hi everyone grab my clicker hi guys my
name’s the only Anderson and today I
want to make you rethink your
perceptions of what it’s like to be a
young model in industry because I feel
like not a lot of people know the behind
the scenes of what goes on and like all
the work that young girls have to put in
so I was scouted when I was 14 years old
that’s kind of a viable I look like I
look a mess I had red hair and blue
mascara when this Canadian guy came up
to me after school and was like hey have
you ever considered doing modeling I’m
not being funny you think but I just
thought stranger danger so I ran away
onto any random boss like so many girls
like all I just went with this guy to
the agency aware but no no no my mom was
like you know she’s taught me very well
but then the next day he came back so
obviously again I definitely thought hi
stranger danger at this point and he was
like no don’t run away here’s my
business card give it to your mom like
please come in but I thought nah I
didn’t think that modeling was something
that I could actually do I thought it
was kind of like if you see a tall boy
tell him to do basketball I didn’t think
it was something that I could seriously
make into a career and at the end the
day I was only 14 years old and a few
months later somebody else from the same
agency came up to me and I thought to
myself you know what this is a sign
maybe I should actually go in and I did
and that was a day that completely
changed my life I remember it like it
was yesterday
I looked mess I had red hair okay I had
a fake Gucci bell I had patterned tights
on and you know if any of you guys
shopped in Primark when you’re young you
know that was the prime artist the
staple of my wardrobe and the quiff when
I went in I was so nervous and stiff and
I had all these people coming up to me
shaking my hand saying how excited they
were that I finally came in and that
they wanted to sign me straight away but
the thing that really stuck with me that
day was when they left my mom and I
alone to speak and she turns to me and
she was like leo me these people are not
your friends and that’s no offense to
them but my mom was always a constant in
my life reminded me that this was not
going to be the easy way out this was
not going to be the fairytale industry
that I was stepping into and it was
going to
like an easy ride and my mom say she’s
sitting right here so thank you for that
because it really really helped me
throughout oh you know you know being so
young and certain insula I’m so glad I
had her with me throughout this the only
thing that I knew about oh sweet okay
boom boom boom you see the quiz but okay
the only thing that I knew about
modeling before I got signed is why so
in America’s Next Top Model
I’m what I saw in magazines so no wonder
I thought I was gonna be staying in this
million pound mansion with 11 cool house
maids someone talented a to complete mmm
you could imagine my shock when I flew
to New York for the very first time when
I was 17 years old and I pulled up to
this old-school red brick house in
Manhattan to find a brokedown model
apartment with 12 girls 6 bunk beds 3
bedrooms two bathrooms mice and roaches
and that’s no exaggeration okay and we
were paying over a thousand pounds to
stay there by the way I’m for the month
and I was like what is this like what is
kind of going on this is my mood right
now
I know shower Model Management for
the means that you’re gonna see
throughout my slide show it was my first
time traveling alone and for some of the
girls that were staying in the house it
was actually their first time even
leaving their home state or leaving
their small town over they were from you
know somewhere in Eastern Europe or
wherever for most of us it was the first
time being about our parents and instead
of having one challenge a day like
America’s Next Top Model we had up to 20
crossings a day and no we weren’t being
driven around in some SUV like I thought
no we had to use the subway we had to
learn how to navigate the streets of New
York very quickly and it was a very big
learning experience to me now the only
day that I do remember resembling
America’s Next Top Model was the day
when I had to go into my agency of my
suitcase so they could see what outfits
we would create for certain big cross
things we went into a room we laid out
all of our clothes and our book would be
like so wordy where for Calvin Klein
what would you wear from Michael Kors
but obviously I’m going
17 I was basic as hell I had some
vintage Levi’s shorts and I would just
change the vest black Primark vest white
prymaat vest I just kept it simple but
you know what I passed the test however
there was this one Russian girl who
lived in my apartment she was like 19 at
the time she’s very sure of herself and
the book would be like okay so what are
you gonna wear to Alexander Wang my girl
would be like I wear my white crop Jean
my patent white shoe and my studded
denim jacket these are my fate mmm yeah
these are my favorite fashions that’s
what she was about my book huh this was
my book his face okay understand I know
he was literally like having a heart
attack
seriously okay and he canceled all of
our courses for that day and he took us
on a shopping trip okay and now he
didn’t take us bro cross new face models
to Zara or H&M they took us to Saks
Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman like
design designer stuff he had these girls
it swirling around like Carrie Bradshaw
and sexy to the point where they forgot
they were actually on That’s So Raven
budgets mm-hmm every model is actually
technically already in debt from when
they very first start with the model
apartment Wren you know website fees or
