Today we’d like to introduce you to Rachel Shevchenko. She and her mom share their story with us below.
Please kick things off for us with some background on the story.
Rachel is a child model and actress. She was born in Burbank on November 4, 2013.
Like any parent, I thought she was beautiful so I decided to try to get her into modeling. I was still new in town and didn’t know anyone in the industry so what I did is simply googled “Top 10 kids modeling agencies in Los Angeles” and send out her photos.
Much to my surprise, I received a response right away and just like that, she was signed with one of the top modeling agencies in LA, ‘Paloma Model and Talent.’ Rachel was just one year old at the time. Getting an agent is never easy and some models never get signed in their lifetime, so it was already an accomplishment. As soon as Rachel was signed, I created an Instagram account for her. Rachel started getting bookings almost immediately. The very second booking she had was Levi’s global campaign with other very well known child models like Kristina Pimenova.
We both were working hard, Rachel worked hard in front of the camera and I worked hard managing her or simply carrying out ‘momager’ duties. As Rachel got more and more jobs and her resume strengthened, it was time to take her career to the next level so we decided to change an agent. This is never an easy decision. So since December 2018, Rachel has been represented by LA models which opened even more opportunities for her. She started booking all the biggest brands we could possibly think of, including Nike, Levi’s, Nordstrom Rack, FIDM, Minimaven, Walmart, Dillards, Mattel, etc. By this time, she already had around 35000 followers on Instagram.
People would recognize her from time to time on the streets, in castings, stores, even family trips to Disneyland. The moment I realized it’s actually happening is when we saw her photo in the store window of Nordstrom Rack at the end of last year. It was national Xmas campaign and her photos were in every store across America. And we actually got to keep one of the posters and now it hangs on the wall at home.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Most of the parents think it’s fun to have their kids modeling and see them in ads. And it’s fun and rewarding to see the results but most of them don’t think what it actually takes to have your child in modeling. It’s a big commitment. Honestly, when I was sending her photos out to modeling agencies when she was one year old, I didn’t know what I was signing ourselves for.
Apparently, modeling involves lots of driving to castings, jobs, shoots, and sacrifices like missing birthday parties or important events, missing school. Modeling puts all your skills to the test. Like how well you can take rejections, how well you can plan and juggle between castings, jobs, your own work, and life, school, extra classes. A lot of castings and jobs in modeling and acting are last-minute too, so you need to be prepared to cancel things and rearrange your schedule last minute.
Rachel works hard and I work very hard for her. In addition to castings and jobs, we have to arrange shoots for her portfolio and social media, update her headshots as kids change their looks at this age pretty fast, and like any job modeling requires a lot of training and learning and improving yourself. So Rachel has been taking acting classes at 321 Acting Studios since she was three years old. The acting classes were an amazing investment and gave her the confidence to walk into any casting proud… and loud. Acting is a great skill to develop even if you are not going to be an actor as it is a great confidence builder.
When Rachel was four, she had had too many shots and she started to burn out (as crazy as that sounds to say about a four-year-old) and she didn’t feel like shooting for a while. So she took a break from modeling for a while. However in the end she seemed to miss modeling and the shoot environment (as it’s actually really fun and everyone is generally incredibly nice to the kids, and she knows a lot of kids in the industry so every shoot she has is like a playdate for her). So within three months, she was back to modeling again but this time we decided to take it a little easier and to space out her bookings.
A child has to be a child after all. We try to keep Rachel’s life as normal as possible, I do most of work for her myself and exclude her from the process as much as it’s possible. And I let her take control of her life and let her decide if she wants to shoot or if she wants to have a break. So Rachel has pretty much normal life, enjoys her school, she also goes to a Saturday Russian school, playing basketball, surfing, she loves traveling, has lots of friends, and I make sure we have quality family time.
As her manager, I am swamped with requests for shoots, coordinating everything, including working with her agent, dealing with taxes, updating her photos, editing her photos, interviews and keeping our lives on an even keel. I can’t have a regular 9/5 job even if I wanted to because most of the castings and jobs are last minute so I have to make sure I get her to these castings and jobs on time. You work closely with your agent to get those jobs, and while the agent does half of the job for you to get you the castings, your half is to make sure you are always there and looking good when the agent sends you out.
Another tough thing is dealing with rejection. On this I try to take the hit for her. One big thing I learned from her agent is never tell her about ‘holds’ or ‘avails’ (when the casting director is considering you but you are not confirmed yet) in order not to get her upset if she doesn’t book it. As a model (or an actress) you are constantly at risk of being told no, especially at the beginning of your career. The most important thing is not to take rejection personally.
On top of it there is always “blondes are not in trend anymore,” or “Rachel doesn’t always fit into ‘child next door look’ because she has light blonde hair and blue eyes”, or she is “too tall for her age” or she is “too young to be modeling” or “she shouldn’t have Instagram” – even though the account is managed by me and I am very careful with what I post on there.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
So Rachel is a child model and actress represented by one of the best modeling agency in Los Angeles ‘LA Models’. She is only six years old but already has a very impressive resume. Within five years of modeling, Rachel has already worked for brands like Levi’s, Nike, Nautica, Mattel, Nordstrom Rack, Dillard’s, Walmart, Amazon, Tutudumonde, MiniMaven magazine, Palamon Costumes, Kandi Kouture, Simonetta, Glaudi by Johana Hernandez, the cover of Toluca Lake Magazine, Tiny Trucker, Sandcastle Magazine, Malibu Sugar, Joah Love. She has also walked a lot of runways: LA Fashion Week: Nancy Vuu, Lil Jewels Boutique; New York Fashion Week: Monnalisa, Trico Field; FIDM Fashion Shows, And she appeared in TV Shows: Telemundo Acceso Total Show. She also has shot with the best kids photographers in the industry.
By now, she is already known in the industry and gets a lot of direct bookings. She has around 35000 followers on Instagram and gets lots of requests through Instagram. Though of course, I filter a lot of these. And I make sure the quality of the photos I post stands out. What sets her apart is that she is blonde with blue eyes but her skin gets very tan due to the mixture of races in her, so she’s got a very unique look. And she doesn’t get shy or nervous at castings and jobs, thanks to the training and acting classes she has been taking.
And I also believe all of this wouldn’t have been possible without guidance of some incredible people in the industry who believed in Rachel. We learned a lot about how the industry works from her first agent Paloma Model and talent and was also referred by them to Rachel’s acting coach Mae Ross and her 321 acting studios. Mae helped Rachel a lot and guided us in the industry. And Rachel had opportunity to work with Kymberly Marciano for her kids magazine Minimaven a few times. Kymberly is such an inspiring person and has been a big influence for Rachel. Finally, of course, her current agency LA models that have been getting all these great bookings for Rachel.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.lamodels.com/RachelShevchenko
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelshevchenko/
Image Credit:
Kymberly Marciano, Vika Pobeda, Anna Palma, Eliza Logan, Weich Photo, Martin Christopher, Elegant Network
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