About The Millionaire Model Project

This Genesis of The Millionaire Model Project wasn't conceived overnight.  It took a lot of life, love, and loss to create the vision for this.  I love the Entertainment business as much as anyone else. I've met and worked with some of Hollywood's largest stars, Producers and Executives... like Salma Hayek, Steve Harvey, Denzel Washington, John Singleton (RIP), Suzanne de Passe, Judge Mathis... I'm all in...  I market and manage some truly unique Creative Talent... and I also absolutely love discovering new talent!  And as much as I'll take chances with anyone... I'm all about responsible risk taking when it comes to business, and making money.  I've seen too many people at all levels treat money like it grows on trees.

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So this vision for The Millionaire Model Project was a long time in the making, but I will try to condense the story as much as possible.  It was really inspired by the true story of two of my dearest friends at one point.  I will use fictitious names to protect their identity.  Both women were Models I loosely Managed at one point or another.  The first story is about Shelly... Shelly was a gorgeous California girl.... She was a living Barbie doll. 

 

When I first met Shelly she was 22 years old, and ready to take over the whole world.  I mean she got a ton of opportunities thrown at her... But she wanted to pursue a career similar to a Jennifer Aniston, or Meg Ryan, however the lane she developed herself in was really more of a Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy lane (all highly successful Talent who have made millions in the Entertainment Industry). 

 

Shelly was the epiphany of a Hawaiian Tropic Model... She was truly at the top of her lane, and I tried to help Shelly get more work within her strengths, but she was determined to go against the grain.  And instead of take the easy wins, she wanted me to get her opportunities where she was competing with talent that had a whole different branding.  But Shelly already could make plenty of money in her lane!  She just didn't want to share her easy money with me...  Promoters would fly her all over the world to Go-Go Dance for $800-$1000/night... every year she was shooting Hawaiian Tropic calendars... Kandyland parties.  She was a spectacle to behold... she really stood out from her competition. 

 

I eventually stopped managing Shelly, but we stayed friends.  We would still do projects together, but 12 to 15 years later, she was knocking on 40's door.  And she was buzz cutting her hair very short, getting tattoos... she was trying to alter the branding she had already created for herself over the previous decade and a half... she was really confusing everyone on what her brand even was.  And it was at this very low point at her career... I think she was about 36, or 37 years old... she came to me and admitted I had upset her years ago with some of my comments and advice, but in hindsight she now feels that I was right.  And she further explained she held it against me, which is why she wouldn't let me book her for the easy bookings.    

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Well Shelly had gone through a recent breakup in the last year.  And was now on welfare, and living in Section 8 housing. And didn't know where she had spent all her money.  She was even losing the place she had, for one reason or another.  And she asked if she could move in with me... I was heartbroken for her, I didn't really have an extra bed, but I had an amazing living room couch, so I guess I could let her crash with me for a while.  My problem was Shelly had not one, but two adult pit bulls and I was uncomfortable with the idea of them being all over my furniture, tearing up my place.  I would have taken just her in... but I knew she wouldn't let go of the dogs. 

 

I couldn't believe the truth... she had lived such a privileged young adult life... traveled the world, made hundreds of thousands, if not millions... she has forgotten more yacht parties, than I have ever been on... but she didn't marry a rich guy... and she blew all her money on DJ equipment for her party DJ business that her and her ex-boyfriend were trying to get off the ground before breaking up...  She wasn't financially prepared for any of this.  She had very limited transferable skills of real use for a woman in the job market at her age.  She didn't want to just be a bartender, but her ability to compete against the new 22-year olds, for the gigs she was just handed in the past, was practically non-existent at this point.  She is still a fantastic looking woman today in her 40's, but she cannot monetize it the way she once did in her twenties.  I tell all the Models I work with, we must develop your entire person, because Models can't all count on modeling and dancing into their 60's like Vanna White. 

 

Shelly is no longer in LA... I last spoke with her in October of 2023, but she didn't mention what she was doing.  I hope the best for her, and that I'll see her again soon, at the top.