first shoes and your flights we were all
actually in – and all these things were
gonna be taken away from the money that
we first learnt from our shows but these
girls don’t think that but I had my
mom’s voice ringing in my ears these
people are not your friends friends
friends so every time they would be
offering me $300 vests $600 shorts I was
like no I’m good I’m good
this is me I was like mom okay thank you
because I just knew even though they
hadn’t told us specifically that these
things weren’t free I knew that this
wasn’t coming from nowhere I know it
sounds crazy obviously he’s thinking I
why do they spend so much money on our
clothes and whatnot but Fashion Week is
so competitive and there’s so many girls
there and you know you go to a cast and
there can be up to 300 girls sitting
with you and our agency just wants to do
everything to make us stand out before
you even get on the runway where
running around the streets of New York
with sweating our asses off we’re
getting lost and by the way these are
the times I can even have incident on my
phone so we had to like map everything
the night before and our Booker’s will
call us in the middle of day and say you
have to go here what am i doing please I
haven’t even got a map I have to like
you have to navigate you have to really
adapt at such a young age and especially
for girls who aren’t used to big cities
as well like we’re from London so New
York is kind of it’s not the same but we
kind of knew how to work the city there
was girls who didn’t even speak English
and they had to deal with this it’s not
an easy job at all now speaking about
debts and money one of the biggest
misconceptions about the modeling
industry is that every bottle is super
rich and living the highlife
my uncle stays banner and me asking me
when he’s gonna get his 10% and I’m like
mate when I get it I’ll let you know
okay because after you get paid your
agency takes 20% taxes take up to 40%
and then those Gucci heels that your
Booker made you buy and whenever that
gets deducted to like people don’t
realize that it’s very hard for young
models to actually see any of their
earnings when they very first start
modeling and I still have jobs from even
2016 and 15 that still haven’t paid me
to this day like modeling is not like as
easy as people think and then there’s
the fact that if you’re a model who has
an unconventional look yes she might be
in all of the magazines but that doesn’t
mean that you actually have any money
because magazines don’t pay thanks
recession but yeah I feel like that’s
one thing that a lot of people know yeah
you might see like Jordan and all these
big models and think that every model
who’s then suiting the same editorials
as them is living the same life but it
doesn’t work that way I know I’m making
it sound like kind of a crazy industry
for such a young person to be in but of
course I have to be honest in order to
make you think again see how straight
down there
but I’ve obviously had many amazing
experiences that show season no matter
how tired I was no matter how crazy it
was for me and you know how stressful it
was for us living in that house together
it was worth it like in the end I got
one show one show and I couldn’t even
walk by the way but it happened to be
Marc by Marc Jacobs and because of that
it’s sort of the rest of my
but at the time when I went there I
didn’t know what I was gonna get I
didn’t know whether I was going to do
well I could have got nothing and I want
people to understand that there’s always
we’re modeling there’s always that risk
you never know when you go abroad
spending all this money getting into
debt living in these houses of all these
roaches and the mice like you don’t know
what’s going to happen there’s always
that element of risk but it was worth it
and I’ve been able to travel from a
young age I’ve been able to work with
amazing photographers I’ve been able to
learn so much about myself that I
wouldn’t have been able to do if I
didn’t take that risk if I didn’t get on
that plane if my mom didn’t allow me
just to go and be free and do what I
want to do and I wanted to kind of well
I guess this is the inspirational bit
but I wanted everyone to think about
like when you see someone in a position
that you want to be in in life you don’t
actually know the backstory behind it
with modeling yes you see the glossy
images you see the runway pictures you
see the magazines but people don’t
realize that for some of those girls
that’s them providing for their whole
families back home that’s them
changing their entire life that’s them
stepping out for the first time on the
runway scared as hell not even able to
walk and having to go back home to
birches as well which I did after mark
by March acres I think it’s one of those
industries that because it’s those it’s
so superficial it’s so shiny and so
glossy people don’t think about the
hardships that come along with it and
that’s just like with any job so that
any path that we all decide to take
there are going to be risks there are
going to be challenges and there are
going to be hard times but it’s up to us
to decide how we’re gonna allow those
situations define us it’s up to us to
decide whether we want to persevere up
to us and decide with we’re gonna change
those roaches into riches ooh I just
thought of that yes and really just make
something of ourselves like we’re all
here we’re all from London we all want
to be something with ourselves but are
you going to take that step are you
gonna do that hard work it’s up to us to
decide for our futures what we want to
be so yeah thank you guys for listening
to my talk and that is my behind the
lens of the modelling industry
[Applause]
