By Sandy Kacura
You’re too fat, too tall, too short, too ugly. You have the wrong look, the wrong style…Welcome to the world of modeling. Where at times it can seem like you’re never good enough. That’s because, although the rest of the world has changed, the antiquity of the fashion and modeling industry has not. As a result, a new digital platform has been created to address these concerns, and much more.
Agencies have the industry under lockdown. For years, a client could only approach talent through an agency – leaving them with high fees and a limited selection of talent for them to choose from. But now there is a new platform – Becasted – which is giving clients the ability to hire models, photographers, makeup artists, social influencers and more, all from one place.
Becasted is a dynamic community of professionals in the fashion and modeling industry that operate their businesses through our innovative platform. They are completely disrupting the industry by shifting control away from the agencies, and over to the clients and talent that they book. Now it is possible for clients and talent to bypass having to deal with agencies.
Sandy Kacura, the mind behind Becasted, has been a model for the last 15 years. She has worked for leading agencies, such as Ford, Elite, and Next. She knows first hand what it’s really like to work in the industry. We recently caught up with Sandy, who shared some of her revealing experiences of having to deal with agencies throughout her career.
What influenced you to transition from being a model to providing fashion industry professionals with a dynamic platform to allow them to stand out and take charge of their careers?
While I am on jobs I make it a point to talk with other talent about the industry. We’ll talk about where we find work during off seasons, how agencies treat us, how we are still waiting for a check from a job we did 6 months ago…We quickly came to the realization that we are at the mercy of our agency. That’s why I think it is so important that the industry changes – that’s why I built Becasted.
Becasted is cutting the costs for everyone involved by reducing agency costs up to 75%! The aim for Becasted is to allow clients and talent to work together and to provide a safe place for them to manage their careers. This allows clients and talent to professionally review one another, consequently surfacing important statistics, such as the social outreach a talent offers. Becasted aims to be a better marketplace for the industry to operate in.
How did you get your start as a model?
Beginning a career in modeling can be a very scary venture. I was 18 years old when I went to an open call at Ford in Los Angeles. I remember being so nervous and scared. I had no idea what was going to happen. I met with the head booker and she loved me. But, there was a catch – I had to chop off my long beautiful blonde hair to above my shoulders, because apparently they already had a girl with long blonde hair and they needed a blonde girl with short hair.
So, not knowing any better, and trusting that the booker knew exactly the best thing for me, I chopped it all off. Not only that, they also didn’t like my first name – they thought it was too California-girl, so I was to go by my middle name! You can only imagine how fun that was…I was then sent on a ton of test shoots, which apparently cost anywhere between $350 to $600 per shoot. And you think, “oh great they will pay for it.” But, what I didn’t understand was that was to be all paid back once I started earning.
Well, off I go to my first paid shoot, Seventeen Magazine. And guess what? The client wanted somebody with long blonde hair, so they attached extensions in my hair. And to top it off, they kept calling my name and I wouldn’t respond, because I wasn’t used to be called my middle name…About 3 months later, I got my first check from Ford – which was exactly $0. I still owed thousands of dollars for website fees, printing pictures, portfolio book charge, FedEx fees, test shoots, and travel expenses. The fees never ended. I even had one well-paying client go bankrupt a month after a shoot, so I never got that money either. Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?
How did your first experience as a model influence your career in the fashion industry?
Fast forward 15 years. I am lucky to say that I am still modeling and I feel that I have learned the ins and outs of the industry. Thankfully, my hair is long again. And, I go by my real first name. Needless to say, I realized that the bookers I worked with throughout the years didn’t know everything.
I built Becasted so that anyone trying to break into the industry doesn’t have to go through the difficulties I did when I started out. Becasted is a foundation for all freelance talent that doesn’t know where to begin or from the well-established talent that would like to manage their career on their own. With Becasted, inexperienced models have access to top photographers, makeup artists, and more.
You learn the most about the modeling profession and the fashion industry from working. What works for one client doesn’t necessarily work for another. This means that you really have to own your look…whatever you choose it to be. There are millions of clients out there, and trust me, someone is looking for your look!
How is Becasted continuing to improving the fashion industry?
As Instagram and social media have continued to play a larger role in the selection of models and brand ambassadors, and to scout new talent – Becasted launched a social influencer section to provide clients with data captured from their social profiles, plus up-to-date contact details and other pertinent information, which marketers can utilize to make the best possible decision in terms of hiring the right social influencer for their next campaign.
Some of this information includes age, gender, specific geographical location of an influencer’s social followers, as well as the number of followers, likes, comments, and video views. Additionally, marketers will have access to CTR (click-through rate), which will tell the clients how many clicks a website has received from the ad a social influencer has posted on their social media channels. Now you’ll be able to find social influencers from Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, Vine, and more! You can become a part of a new movement that is making fashion a better place for all.