kanne says she was initially made to stay in a dirty apartment without 24-hour security, much like the Shanghai apartment where a migrant teenager named Chen Jun is alleged to have stabbed and killed Ms. O'Brien.
Ms. Kanne says she wrote to the Coultish agency about the Milanese agent.
Whether or not Ms. O'Brien ever voiced similar complaints to the Coultish agency about JH Model remains unknown. The agency has not answered the many questions raised by Ms. O'Brien's troubling death:
How did Ms. Coultish link up with JH Model, an agency unknown to modelling insiders both in Canada and abroad?
Did Ms. Coultish check into the accommodations and security JH Model offered its models?
Did the Victoria agency know Ms. O'Brien was working low-end jobs that involved dancing on a stage in nightclubs and bars?
Why didn't the agency pull the young model out?
The Barbara Coultish Talent and Model Management did not respond to telephone and e-mail messages left by The Globe.
“Every reputable mother agency has to do a lot of research before they send models to an agency overseas,” said Lina Bracey, an agent with Numa Models in Calgary. “You have these models' safety in your hands. If they're making girls dance, that's a big red flag. You'd better bring her home.”
The Barbara Coultish agency has e-mailed a statement to media outlets, saying only that it had “a working relationship” with the Shanghai agency and that “JH Model escorts their models to each casting and assignment they are booked for. Models are not accompanied on their personal free time.”
Despite Ms. Kanne's experience, other models have had positive experiences on overseas sojourns arranged by Barbara Coultish.
The agency first sent Lara Delo overseas 13 years ago, when she was just 16. During her first two trips to Taipei, she barely broke even, but always remained close with Ms. Coultish. At 29, she's still on contract with the agency.
“When you're starting out, it's always difficult,” she said. “You're trying to build your book and you're competing with lots of other girls.”
And, she says, Ms. Coultish always kept tabs on problem foreign agents. “They would never send girls to an agency that had been bad before. They look after you. Whenever I landed in a new country, the first people I would contact aside from my parents were at Barbara Coultish.”
On Saltspring Island Friday, family members, including Ms. O'Brien's mother, spent the day consoling each other and trying to avoid the media spotlight.
Glenna Berry, the mother of Ms. O'Brien's common-law husband, Joel, said that grieving relatives are frustrated with the lack of answers from the Barbara Coultish agency.
“There does need to be some answers from the [Coultish] agency,” Ms. Berry said. “They said it [the JH Model Agency in Shanghai] had such a wonderful reputation and now it seems to be non-existent. That's something that should be investigated at this end. That should be a warning to all the other girls.”
Deb Hamilton, a Saltspring resident whose daughter, Rosie, is modelling in Taiwan on a Coultish agency trip, acknowledged she's more worried about her daughter in light of Ms. O'Brien's death. However, Ms. Hamilton said her daughter has been treated well by the agency.
“She's so young, they take really good care of her,” Ms. Hamilton said. “I went with her on the first trip just to make sure.”
... With a report from Brennan Clarke on Saltspring Island