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Another friend of mine thought she was the second coming of Marilyn Monroe.  We'll call her Marilyn... and she had photos, and paintings of Marilyn all over her place.  She was also only 22 when we met.  She was sexy, and another unicorn.  Sometimes unicorns get so much favor, that's all they know in life... so they don't prepare for bad, because all they expect is good.  Anyway I met Marilyn working at a Mortgage Bank... She was assigned to me as my "opener" and then I was the "closer."  After working together for some time, we became close and she told me she was moonshining as an Exotic Dancer in all the Hollywood clubs... I already knew something was up, because we worked long hours at the bank together, but we weren't producing commission at that level for a 22 year old to drive a BMW X5... 

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Over the years we maintained our friendship.  We both left the Mortgage Banking industry.  I became her main photographer.  She modeled at a lot car shows, and I like cars too, so I was a regular at the HIN, DUB, and Spocom car shows with her.  As I got back into casting, those car shows proved to be a fairly good source of talent for some of the films, TV shows, music videos, magazines I was hired to cast... this was at the height of The Fast & Furious days after all.  Marilyn would get so much attention at these exotic car shows... other models would clearly display jealous behavior.  But our friendship was truly unique, because I had no expectations of her... and I was one of few solid people in her life.  At one point we lived walking distance from each other and I'd even stay overnight with her baby while she was at work.  I became a regular at her family events, parties, baby showers... her brother, uncles, grandmother... they all knew me.  I became the family photographer.

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As a dancer she would make thousands in just one night sometimes... But the more money she made, the poorer the decisions she made as well.  I use to tell her she needs to save that money to open a nail shop, or salon... or something... but she didn't listen to me about that.  So I unwillingly watched her life deteriorate.  I was trying to pull her out of the cycle she lived of drugs, and heavy partying.  As she got in her 30's, some of the clubs that used to hire her, stopped hiring her.  Her baby as well as Father Time was changing her body and looks.  She would call me crying, asking me to give her a job.  I would invite her to some castings, but they weren't offering "change her life" money.  And for every 10 castings I'd call her for, she might actually come to 1.  She always had an excuse why she couldn't get up and get to the casting... At the same time she really didn't develop any marketable skills for herself in all those years... she was addicted to the fast and easy money in the gentlemen's clubs. 

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However the responsibilities of life kept mounting up, as her higher wage-earning period was ending, and eventually her X5 was repossessed.  The places she lived in, got worse and worse... She couldn't trade on her looks anymore like she once did... And all the late night drugs, and early morning tequila took it's toll.  Until one afternoon her mother and uncle called me with news she had organ failure and died that morning.  No insurance to take care of the funeral, or leave anything to her two kids.  She was only in her mid-30's, her life was over way too soon...  Just heartbreaking.  

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These aren't the only friends I've been through these kind of experiences with... They're not the only people I've seen this happen too.  If you live, and work long enough in this industry you will see this too.  But the way I see it... this all boils down to financial literacy.  Understanding how to take control of your money in the present and prepare for the future.  This my "WHY?"  I don't want to see this kind of thing happen anymore to anyone I know.  Not to Models, Actors, Directors, Cinematographers... Casting Directors, Writers, Producers, Stylists... anyone.  Being an Independent Creative Artist should not feel like you are alone with this.

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I show people with ordinary incomes how to create multi-million dollar retirements, through tax-free savings strategies.  I share the concepts of infinite banking, and how to create generational wealth through life insurance policies.  I also work with referral partners, i.e. Investment Management firms that build wealth for clients through stocks and variable annuities.  This is the heartbeat of our mission... to spread financial literacy.  If you want to be a millionaire some day, we have to plan for it, so you can manifest it.  I'm still all about the castings, and the photoshoots and the fun... I still do all that as well... who says financial literacy can't be sexy???  I think being financially literate should be considered very sexy, and I'm that guy in the industry that will prove it to the world.

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The Millionaire Model Project is here to change the optics of financial literacy.

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