Recently there has been a lot of discussion in the SL model group about The Vangee Agency, in particular the CEO, Gia Pudles. People are beginning to smell a rat about the legitimacy of this particular organisation. Individuals are parting company with thousands of lindens, not to see a return or to be contacted again. I have spoken to various people, including designers inworld and individuals would rather remain nameless due to unconclusive evidence etc but I thought I would share my Miss Marple findings. Vangee Model Agency, the agency that has 7 members, whose base is at Vice City University, though it is evident from recent trips there that no runway or training school exists.
So I dug deeper and approached Gia. It struck me as odd that considering she is a CEO of a modelling training academy, there is no photograph, nothing in her profile and no mention of the agency in her picks or classified, but more importantly, this woman had no evident modelling experience. As my conversation developed with her, I told her I wanted to be a supermodel ( like I did ) but hey I needed to get her on side. I was offered a supermodel training course for 4000L and promised jobs in magazines and runway where I would potentially earn 5000L for photoshoots. She stressed that she worked with very well known designers, all of which I have approached and funnily enough all deny even knowing her or the agency. She was very pushy throughout the conversation, not once wanting to meet with me or show me the school, but generally avoided any kind of face to face meet whatsoever. Her vocabulary disturbed me with the overuse of ' you ready to join', 'you ready to join now classes are filling up fast'. I asked her if she could recommend someone I could speak to who has been in one of her classes to ensure I was getting value for money. Funnily enough, after asking this question 'Second Life: User not online - message will be stored and delivered later' Ive not heard from her since. The converation was a lengthy one and left with no doubt in my mind that this was not a genuine agency.
So to all you hopeful models out there, make sure you do your research before embarking on a venture with an unknown training academy. In my opinion, we wont see the last of Gia. I assume she will reappear in a couple of months in the model groups posing as another. So to conclude some tips for all you lovely ladies and gents before relingquishing any of your hard earned lindens:-
* Meet with the person face to face
* Research the agency
* Visit the agency, runway, location
* Ask for references or advocates
* IM in the group model pools to ask for recommendations
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