name’s the only Anderson and today I
want to make you rethink your
perceptions of what it’s like to be a
young model in industry because I feel
like not a lot of people know the behind
the scenes of what goes on and like all
the work that young girls have to put in
so I was scouted when I was 14 years old
that’s kind of a viable I look like I
look a mess I had red hair and blue
mascara when this Canadian guy came up
to me after school and was like hey have
you ever considered doing modeling I’m
not being funny you think but I just
thought stranger danger so I ran away
onto any random boss like so many girls
like all I just went with this guy to
the agency aware but no no no my mom was
like you know she’s taught me very well
but then the next day he came back so
obviously again I definitely thought hi
stranger danger at this point and he was
like no don’t run away here’s my
business card give it to your mom like
please come in but I thought nah I
didn’t think that modeling was something
that I could actually do I thought it
was kind of like if you see a tall boy
tell him to do basketball I didn’t think
it was something that I could seriously
make into a career and at the end the
day I was only 14 years old and a few
months later somebody else from the same
agency came up to me and I thought to
myself you know what this is a sign
maybe I should actually go in and I did
and that was a day that completely
changed my life I remember it like it
was yesterday
I looked mess I had red hair okay I had
a fake Gucci bell I had patterned tights
on and you know if any of you guys
shopped in Primark when you’re young you
know that was the prime artist the
staple of my wardrobe and the quiff when
I went in I was so nervous and stiff and
I had all these people coming up to me
shaking my hand saying how excited they
were that I finally came in and that
they wanted to sign me straight away but
the thing that really stuck with me that
day was when they left my mom and I
alone to speak and she turns to me and
she was like leo me these people are not
your friends and that’s no offense to
them but my mom was always a constant in
my life reminded me that this was not
going to be the easy way out this was
not going to be the fairytale industry
that I was stepping into and it was
going to
like an easy ride and my mom say she’s
sitting right here so thank you for that
because it really really helped me
throughout oh you know you know being so
young and certain insula I’m so glad I
had her with me throughout this the only
thing that I knew about oh sweet okay
boom boom boom you see the quiz but okay
the only thing that I knew about
modeling before I got signed is why so
in America’s Next Top Model
I’m what I saw in magazines so no wonder
I thought I was gonna be staying in this
million pound mansion with 11 cool house
maids someone talented a to complete mmm
you could imagine my shock when I flew
to New York for the very first time when
I was 17 years old and I pulled up to
this old-school red brick house in
Manhattan to find a brokedown model
apartment with 12 girls 6 bunk beds 3
bedrooms two bathrooms mice and roaches
and that’s no exaggeration okay and we
were paying over a thousand pounds to
stay there by the way I’m for the month
and I was like what is this like what is
kind of going on this is my mood right
now
I know shower Model Management for
the means that you’re gonna see
throughout my slide show it was my first
time traveling alone and for some of the
girls that were staying in the house it
was actually their first time even
leaving their home state or leaving
their small town over they were from you
know somewhere in Eastern Europe or
wherever for most of us it was the first
time being about our parents and instead
of having one challenge a day like
America’s Next Top Model we had up to 20
crossings a day and no we weren’t being
driven around in some SUV like I thought
no we had to use the subway we had to
learn how to navigate the streets of New
York very quickly and it was a very big
learning experience to me now the only
day that I do remember resembling
America’s Next Top Model was the day
when I had to go into my agency of my
suitcase so they could see what outfits
we would create for certain big cross
things we went into a room we laid out
all of our clothes and our book would be
like so wordy where for Calvin Klein
what would you wear from Michael Kors
but obviously I’m going
17 I was basic as hell I had some
vintage Levi’s shorts and I would just
change the vest black Primark vest white
prymaat vest I just kept it simple but
you know what I passed the test however
there was this one Russian girl who
lived in my apartment she was like 19 at
the time she’s very sure of herself and
the book would be like okay so what are
you gonna wear to Alexander Wang my girl
would be like I wear my white crop Jean
my patent white shoe and my studded
denim jacket these are my fate mmm yeah
these are my favorite fashions that’s
what she was about my book huh this was
my book his face okay understand I know
he was literally like having a heart
attack
seriously okay and he canceled all of
our courses for that day and he took us
on a shopping trip okay and now he
didn’t take us bro cross new face models
to Zara or H&M they took us to Saks
Fifth Avenue and Bergdorf Goodman like
design designer stuff he had these girls
it swirling around like Carrie Bradshaw
and sexy to the point where they forgot
they were actually on That’s So Raven
budgets mm-hmm every model is actually
technically already in debt from when
they very first start with the model
apartment Wren you know website fees or
first shoes and your flights we were all
