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azaleamodelsadelaide-blog · 9 years

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MY AZALEA STORY

This is my experience with Azalea Models, and a warning to all aspiring models. SUMMARY: - I was lied to and told I was a "perfect model" so I could pay over $560 for a mandatory workshop to be accepted into Azalea Models - after paying, I was not accepted despite being "perfect" to model - The agency has a history of ripping off other girls in the same way from what I have to know

- The agency forces all models to pay for multiple workshops at the time when I applied

- The agency lies about sending girls overseas for work, when in actual fact their girls that are overseas are there on family holidays...evidence provided that the agency is insinuating they have girls sent overseas for work. What agency celebrates their girls going on holiday and NOT working?

- They attempted to steal models from PRIDE MODELS ADELAIDE from information I was given.

I wanted to start out modelling early last year but I had no idea how to go about it or what to do. Eventually I found out about modelling workshops and attended a Finesse Model workshop, which was ok, nothing special. I had a desire to learn more than what I was offered there. After some research I came across Adelaide modelling agency AZALEA Models. It sounded ok and they had workshops available, so I applied. I was accepted and I paid over $570 for the workshop in full at the time (early 2014).

During the workshop I was supposed to learn about applying makeup properly, how to walk on a catwalk and how to be healthy and successful in modelling. I learnt NOTHING useful for me. I was promised a portfolio with over 8 photographs taken by “professional” photographers. The photographers on the workshop were very amateur. The catwalk model who was supposed to teach us how to walk was inexperienced. The makeup artists there did NOT teach us anything new or useful and the ‘how to be successful’ was just Stacey Hendrickson (the director of the agency) talking about how successful she is as a fashion designer (the owner of Adelaide brand Casper and Pearl). Her advice did not seem, to me, like a professional.

The main reason I attended the AZALEA workshop was because prior to agreeing to attend, I contacted Stacey and she told me to send through pictures of myself. I did. She replied back telling me how beautiful I was and how much I was going to gain by attending the workshop. This got me excited – she said that I had an “extremely good chance of being accepted into Azalea Models, but only after I completed one workshop”. I told her my height was 170cm and my age was over 17; I asked her if I’m too short to attend – she said NO and that I was “perfect”. I gave her my measurements and I’m size 4. She said that was fine too.

Two weeks after I completed the workshop I didn’t hear anything back from Stacey even though she promised to respond back to me after the workshop. I messaged her on facebook and email – she read by facebook message, but didn’t reply. I messaged 6 more times – still no reply. Eventually, 2 months AFTER the workshop she replied with “how tall are you?”. I gave her my height prior to the workshop and she also measured me on the workshop day….again, I told her 170cm…..she read the Facebook message, but didn’t reply until after 8 days had passed. She eventually replied with “sorry, too short”…just a few months ago I was “perfect” to be a model, now Im “too short”……..why did she tell me I was perfect to be a model before, but now doesn’t even want to talk to me? She just wanted me to pay over $560 for her workshop and that was all. It was all misdirection, false hope and LIES. Not illegal I guess but not fair.

…….oh, and the pictures she promised me from the workshop? Yeah, after 2 months I still didn’t receive them…..I messaged her after the 3rd month asking for them….she didn’t reply. Again. Two days later I received an email from her with a dropbox download link to the pictures. I received 5 pictures (not the promised 8+ photos)….all were BAD and 3 of them were low resolution (600x450) pictures. One was blurry. NONE were useable for ANY portfolio, let alone any printing. I almost cried.

I was furious. I Google’d Azalea Models but couldn’t find any reviews. I then decided to Google Stacey Hendrickson. The ONLY major articles I could find were ones written by her friends (small time bloggers and web hosts such as The Urban Silhouette and TEO Magazine). I also found out (and posted on this blog for you to see) that she attempted to submit her own article about herself to Wikipedia. You cant write about yourself and submit it to Wikipedia to boost your ego. They wont accept that nonsense, and of course they did not accept it and promptly deleted it. However you can still easily find the remains of that article online just by typing ‘staceyhendrickson Wikipedia’ into Google. It even says article deleted for ‘unambiguous promotion or advertising’ reasons..

Upon further research into Stacey I found out through a writer for AdelaideNOW that she had contacted their office twice to offer an article about herself and her fashion label Casper & Pearl. According to the writer they turned her down twice because it was just “self-promotion”. I dont know how true that is but from what I found of her Wikipedia submission attempt, it might be true (anyone with more info on that pls message me!).

