They say people take some of their best ideas to the grave! But I was determined NOT to make that mistake\u2026 I\u2019ve been a TV, Commercial, & Film Casting Professional for the better part of the last 20 years, and ACX Lifestyle was simply a natural progression that grew out of my Casting\/Photography career.<\/p>\n
I started working in Commercial Casting in NY, during the early 2000\u2019s\u2026 In the beginning, I did a lot of Beauty jobs with THE wonderful world famous Casting Director\/ Producer Ren\u00e9e Torri\u00e8re. Ren\u00e9e was a wonderful woman to work for. She was just branching out on her own forming her company Shadow Casting\u2026 I originally met her when she was working under the Spotty Dog Casting umbrella, and we worked well together then, so when she started her own company, she called me!!\u2026 And I rocked out with her in casting for clients like Clinique, May Company, Campari, Bacardi\u2026 we also did a lot of MTV and VH1 promos! It was a lot of fun for me in those days working with her. Ren\u00e9e is a true New Yorker! To this day, when we speak I greet her with Ren\u00e9e daaarrhhhhhhhlling\u2026 We\u2019re both so dramatic about it\u2026 But that\u2019s what makes it fun.<\/p>\n
New York was great to me in a lot of ways\u2026 I really didn\u2019t want to leave when I left\u2026 I had relationships with many different Casting Directors, and Commercial Producers. I was shooting behind-the-scenes video for magazine shoots such as Cosmo, Allure, Seventeen and a dozen others. I was living \u201cthat life\u201d I dreamed of before I got into the industry in some ways. I made several lifelong friendships there. I spent 4 years in the Big Apple from the end of 2000 to the intro of 2005. NY will always be close to my heart.<\/p>\n
I wasn\u2019t over NY when I left, I was just over the winter season. So I came out West, when I had co-written a TV pilot that was optioned by FOX at the time. If there ever was an excuse for me to leave NYC, now was the time! So I made the pilgrimage to the West Coast, and sunny LA. It took me at least 2 years to hit my stride in LA. It was not easy, it was a little depressing for me at first, for several reasons\u2026 It is a land where nepotism reigns supreme\u2026 but I caught a couple lucky breaks and I met another sweet human in Casting Director\/Producer Anissa Williams.<\/p>\n
Anissa is the definition of \u201ccool people\u2019s.\u201d She does a lot of big jobs\u2026 music video jobs (back when they were fun and had real budgets)\u2026 beauty jobs\u2026 movie jobs\u2026 Anissa does it all. And she was one of the very first Casting Directors I began working with in LA\u2026 I still talk with Anissa to this day\u2026 we work on developing projects of all types together\u2026 She is a great person to work with. I absolutely love her!<\/p>\n
As the years ticked by in casting\u2026 I developed other skills\u2026 I was a top videographer in my industry. I understood the technology better than most Casting Techs\u2026 So sometimes models would catch a glimpse of my videos, and they would ask me, do I shoot photos too?? For almost the entire first half of my career my answer was always, \u201cNo. Sorry lady.\u201d And then one day, I realized they are offering me more money and opportunities\u2026 So why don\u2019t I start shooting photography?!?! So I believe the year was 2009, when I started investing my money, and equally important\u2026my time, into developing photography skills! I only regret not starting sooner. I was shooting with some of the world\u2019s most beautiful women\u2026 Miss Hong Kong\u2026 Miss Virgin Islands\u2026 My career had opened up another door\u2026<\/p>\n
Now, I was a Screenwriter, Casting Professional, & Photographer\u2026 And things opened up yet again\u2026 I already had relationships with 100\u2019s of Casting Directors and Producers, and now with my photography skills I realized I was in a position where I could actually manage talent, leverage my relationships and photog skills, to create opportunities for other. So this is when I started ACXmodels.com for Talent Management in 2017. If you go to my website, you\u2019ll see a little more about me\u2026 links to my photography, and models I have managed over the years. I\u2019ve prided myself on developing a strong roster\u2026 All I care about is your look and personality\u2026 I\u2019m not expecting you to come to me with 200,000 Instagram followers, like a lot of Agencies do. I will develop models I like if you have the right attitude. I\u2019ve had some real stunners\u2026 I was even managing Reality TV personality from WAG\u2019s Nicole Williams up until she got her reality show on air\u2026 I still remember being on the phone with her telling me, \u201cI\u2019ve got a big surprise for you!\u201d My response was \u201cPlease Nicole don\u2019t let it be too much of a surprise.\u201d She is still my favorite \u201cNicole Williams\u201d in the world! She was always one of my favorite models to bring in for castings back-in-the-day, and she knows it!<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve teamed up with some of the best Agents in LA and helped models land literally some of the most incredible opportunities. I worked on the Season 1 casting of all the American runway models on \u201cMaking the Cut\u201d for Heidi Klum & Tim Gunn (Amazon Prime Network). Those models got to go to France, and walk some amazing runways!! Meet Heidi Klum, Tim Gunn, Naomi Campbell\u2026 I heard some of the girls literally burst into tears on the bus from the airport to their room accommodations they were so excited!<\/p>\n