We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Antione McCoy. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Antione below.

Antione, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. One of our favorite things to brainstorm about with friends who’ve built something entrepreneurial is what they would do differently if they were to start over today. Surely, there are things you’ve learned that would allow you to do it over faster, more efficiently. We’d love to hear how you would go about setting things up if you were starting over today, knowing everything that you already know.

Starting off in this industry can be a great experience! If you’re located in or around a hot market that is. This is where the main role of a Mother Agent (or agency) comes into play, acting as the incubator for your career.

I started off on instagram like most, with my little sister being my photographer! I found my first runway casting on instagram and took my chances to go, and was rejected. Of course it weighed me down, but I had family support that kept me going! This was great, but in retrospect, I see that it fueled my fire to take every opportunity I came across. This was my first mistake. I spent so much time and money walking for local brands and letting my image be used without pay. Some shows I would walk in required the model to sell a certain amount of tickets for them to use your labor, don’t forget the required rehearsals!

Starting out freelance can be a great introduction to the industry from a media and branding perspective, but the agencies are key to avoid scams and wasting your resources!

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I just turned 22 and I’m a student majoring in Interior Design with a minor in Business, Multi-market model, and local Starbucks barista! I’m from the metro Detroit area and plan to continue my career here!

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

As I said, I started out freelance, but then… covid. This required just about everyone to turn to the internet for most of the goods and services. At this point model scouts took the advantage of working from home, scouting on just about all social media platforms.

My sister and I came up with creative indoor and outdoor shoots to post to instagram. It’s crazy how most of those shots were used in my portfolio compared to the “work” I was doing locally before covid hit. I invested a great deal of time educating myself about the industry, with most of my knowledge coming from online boot camps I took (One led by Marie P. Anderson and the other by Coco Rocha, incase anyone is interested they are amazing!)

I learned how to take industry standard digitals and the importance of contracts. This prepared me for a career changing moment. I connected with a scout for BMG Models Chicago on instagram and from there I had a handful of individuals knowledgeable of the industry just a phone call away! Not to mention they prepared bookings for me when some of the restrictions lifted!

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Starting a college career “out of town” definitely made it tougher to continue pursuing my goals in the industry. The toughest point was sophomore year, carrying 18 credits that semester, being a resident assistant for the dorms, holding two board positions in my student organizations, and being two hours away from my main markets of Detroit and Chicago. Modeling then became a last thought as there wasn’t much room in my brain or time in the day to really work towards that goal.

I’ve always relied on the foundation of my relationships, whether that be professional or personal, to keep persistence through the winds of change.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.ajmccoyofficial.wixsite.com/portfolio
• Instagram: @Antione.calvin
• Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/antione-mccoy
• Other: https://www.bmgmodels.com/portfolio/chicago-new-faces/all/1705187/antione-m https://www.heymantalent.com/t/antione-mccoy

Image Credits
Aidan Tan Leray May KH Khaddar