I decided to ask around some Adelaide models who may have had experience with AZALEA or Stacey and I quickly found a large group of girls who had bad experiences almost identical to mine. They were told that they were “perfect” and “beautiful” and that they would have a high chance of being signed to AZALEA if they completed a workshop – but they were all given misdirection in their opinions. I suspect it was just to get their money. I spoke to one former model from AZALEA (I##### …) who told me the following interesting facts:

- Azalea DO NOT have an office, despite claiming to have one ( when I asked to meet Stacey in her office she instead told me it would be better to meet at Cibo Café in Norwood, Adelaide). According to this girl ‘Azalea’ is run out of Stacey’s bedroom and living room in her house, which she shares with her mother…there is no office. Again my experience tells me she might be telling the truth here, but I need more confirmation (message me anyone).

- She said that two of her friends at PRIDE MODELS (in Adelaide) were messaged by Stacey on FACEBOOK and Stacey told them to “quit Pride Models and join Azalea”. I dont know if those were her exact words but that is how it was described to me. I think the one way to find out is ask those girls or try to find girls who will give more info.

- She told me that the contract Stacey offered her had the condition that Azalea reserved the right to keep 100% of her earnings from the first 10 paid bookings she might have gotten if she stayed with Azalea because “they needed to raise funds”. Again I cant confirm this because I didnt see any contract from Azalea, but it is worth keeping in mind as another opinion.

- Stacey told her that she must complete at least 4 more workshops to be considered as an ‘Azalea WOMEN’. That is she must pay Azalea about $2,240 ($560 x 4) in addition to the $560+ she would’ve paid for the first workshop with Azalea for Stacey to start to find her paid jobs. Thinking about this more, it could be true or not. This could be one former angry employee just angry and stretching facts or it could be true. The only way would be to collect more information from more than one source to form a strong theory.

- It is a requirement to do a paid workshop to be hired with Azalea contacted Pride Models and they told me “if you are a good model, workshops are optional no need to pay”. It is a fact that Pride Models never used to have mandatory workshops, that is something I was also told.

More facts that I found out about Azalea Models on my own: - When their models go on holidays (e.g. their model Shannon went to Europe on a holiday) Stacey from Azalea posted countless posts on Facebook and Instagram giving the impression that Azalea Models booked Shannon work in Paris and that is why she is going. Not illegal but a little misleading. Evidence provided of this. My opinion it is misleading and I think the common person would be mislead by these kinds of postings.

- One Azalea Model (named Eden) went to China for ‘work’. She was promised “high pay and great opportunities + safe travels”…she was supposed to go there for 3 months but returned to Australia after a week or so. Why? According to Eden the ‘agency’ in China were dodgy (she wasn’t convinced they were legitimate), the accommodation was a dirty apartment in a poor part of the city she was in and nobody was around to help them get around (she of course couldn’t speak Chinese). She was scared, so she returned to Australia and had to PAY the expenses (visa, tickets) of getting to China in the first place. Now this is info I got from speaking with a confident about Eden's trip. They seemed bitter about Azalea, it might be true and might not. I think there is truth to this but I want to hear a direct quote from someone who has first hand experience with this, a neutral person. **

- From looking at Azalea’s website I noticed they cannot measure their models correctly either. One of their girls (Kate) has a waist apparently 80CM. That is beyond Anorexic for a girl apparently ‘172cm’ tall….she cannot measure. At 80cm in the waist, you’d be dead. No major agency has models with 80cm in the waist. I checked on many big agency sites and can't find a girl with the same proportions who doesn't have a skinny/normal complexion as Kate. The average supermodel has 88cm in the waist if they are between 172 and 174cm in height. If someone can find me a model with a known agency with the same measurements please send me the link so I can correct this post. At the moment it stands that this cannot be proved. I think for the moment now keeping in mind they have wrong measurements is suspicious for an agency claiming to be legitmate.

- I contacted an agent at Pride who confirmed that they had a problem with Stacey of Azalea attempting to steal models from their agency. The agent refused to be named. Again this is just one person, to form a better conclusion I need to ask more people.

This is my experience and my research into Azalea Models and their director/founder Stacey Hendrickson. I’ve been ripped off by a scam artist in my opinion and many other girls have been also from my talks. This is my personal warning to any aspiring models out there – STAY AWAY FROM AZALEA MODELS. If you do try them out, and things are GOOD - tell me! I want to know. The more positive stories the better, but if youve had a bad experience - I also want to know. I can call them liars, scammers and cheats.That is my opinion. If your opinion is different, let's here it with reasons why and I will post it here! My advice is to stick with Finesse or Pride Models – legitimate agencies with offices who have been around for a long time. This is my opinion based on my first hand experience and my research.

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