Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Greg Chan. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Alright, Greg thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?

I’ve been a top New York City model agent for the past 28 years bring a Director & Senior agent at the best agencies like IMG Models, Wilhelmina Models & DNA Models and it’s very difficult to have access to me. During the pandemic my longtime girlfriend left me. I was left alone to face the world falling apart trapped in my apartment. When I finally came up for air, I didn’t know what to do because I didn’t feel like I was worthy of anything. I decided to do a social media post on IG that said “I challenge all models all races, colors, genders, sizes, shapes and age to email me. This is my personal email address. I want to hear your struggles, your challenges, your fears, your questions about modeling. Let’s talk.” Over night I had over 100 emails. I started to respond but then decided that I would get on the phone with everyone who reached out and listen to them then give them my thoughts. Over 1.5 yrs trapped in my apartment during the quarantine I advised over 850 kids pro bono. This changed the path of my life as I realized I had something to give others as I didn’t feel like I deserved anything. The modeling business is full of scams and bad information on the internet. There hasn’t been anyone on my level to talk to kids honestly. I began to do live online events, Pdf courses and longer sessions which all eventually evolved in my model mentor & consulting project, Ask a model agent, where you could ask me anything and I would tell you the honest truth no bullshit to help create strategies for their goals.

When I discovered that very few of the 850 kids did not know what a mother agent was, and it’s one of the most important things in the business, I wanted to solve that problem. I know every top mother agent in the world so I called them all and decided to unite them all on a website called Themotheragents.com to help kids find proven and legitimate management easier and avoid the scams. Each mother agent or manager is vetted by me. And now we are having a greater conversation on responsible management and how to help these managers.

3 months ago, unexpectedly I got certified to be a 501c3 non-profit. I didn’t know what that meant but I knew I had to do something with it. Within 2 weeks I organized a model beach cleanup teaching models how to spend their free time to give back and help the planet. In July I held a model talk with me and my top model Achok Majak in Malibu that was free for all models in LA teaching them how to truly compete in a way that agents aren’t teaching them. We worked on confidence building and authenticity. Achok spoke to the kids about important things as a model that no one talks about from loneliness, insecurity to financial literacy and identifying red flags..

In the month of July in LA, Achok and I met with philanthropists and donors to talk to them about a larger picture vision we want to achieve. In the modeling business we find beautiful people and shoot them out to the battlefield like rockets and tell them to bring us back fame and money. But were not slowing down to work on their internal power, talk to them about who they are as a person, what their gifts are, what their power is, how to elevate their presence. In a post pandemic world, agents are too concerned with booking money to pay for their salaries and save their jobs that no one is teaching the kids strategies or tips anymore. If you dont start booking jobs fast youre out, before you even figure out who you are. We are raising money to fund support for the models, everywhere from flying in the best runway coaches (which few can afford), to offering them resources for health insurance and financial literacy to bringing in thought leaders to build their confidence and ground them emotionally before show weeks. We will host free dinners to talk about clean food as fuel. We have big names that are coming on board to contribute both their creative insight to funding. The overall goal is to support models with mental heath, professional resources and skillset development.

During this month of networking we met a man who wants to shoot a documentary on our journey and has offered to finance the entire project.

Achok has just been recently named to the council for the World Youth Clubs international organization and we will also be going to Africa to open a club house for teens to spend their time at as an alternative joining the militias. This is SO exciting and something I never dreamed of being involved with. But we will open this clubhouse in underserved communities.

At the end of the pandemic I decided not to go back to the model agency I worked at, instead taking the risk to use my skillset to make an impact on the business that I love so much. It’s been more rewarding that I can believe. It hasn’t been easy not having my big model agent salary but every single day I wake up feeling great that I have helped someone and that’s the best thing you can ask for.

