Happy Mother's Day to my model moms!

I was thinking all those sentimental Mother’s Day thoughts, and decided to bring some of those over here to the blog – not in a cheesy way, but more in a way to show the appreciation for the model-moms I’ve met during our time in the business.  Whenever people ask me about my favorite part of child modeling, I always say “the people I meet!” because I really have met some of the coolest people.  There are some shout outs here, but I don’t want anyone to feel left out – I just want to share a cross section of the moms I’ve met and how I’ve met them.

The first model-mom friend I met was a mom I began corresponding with via Backstage.  I noticed her kiddo was active in the business and she was with the first agency with which we worked.  I liked her writing style: casual but knowledgeable, and after some regular correspondence, we realized we had similar tastes in music, were in a similar age range, and had compatible senses of humor.  I can be wry and sarcastic, so I appreciate it when people “get” me!  As we got busier in modeling, she began introducing me to other moms, and helped me figure out which kids my daughter was shooting with…and I slowly but surely got to know more and more people from there.

Meeting more moms in the business grew exponentially through Facebook.  I would connect with moms I met at shoots and moms whose kids shot with mine, and I slowly figured out who knew whom and how other people were connected – did their kids shoot together often?  Do they live in the same town and carpool?  Do they have the same agents or managers?  Are their kids BFFs?  And slowly but surely I put more names with faces and got to know some very cool moms.  I even met a mom who lives two miles from me – which is crazy since we live over a hundred miles from the City.  These moms are – on their own – fantastic women.  While many are SAHM’s, just as many have full-time careers they juggle with their kids’ busy schedules.  Two moms I know are ER doctors, one practicing emergency medicine and the other practicing psychiatry – and they have three and four little ones respectively.  I know moms who are pharmacists, bankers, bakers, lawyers, and flight attendants.  Moms who run their own or their family businesses from laptops while on set.  A sommelier!  An accomplished poet!  Some of the moms who stay at home had careers in television, fashion and finance.  My friends are devout Catholics, Orthodox Jews, Greek Orthodox, Evangelical Christians, Bosnian Muslims and everything or nothing  in-between; Chinese, Polish, Korean, Ukrainian, Russian, Puerto Rican, Hungarian, and even from Ohio… These are seriously educated and dynamic women who somehow, like me, tumbled into the performing arts for their children.  (And if you happen to meet up at a roof-top bar, they are even more fabulous!)

I have to say, and I do not mean to disparage PTO moms in my town, but it’s been hard for me to meet fun people outside of my colleagues – I never really connected to the “mom scene” at my kids’ schools, mostly because I always felt on the fringes because I could never do the meetings and activities most of them seemed to do during the day.  Meeting these model moms has seriously broadened a horizon for me that I didn’t know existed – I’m so lucky that I found a way to meet new friends in my forties.  While we do talk a lot about the business, we’ve also shared a lot about our personal lives.  Sometimes you spend a few days on a set with a small group of moms, and during the course of those days, you can share a lot.  If I’m on the phone trying to make sure my kid gets dropped off at drivers’ ed, I’m bound to be telling you about the challenges of coordinating kids going back and forth between two households in the summer… and that might lead to a story about my ex… which might lead to some back story about my first marriage… and divorce… and you get the point. 

You just get to know each other.  And soon, you experience births and deaths… job losses and illnesses… and did you know that we have a hold for whatever company?  It all blends together.  And it makes sense to us.  If I go to the waiting area at ballet class, I’m probably not going to strike up a conversation with a random mom and kvetch about ANOTHER Joe Fresh go-see after going to four and never booking…for the same reason I wouldn’t launch into an explanation for the professional goal data report I have due at work the next day.  It’s shop talk, and for shop talk, you need people who work in the same shop for a truly good sharing session.

Bottom line: I love my model-mom friends.  Shout outs to all!

Give me a shout out while you're at it...I haven't written in a week or so, so I need some love at Top Mommy Blogs.  Click the icon below to help put me back in the running.  Also, you can connect with me on my Facebook page, The Bizzy Mama or via email at thebizzymama@gmail.com.  I'm also on Instagram at thebizzymama.