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Working With Conair

Hello and welcome back to my blog!
I wanted to give a quick rundown for those that do not know me that well.  I am a 20 year old petite model in the DFW community. I have been modeling for a little over a year and a half now. In this year and a half I managed to turn my 700 follower Instagram account into 6.3K and (hopefully growing (Instagram do not fail me now)). In this year and a half I have worked with several amazing artists and people. That have really showed me what it means to be a valuable player in the community. I have had the pleasure of getting to work with a lot of companies and brands in this time as well. All leading up to the one I want to tell you about today. Which is working with Conair. This experience truly was like no other I have had so far.

Audition Day:
Location- Dallas Hilton Hotel 
Time- 2pm call 
Instructions: "come with clean hair and look like a model"

When I showed up to the hotel at 1:35pm I realized there was no free or street parking. Meaning I would have to pay the $20 fee to park. Only to later learn there was an overflow lot that could have been parked in. I circled the hotel lobby for what felt like forever trying to find the audition room before following another model into it. All but one casting person was late because of their flight. So we did not start the casting until 2:30pm or later.

I was TERRIFIED. I had never been to an audition before and much less one that I knew I was slightly too short for. But none the less, I came with my cleanest hair and most model-y face (whatever that means). They had us each take a polaroid and then asked us what we felt comfortable changing about our hair. I told them anything would go for me (I really wanted the job) but so did everyone else pretty much. We then sat for awhile before the casting people went and talked in the hallway. I really thought it was over for me and at that point I was gonna take the $20 L and also go buy lunch after. But then they started calling a few people into the hallway and I was one of them. I met the person that ran the hair show and she felt my hair and they talked a little bit. Then I was sent back inside. Suddenly I realized I had a decently good chance of maybe booking this thing.

They came back in and told everyone they would have us be doing "a walk" and then they would choose. So every girl in that room waited for their name to be called and then walked for them. There was no music and there was no talking. Though I will say the judges were very nice and funny. After everyone had walked they gathered back in the hall one last time. They came back in and essentially thanked everyone for coming and told us that if we did not hear our name we could leave. Two names passed before mine and I think everyone in the room was holding their breath. When my name came out of their mouth I really could not believe it. I probably starting smiling immediately but I could not tell you because I felt like I blacked out in the best way. They sat us down and thanked us for coming once everyone left. They said we would get started immediately.

We then left the audition room and we went upstairs to their actual hotel rooms. These reps had flown in from New York that morning and were staying the weekend for the hair show. They separated us with stylists (who were also the judges/casting people) and we got to work. My girl was insanely sweet and made me feel really special. She dyed my hair red and then another stylist cut my hair off basically in half. I was not even slightly sad about loosing all my hair that took nearly 2-3 years to grow. Because I still could not believe that I was actually here and chosen for this. I was starving at this point and they kindly brought everyone some humus, pita bread and water. After my hair was done being styled for the night they sent me home around 7:30pm with the instructions "do not do anything with your hair tonight."

The next day was the show day. We all met up around 8:30am that morning to check the stage lights and sound. They began on our hair around 10:30am. They curled mine which took about an hour even at half its length. It looked really good. We waited around in the hotel rooms till almost 12:45pm. Which kind of made me feel antsy but again the people were so great it made me feel almost at ease. We then left at 12:45pm to go to the stage and have the stylists present their products and show us off. Our segment lasted for about an hour where they showed what they used to style our hair, how to style the hair, and even a cash "deal or no deal" giveaway. It was really fun. We then left the stage and went upstairs to complete the second part of the job.

The second part of the job was the longest but just because we were not really given any other task than to just "stand there and look good." Which I guess at its core is what a model is supposed to just do. We basically stood at stand that the stylists were at where they could sell in mass quantity to whole sale company owners. Interacting with guests was fun and interesting but the other times were slightly boring during this part (not complaining just noting). Often times we just stood there for a really long time not really doing much. Towards the very very end I got a little nauseous and told one of the stylists. They were so kind and made no fuss at all about me getting my stuff and heading out a few minutes early and that really meant a lot to me as well. Because I did throw up right after the event probably just out of exhaustion.

So how did I get this job you ask? I am apart of a small agency that mainly runs in California. But every now and then they have clients in Dallas. It is not very often and this was the first time my schedule lined up to go to an audition. I had such a good time and learned a lot from the audition and the job. It absolutely makes me more confident to go into future auditions and jobs. I hope to be able to use these connections I have made and work with them again in the future.












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