“Barrier” can be an ominous word; it can certainly be used ominously. It can mean a hindrance, an obstacle…something that prevents progress. Not something you want to hear in the job market or anything connected with opportunity.
Diversity and inclusivity is not completely about breaking barriers. When society promotes diversity, barriers are indeed broken, but there is more to diversity than that. At its core are the basic principles of human nature – and of society as a whole.
Diversity is about recognising that everyone’s different in their own way, and that variety is a positive characteristic around the world. Inclusivity is about not ignoring anyone on the basis of their looks, behaviours or beliefs, and treating them no differently to how a person would be treated without those looks and beliefs.
Looking back over the past few decades, the world has moved on in leaps and bounds. We are more tolerant, and we are continually learning and growing. We are all not perfect – and prejudices still exist – but we are moving in the right direction. Will we see 100% inclusivity by, say, 2030?
Our models of diversity are not vying for respect, nor are they competing with other models as such. They are simply normal people who want to model, just like the rest of our registered models. The only difference is that they possess certain attributes that make them stand out from the rest of the pack. In one word: diverse.
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The opportunities with us for any kind of model are immense. Any chance of modelling is largely dependent on three main conditions:
- Is the employment agency a model is registered with proactive, fair, forward-thinking and competent? Is it even an employment agency? Or do they just charge people for the privilege of storing photos with no intention of ever using them to look for work on behalf of models?
- Are there enough brands the agency works with to keep recommending models for the brands to choose their preferred talent? Does the agency offer jobs nationwide, or only in a restricted geographical area?
- Is the model taking their modelling seriously? Have they researched the agency, the industry, and do they know the realistic chances of being picked after registration?
Once these three points are considered, there’s no real reason why diverse models should be treated differently. More to the point, diversity in the commercial model industry has been on-the-up for years and continues to be.
We’ve been championing diversity and inclusivity for a long time, and the brands we work with share the same ethos. They regularly ask us for the best models with distinctive characteristics to help them promote the products and services. Without models of diversity, a lot of marketing campaigns just wouldn’t get made.
