She started Wilhelmina because she had this idea that she believed in flawed beauty and she believed that beauty came in all shapes and sizes and colors. If you think about it, at that time, it was a time when less than 4% of the businesses in America were owned and operated by women. And at the height of her career in 1967 she wanted to form her own modeling agency. She was one of the top models in the 1960s and 1970s. JD: What is the history of Wilhelmina Models?īW: It was founded fifty years ago by a woman named Wilhelmina Cooper. Your background.īill Wackerman: I spent about 20 years at Conde Naste over seeing some of the fashion and beauty brands and about two years ago I was asked to come over to Wilhelmina to take a leadership role as a CEO, and not ever having worked in the model industry before, it has been incredibly educational, exciting and dynamic, because the world is changing in modeling because what a model is today is very different from what a model was five years ago. Joseph DeAcetis: Tell our readers a bit about yourself. We recently had the chance to speak with Bill Wackermann, Wilhelmina's CEO, about the importance of models with a strong social media following, the new sizes and shapes of talent and the global world of one of the most iconic modeling agencies which is fueling change. The well-spirited Wackerman is the public face of the company who has his finger on the pulse when it comes to technical advances within the world of model and talent agencies. The soft yet stern spoken Wackerman oversees Wilhelmina's talent on various multi media platforms. © 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc.Bill Wackerman, Wilhelmina's CEO has worked at the agency since TK. The lawsuit comes a little less than a year after Wilhelmina and other agencies such as Next, Elite and Click were targeted in a class-action lawsuit by a group of models claiming they were taken advantage of and not paid properly.Īt the time, Wackermann characterized the allegations as business as usual. Supreme did not return a request for comment. If that means that some directors at the company need to leave, that’s a short-term loss.” Wackermann has told Page Six, “As a publicly traded company, we take professional business practices and the protection of our talent very seriously. The suit is seeking a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order against the former employees, as well as Supreme, to stop them from taking any of Wilhelmina’s models, clients or other employees with them, according to the court papers.Īn insider previously told Page Six that Wilhelmina CEO Bill Wackermann has had a hard time keeping employees, with a turnover rate that is “like ‘Game of Thrones.'” The source claimed he doesn’t know how to manage the women’s division because he cares more about celebrities than models. Wilhelmina is asking a judge to halt the “brazen coordinated plot by defendants to damage Wilhelmina’s reputation and steal Wilhelmina’s clients for the benefit of a competing model agency,” the court documents say. The workers either signed one-year or six-month non-compete agreements and violated their contracts by going to a competing agency, Supreme Model Management LLC, and “soliciting” clients right after they quit, the suit alleges. filed the suit in Manhattan Supreme Court on Saturday against a director, three agents and a scout of their Women’s Image division - which books high-end fashion jobs at companies like Ralph Lauren and Givenchy - after they all quit “within five minutes of each other the morning of Monday May 20, 2019,” the suit says. The Wilhelmina modeling agency has filed a $5 million lawsuit against the five workers who abruptly walked out a week ago, according to new Manhattan court papers. 'Unbearable': Parents bury LA model Christy Giles with never-worn wedding dressĬeleb modeling agency snags $2M in coronavirus small-business loansġ6-year-old model given pot, molested during topless shoots: lawsuit I’m a beautiful 23-year-old model - in tears over my time ‘running out’
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