Greg, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I have been a model agent in New York City for the past 28 years, acting as Director and Senior model agent at some of the best agencies in the world like IMG Models, Wilhelmina Models, DNA Models, Soul Artist management and Next Management. I’ve managed men, women and celebrity, musicians, actors, UFC champions, Olympians, artists you name it. I managed Billie Eilish for fashion at age 14. One of the things that I’m most proud of is that i discovered and launched the first trans male model. At the time the only trans models were male to female. Female to male wasn’t even a conversation but when I had a client that told me they were looking for a special boy that no one had ever seen before I decided to change the ones of how I was thinking. I remember that first call trying to explain this special talent. Then it worked. and today I see so many beautiful trans males in the business because of the door we broke down.
I started in Northern California where I’m from where a top agent trained my eye to look for girls. I loved it because no one had heard of this job. I wanted to find a job that was different than every one else and it found me. It was the job of my life and my dream come true. I love the parties, the stars, the status but the thing that drives me every day is finding a young person that doesn’t realize they have power and showing them how to find it; Helping the ugly ducklings grow their wings. Even after running companies and managing stars, my favoritee part will always be finding a kid on the street and helping put them together in to a model and watching them fly.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

It’s kind of weird but being a model agent is actually a selfish job. It’s all about me, my status, my power, my achievements. I love it so much but once I got that element taken from me by a pandemic where the whole world shut down and no one was making money I realized we’re left with what we can do for others. It’s a funny way to get there. There are so many people out there that want to be better and don’t know how. I mean I want to be better! If I can be a resource and these people are ambitious enough to seek me out I’m stoked to share my knowledge. Also because so many of the models are young in an adult world, no ones telling them there are resources to be better, how how to be better. They’re just saying become famous for me so we can make money off of you. It’s exciting to think that if we even the playing field a bit and show these kids what they can really achieve they could be really dangerous, … like role models not just models. Once that door is opened helping another person it get wider and addicting and you see there is so much wmore work to do. And it’s validated because it feels good. AND the universe begins to respond to you. All the work i put into myself for so many years what could happen if i allowed 100 others to have that same opportunity? I ve done so much in the industry, what could be a better way to close out a dream career with giving back to the business I love.

How did you build your audience on social media?

It’s funny because when I used to post on social media it was all about my cool life. The parties, the models. I mean it’s fun and I know people want to see it. But at a certain point I was only posting new images of my models work. Then I realized “wait Im not the social media account for the agency? Why am i just posting models? I mean I’m me, Im talented, creative, weird and interesting. I also try hard and I try to take risks and I try to be a role model the way I enjoy life. So I started posting less on models and more about who Greg Chan is as a human being, what I was proud of to be me, and part of that was my tastes, my eccentricities, my sense of humor. When I lost the best person in my life I decided to show the pain I was going thru too. Some people employers, friends started thinking I was losing it but I’m a human being. It’s not always great. I suffer like everyone else and I shouldn’t be afraid to show both the downs as well as the ups. I think I’ve proved to the world what I’m capable of so it doesn’t make me any less a person. So when I began to become as honest with myself as I had ever been and as authentic as Ive ever been, that I’m not just a badass model agent but I also volunteer at an animal shelter and I fish on Fridays because I learned how to fish on youtube during the quarantine then Im actually posting for me and my stupid sense of humor, that’s when my numbers shot up. And when my followers met me out and saw that I was the same empowered weirdo that i post on social media, that’s when my engagement shot up. So you hear all this bullshit about authenticity but it’s for real. But you have to do the work and understand who you are, not who you want to be. Then you scream it the fuck out loud.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.askamodelagent.com www.themotheragents.com www.thesupermodelproject.com
• Instagram: @askamodelagent @themotheragents @thesupermodelproject.com @gregchanmanager
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregchanofficial
• Youtube: @askamodelagent
• Other: TikTok @askamodelagent

Image Credits

Two pics in the hat with tall girl are Angela Cappeta.
Black & white pic with suit on is Mehdi lacoste
Picture with Achok speaking is Andy Maser
The rest are me or friends