actually in – and all these things were
gonna be taken away from the money that
we first learnt from our shows but these
girls don’t think that but I had my
mom’s voice ringing in my ears these
people are not your friends friends
friends so every time they would be
offering me $300 vests $600 shorts I was
like no I’m good I’m good
this is me I was like mom okay thank you
because I just knew even though they
hadn’t told us specifically that these
things weren’t free I knew that this
wasn’t coming from nowhere I know it
sounds crazy obviously he’s thinking I
why do they spend so much money on our
clothes and whatnot but Fashion Week is
so competitive and there’s so many girls
there and you know you go to a cast and
there can be up to 300 girls sitting
with you and our agency just wants to do
everything to make us stand out before
you even get on the runway where
running around the streets of New York
with sweating our asses off we’re
getting lost and by the way these are
the times I can even have incident on my
phone so we had to like map everything
the night before and our Booker’s will
call us in the middle of day and say you
have to go here what am i doing please I
haven’t even got a map I have to like
you have to navigate you have to really
adapt at such a young age and especially
for girls who aren’t used to big cities
as well like we’re from London so New
York is kind of it’s not the same but we
kind of knew how to work the city there
was girls who didn’t even speak English
and they had to deal with this it’s not
an easy job at all now speaking about
debts and money one of the biggest
misconceptions about the modeling
industry is that every bottle is super
rich and living the highlife
my uncle stays banner and me asking me
when he’s gonna get his 10% and I’m like
mate when I get it I’ll let you know
okay because after you get paid your
agency takes 20% taxes take up to 40%
and then those Gucci heels that your
Booker made you buy and whenever that
gets deducted to like people don’t
realize that it’s very hard for young
models to actually see any of their
earnings when they very first start
modeling and I still have jobs from even
2016 and 15 that still haven’t paid me
to this day like modeling is not like as
easy as people think and then there’s
the fact that if you’re a model who has
an unconventional look yes she might be
in all of the magazines but that doesn’t
mean that you actually have any money
because magazines don’t pay thanks
recession but yeah I feel like that’s
one thing that a lot of people know yeah
you might see like Jordan and all these
big models and think that every model
who’s then suiting the same editorials
as them is living the same life but it
doesn’t work that way I know I’m making
it sound like kind of a crazy industry
for such a young person to be in but of
course I have to be honest in order to
make you think again see how straight
down there
but I’ve obviously had many amazing
experiences that show season no matter
how tired I was no matter how crazy it
was for me and you know how stressful it
was for us living in that house together
it was worth it like in the end I got
one show one show and I couldn’t even
walk by the way but it happened to be
Marc by Marc Jacobs and because of that
it’s sort of the rest of my
but at the time when I went there I
didn’t know what I was gonna get I
didn’t know whether I was going to do
well I could have got nothing and I want
people to understand that there’s always
we’re modeling there’s always that risk
you never know when you go abroad
spending all this money getting into
debt living in these houses of all these
roaches and the mice like you don’t know
what’s going to happen there’s always
that element of risk but it was worth it
and I’ve been able to travel from a
young age I’ve been able to work with
amazing photographers I’ve been able to
learn so much about myself that I
wouldn’t have been able to do if I
didn’t take that risk if I didn’t get on
that plane if my mom didn’t allow me
just to go and be free and do what I
want to do and I wanted to kind of well
I guess this is the inspirational bit
but I wanted everyone to think about
like when you see someone in a position
that you want to be in in life you don’t
actually know the backstory behind it
with modeling yes you see the glossy
images you see the runway pictures you
see the magazines but people don’t
realize that for some of those girls
that’s them providing for their whole
families back home that’s them
changing their entire life that’s them
stepping out for the first time on the
runway scared as hell not even able to
walk and having to go back home to
birches as well which I did after mark
by March acres I think it’s one of those
industries that because it’s those it’s
so superficial it’s so shiny and so
glossy people don’t think about the
hardships that come along with it and
that’s just like with any job so that
any path that we all decide to take
there are going to be risks there are
going to be challenges and there are
going to be hard times but it’s up to us
to decide how we’re gonna allow those
situations define us it’s up to us to
decide whether we want to persevere up
to us and decide with we’re gonna change
those roaches into riches ooh I just
thought of that yes and really just make
something of ourselves like we’re all
here we’re all from London we all want
to be something with ourselves but are
you going to take that step are you
gonna do that hard work it’s up to us to
decide for our futures what we want to
be so yeah thank you guys for listening
to my talk and that is my behind the
lens of the modelling industry
[Applause]
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