We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alison Waxman a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alison, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Let’s jump right into the heart of things. Outsiders often think businesses or industries have much larger profit margins than they actually do – the reason is that outsiders are often unaware of the biggest challenges to profitability in various industries – what’s the biggest challenge to profitability in your industry?

Honestly, one of the biggest challenges as a freelance model is knowing that the less I allow myself to be taken advantage of, the fewer opportunities there are for me. Sex sells and many photographers and people see women, but especially models, as a body only; a blank canvas of sorts. While I enjoy being a chameleon and creating and embodying different looks and characters, the number of photographers that want to do something interesting versus just something sexy or beautiful is very small. Because of that, I’m asked to do the same work over and over again, just with a different person behind the camera. If someone approaches me with a concept I’ve already done and have in my portfolio, I won’t do it for free or a time for picture trade as I’m not benefiting from being able to use the photos promotionally. However, because I’m not being viewed as my own autonomous person, few photographers are willing to pay a fair rate, especially when there are younger, more inexperienced young women they could turn to who think that they need to work for free in order to “earn” their reputation, which is a common narrative in this industry. One must always pick and choose their battles, but models are often pushed to choose between their work and their personhood, and I don’t want to work with anybody who denies me the latter.

This seems like a straightforward, easy concept, but women who are not submissive are quickly painted as “aggressive” or “difficult to work with” when all they’re asking for is the bare minimum of being seen as an equal partner in the photographer/model relationship. I’ve had a photographer who chose not to sell prints of the photos we took together rather than share the profits (there was no contract in place or indication he wanted to make prints prior to the shoot) and another who was offended that I said offering a model the 10% half of a 10/90 profit split from a time for picture trade shoot wasn’t fair. Why is their time and talent seen as more valuable than mine? Oftentimes photographers who think this way will out themselves when I speak on these issues in a “hit dog hollers” fashion. This serves as a yellow flag to me and, while often disappointing, is helpful in filtering through photographers who reach out to me, and I now go into photoshoots with an agreement regarding specifics like this one.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

My name is Alison and I am a queer, disabled writer, actor, and freelance model. I graduated with honors with a degree in theatre arts and have been making art any way I can ever since. I believe that storytelling is one of the most important tools humankind possesses and I am enamored with the art of finding truth and understanding in somebody else’s words or performance. In all my creative work, whether drawing, modeling, writing, improvisation, or acting, I want to connect with others.. In modeling specifically, I enjoy executing concepts that are slightly ugly, raw, or uncomfortable rather than just “pretty.”

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

In the summer of 2022, I was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease. I’m a chronically ill person and never feel well, but rather have days where my pain is more manageable than others. Because of my Crohn’s diagnosis, I hadn’t been able to do much modeling work that year, as my illness still wasn’t completely managed. Despite this, I booked a shoot in August that I enjoyed doing and that went very well. Within twelve hours I was on my way to the emergency room and was subsequently hospitalized. Though I usually know when I can push myself and when I shouldn’t, I had no idea that I was as sick as I was. Being used to pain and be both a positive and a negative!

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Social media has been both the biggest help and hindrance when it comes to freelancing. I’ve become part of a network of wonderful models, makeup artists, and photographers which has been both incredibly helpful and fun. However, most social media has an algorithm that is next to impossible to figure out and community guidelines that aren’t always applied fairly, leading a lot of both creative and educational work to be suppressed. Because of this there can sometimes be no point in strategically posting at a certain time of day or using certain hashtags. Sometimes less than 5% of my followers see my work through no fault of my own, which is incredibly frustrating.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Instagram.com/alikazam

Image Credits
Lucy (@iso.lucy), Amanda Rebholz (@darkroomlament), Nick Holmes (@narcissusholmes), Madeline North (@madelinesnorth), Gus Martinez (@gmtz.photos)