We were lucky to catch up with Ashley Gerson recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ashley , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Talk to us about building your team? What was it like? What were some of the key challenges and what was your process like?

I actually started Stetts Management as a side-gig. I was fit modeling myself, but knew that I needed a plan for when I aged out of modeling or wanted to start a family. I ran the business alone for the first 2 years out of my apartment, and I was so scared to invest in hiring people to help me. I got incredibly lucky when I finally put out a job listing for an intern and got a response from a woman in Australia who was looking to do a one year visa in the US and had agency experience.

When Janelle came to NYC, I was transparent that I didn’t have much money to offer and I only needed her part time. What happened after that conversation was she showed up to work every day and was a complete rock star. She made herself so incredibly necessary that she became my first employee and is now a profit-share partner in the business. Her and I ran the company alone for another two years, and when covid hit we were able to get a lifesaver PPP loan that allowed us to hire another employee. Every time we have hired, we have seen growth.

One thing that we’ve implemented as a small business is to seek out incredible interns – we have hired two of our interns who are hard working and bring a great, youthful energy to the office. Unlike hiring staff from competitor agencies who can be stuck in their ways or who need to be rewired to our company culture, hiring interns means shaping them from the start and I’ve found it to be a very valuable investment.

If I was starting today, I would have hired much faster. There is only so much you can accomplish on your own as a sole business owner, and what usually suffers the most is the growth of your business!

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

I was a model for 15 years before I started Stetts. What began as a fitting modeling agency (my specialty), grew into an incredibly inclusive, diverse community with unique models and representation across the board. We represent models from all genders, ability, size and age – something that brands are finally embracing!

I am so proud to be one of the first agencies really pushing for inclusivity. Some of our most successful models are women over 50, non-binary talent and models with disabilities. Of course we have an incredible curve board as well with talent up to size 4X. Aside from the modeling aspect, we are also proud partners with the African Mission Healthcare organization. After visiting their hospital in Africa, I decided to donate 10% of our annual profits to assist in funding their maternal care program.

Most people wouldn’t think that a modeling agency can be creating positive change, but I hope that Stetts stands out as a company doing good and making a difference.

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

When covid hit in the spring of 2020, I was very pregnant with my daughter. My one other employee, Janelle, was in NYC which was completely shut down. Being a service agency we had no way to do business. There was a moment when I almost had Janelle go back to Australia while there were still flights and I would shutter the agency and focus on my newborn.

We decided not to do that. We created a Youtube page that showcased our models doing workouts, sharing recipes and other fun beauty tips. We offered clients the opportunity to book our models who could self-shoot in their apartments or outdoors in their neighborhood. We did IG live workouts and seminars and kept the brand alive. It was the best decision, as 2020 also brought pressure on brands to be more inclusive, and we were ready for the wave of new business this brought us.

Do you have any insights you can share related to maintaining high team morale?

I have a small team, so I have the advantage of making our team really feel like a family. We try to have monthly meals where we commit to not speaking about work, but to get to know each other better. I’ve started creating fun questions that will inspire conversation and give us insight on each other. That has been a game-changer on connecting with each other and keeping the team motivated to come into an office 4 days a week when so many companies have gone remote. The 4 office days was also helpful to the team – we work from home on Fridays.

I would hope that those working for Stetts are also inspired by the work we are doing in the industry and are excited to see what more we can accomplish together. Everyone is involved in decision making and ideas are valued and executed. I think it’s great when there’s no ladder of approval to see your ideas come to reality.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.stetts.com
• Instagram: @stettsmgmt

Image Credits
Not applicable. personal images