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

Julia, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. What’s the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you?

I became a Casting Director in 2004 following 12 years as a talent manager. My focus was always on casting high fashion models for runway, print, and commercials.
In 2009, after I gave birth to my first child and the economy crashed, I found myself struggling to find the kind of work that always had come pretty easily to me.
I decided to pivot to casting children after I had an epiphany that the global kid’s market was extremely recession-proof and always thriving.
I launched a street-style blog dedicated to kid’s fashion and it was a hit!
I got a call from a fellow casting director/producer, Jenny Friedberg.
She had the entire H&M account at the time and asked if I was interested in casting the kid’s portion of the campaign. I thought it was so generous and kind of her to offer. I took the job of course.
This one job led me to become of the most in demand kid’s casting directors in the world.
Jenny was very kind to open such a huge & lucrative door for me and I am eternally grateful.

Julia, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

My story is a long one but a great one! I was ending my senior year in high school in 1993 in Brooklyn, NY.
My guidance counselor, Mrs. Graham called me down to her office one day and basically told me that I needed to figure out my future as I had not yet even applied to any colleges.
I really did not know what I wanted to do with my life.
I was truly obsessed with fashion. This was the Early 90’s and we were just coming off the whole Supermodel era! I was specifically obsessed with models, photographers, and runway shows.
My mother was a hairdresser and always bought home all the huge fashion magazines of the time (Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, etc). I would devour them and study them and make huge collages out of them. Mrs Graham suggested an internship at a brand new modeling agency that has just opened in SOHO and I went for an interview. I was 16 years old and I nailed it! I knew all the right answers to all of their questions about fashion!
I went on to work at Company Managament for 7 years!
First as an intern, then a receptionist, then a junior booked, then a full fledged senior model manager.
I traveled to Paris and Milan every 6 months for the Paris & Milan Fashion Weeks.
It was a dream and I owe it all to Mrs Graham!

I went on to work at Next Models, Ford Models and lastly, Elite Models.

In 2004 I was ready to go out on my own and I wanted to try the client side of the business.
That would mean I would become a freelance casting director!

I bought a laptop and reached out to all the contacts I had built relationships with over the course of 11 years as a model agent. I emailed, I called, I asked for meetings, I worked pro-bono on jobs that I thought would lead to bigger opportunities.

I finally landed my first real casting job for a beauty brand.
It paid very little and took 6 months to get that first check!

It was a tough first year and I had to learn how to be my own boss. That includes a ton of hustling, and mostly a deep discipline. Time management and a willingness to swallow my pride. I took on every job that came my way, no job too small!

I went on to cast major advertising campaigns for every major global brand (think Gap, Zara, DKNY, Calvin Klein, H&M, Maybelline, Uniqlo, Nike, etc). I also cast a ton of high fashion fashion shows in NYC and Europe.

Lately, the entire advertising world has moved toward a huge diversity shift.
Diversity in size, ethnicity, ability, age, gender, etc.
As a casting director that meant that brands wanted to cast more “Real People” (an industry term for non-represented not-typical models).

I am proud to say that through the magic of social media and insane amount of research and determination to always find just the right talent, I consider myself a Diversity Warrior!

We cast everything from real people to models, adults to children, even pets!

We are committed to redefining beauty!

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

My biggest pivot came in 2009 after the recession of 2008.

After comfortably casting what I knew best (adult models) I had to pivot to casting kids!

The kid’s industry was recession-proof, as most parents will continue to spend money on their children even when they are no longer spending money on themselves.

The adult high fashion casting director role was super saturated and NO one was casting kids.

I took a leap into a world I knew nothing about, went with my gut and it really paid off!

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

Word of mouth, period. I let the work speak for itself.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cast_inc_nyc/