February 3rd arrived and it was finally time to start this new exciting experience that is my Bachelors internship!
I was going to be an assistant/booker at a modeling agency in Amsterdam, situated on the famous street of Weesperstraat, called New Generation Model Management.
Let’s first go back to the whys and wherefores of my choice.
Hence, the reason got pretty clear when I was making research about different internship possibilities in Amsterdam. What is great about communication, is that it is everywhere. Every company disposed of a communication department or responsible in any way. Therefore, I thought about combining the domain of communication with another appealing field to me: Modeling.
Frankly, I never really wanted to be a model, but I was always intrigued by the ‘behind the scenes’ of this job; Who helps to manage the work of a model?
Now, let’s talk about the way I attained this position. As simple as it is, I sent an email to this well-known modeling agency in Amsterdam, and I was lucky enough to get a fast reply asking for a face-to-face interview with the directors.
When entering the office, I was glad to discover a small team composed of two directors and an assistant/booker. I believe that working within a small group will not only help to get to know your colleagues better and eventually get integrated, but also allow you to learn fast and efficiently about the job itself.
Then, I was told about the duties of a booker which I had no real idea about. It was a combination of dealing with the model’s schedules and getting in contact with clients.
When it comes to dealing with the models, it was all management and communication tasks such as organizing their appointments (for example test shoots that entailed photoshoots to enrich their book), update their information on the system, contact them when needed.
But the contact is not limited to models only, but with clients as well. And I can tell that it represented, in the end, a big part of my duty tasks. For instance, I was told to look for more brands to collaborate with and contact them via telephone or email. And a good point in my favor was being fluent in French. I was able to contact several French brands by interacting in their native language.
Due to the corona situation, The first six weeks at the agency represented the most exciting part of my internship as I was able to work offline. Being a model requires being on constant move, and even though I was working at an office, the environment was most of the time dynamic. Between receiving different faces every day and participating to professional meetings with clients, I enjoyed having a vibrant day.
Before starting the internship, I did have a few expectations in mind . For instance, I thought I would assist to shoots and model jobs; But I was mostly in charge of planning them.
Then obviously when you think about models, you think about the sensational time of preparing Fashion weeks. But unfortunately, due to the worldwide situation, all shows were canceled and it was a big shame.
However, I can say that after a month and a half at the office, I had already acquired some knowledge about the industry. Also, the New Generation team turned out to be very friendly and helpful which made the journey even more pleasant.