With much of her early life spent involved in modelling and pageantry, it seemed only natural that Ginesta David, a former Miss Guyana African Heritage title holder would launch her career along the same line.
The young entrepreneur founded Ginesta’s Prestige Models and Management Agency just about 18 months ago, through which she provides jobs for young women in the line of runway modelling, advertisements, billboards, promotions and such like.
Prestige Agency, as it is informally called, currently has 20 models under contract and as such is not accepting recruits at the moment. Ginesta said that whenever the complement of models drops for any reason, the agency would take in women who would have applied, or other eligible women.
Prestige models are contracted on a part-time or full-time basis, depending on whether or not they have regular jobs. “We have girls who have regular nine to five jobs and for them we cater to them in the evenings while for those who are at home would usually work with us during the day,” Ginesta explained. However, she explained, those who work with the agency during the day would be required to work some nights, “depending on the demand of the job, they would work both day and evening”.
Whereas other modelling agencies require women to be of a certain height, shape and age, Prestige Agency only requires that models portray a willingness to work as well as have a pleasant personality. “I don’t encourage strife because if there is strife among the girls it cannot run smoothly. Women already have their own issues to deal with, so you must have a nice personality,” Ginesta said.
When asked about the agency’s lack of emphasis on physical appearance, she said, “We do not focus much on the physical appearance because at times our clients/supporters would request a teen or an over-30 model to do their promotion and ads and you would rarely find a person over 30 who is skinny. So because it’s promotional modelling we do not emphasize on these attributes.” Prestige does, however, encourage its models to take part in regular exercise programmes to keep fit.
The required age range for Prestige is 17 to 30, but Ginesta explained that there are some instances when the agency would have models below the minimum and above the maximum age limits and they would be a part of the agency temporarily.
The models themselves tend to have a few reservations in terms the type of clothing they would wear, Ginesta explained. As such the agency, on appointing them, allows them to have a choice in the types of clothing they want to wear. “Because not everyone might want to wear a swimsuit or do runway modelling, when they fill out the forms they state what type of modelling they’re interested in. …there are some companies that require the girls to do dancing or to party and not everyone is into that and so we allow them to have a choice.”
Turning her focus to the rules and regulations of the agency, the founder stated that there are quite a lot of restrictions. “For example, the models are not allowed to drink on the job; they’re not allowed to mingle with friends, or exchange telephone numbers with anyone on the job [or anyone related to the clients]. They must be on time. If they’re late they will be penalized, so it teaches them respect for time. Basically our restrictions are the same as any regular nine to five job out there.”
Upon entering the agency, Ginesta explained, models are evaluated for the first two months to determine their willingness to work and their dedication to the job. This then determines whether they will be given the chance to stay for six months to a year. After they would have been tried and proven worthy, the models are then given a choice of two contracts – six months, or one year.
Prestige Agency involves its models in training and recreational activities. The founder explained that when they enter the agency, girls are trained not only to model, but are also given lessons in etiquette and pageantry, as well as to do make-up and to design clothing. Most of the models’ recreational activities are centred around their jobs. This entails attending various functions held by promoters like HJTV, Pulse Entertainment, and businesses like Banks DIH (the agency’s major client), GT&T, Digicel, and Impressions. At these functions, “for example with Banks DIH, the models are hired to represent them in whatever beverages they would like to advertise; sometimes they would just have to speak about the beverage, drink the beverage, or just stand there and distribute beverages,” Ginesta explained. However, some companies just require models to be photographed for billboards and advertisements.
Ginesta explained that the models are also involved in charity work. “We’re a part of the Ruimveldt Children’s Home and they’re really, really nice and the girls also love being there.” She also encourages the models to attend church on a regular basis, “each of them attends their own church but sometimes I would invite them to my church, which is Love and Faith.”
So what inspired this 27-year-old to start a modelling agency? Ginesta links her inspiration to her past, stating that she first started modelling at the age of 16. “I took part in my first pageant at age 16; it was an inter-secondary school pageant in Berbice [where she grew up] and I placed second runner-up. And then I moved on to the Miss Guyana Talented Teen pageant and then the Miss Guyana African Heritage pageant, which I won.” Being the ambassador for the Miss Guyana African Heritage, Ginesta said, she was given the opportunity to travel to the United States, Trinidad, St Kitts and Anguilla. “In Atlanta,” she continued, “they had the Memorial Day Parade, of which I was a part. I was also involved in a lot of fashion shows for Deryck Moore and Sonia Noel and other designers. However, there came a point in my life when I decided I did not want to model anymore for others but I still wanted to be involved in something pertaining to fashion and modeling, so I started the agency.”
Apart from that, Ginesta explained, she had a desire to help other young women like herself. “From personal experience and from mingling with a lot of women, we as women are being faced with a lot of challenges.” She said that whatever a woman experiences as a child, that is what she grows with and that determines who she will be in future. Many young women come from abusive homes and some were even abused by persons they trusted.
Ginesta felt the need to make a difference, “so the agency is also about building self esteem and self worth. I try to teach them to be independent and not to depend on men too much,” she said.
Asked what makes Prestige stand out from other modelling agencies, she said, “I believe the girls work really hard to keep a standard and as long as they meet the requirements of the business that hires them, the business keeps coming back. They’re dedicated to getting the job done, they do it professionally and that’s what makes us stand out.”
Ginesta added that there are a lot of persons who see the business as just modelling and the girls as having no brains, “but it is a job and it is a well-paying job too.”
At the end of their training, she said, the girls are well-rounded individuals, “we groom the girls in different skills so that they will be well rounded and we place them in whichever company is interested. We allow them to work with [these companies] as long as they are being treated with respect”.
On her models partaking in the various fashion shows, Ginesta explained that sometimes fashion designers request the girls to model only their clothes “and in that case we allow the girls to model of their own accord; they have the choice on whether they want to model or not”.
Ginesta’s Prestige Models and Management Agency is located at Lot 175 Da Silva Street, Newton Kitty.
