Today we’d like to introduce you to Darius Bridges.
Hi Darius, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
So, my story is so long! But I’ll try to make this as brief as possible! lol… …I’ll start with how I started at TouT and what has happened since then.
I started working at TouT in 2010. TouT was owned by someone else at the time and the name at that time was TouT Models and Talent and it was established in 2008. The owner hired me as the modeling director and trained me on how to do the job and within 3 mos. I realized it was my dream job, and although I truly never meant to become the owner, time would tell that my under-explored potential was always wind in my sails….
I began scouting, signing, and developing young models in the area, teaching them poise, grace, and confidence as well as movement and on-camera skills, Camp TouT I call it. I am as much a life coach as I am a modeling director.
And so Camp TouT is always a great experience for those local individuals who may not be signed yet but who just want to learn about modeling and also perfect for the new faces that we have signed that year to get all the basic aspects of model development (runway training, movement classes for learning posing, studio photography camera training, improv classes, interview training skills) It’s always a great bonding experience for everyone involved and we usually get some great new shots for their portfolios.
It was during this time that we discovered and developed amazing new talents like Madeline Cline and some that we are still lucky enough to have on our roster and part of our framily…, we realized early on that the Southeast, USA was a gold mine for discovering new modeling and acting talent for the industry.
During the spring of 2013, 5 of the models who had just turned 18 that year put together 8K between all of them and asked for me to help them move to New York for a year. So, I reluctantly asked my cousin if we could come stay with her in Williamsburg, Brooklyn for a few months until we found a place, and she so kindly said yes. ❤️
So, the first week of June 2013 one of the boys and I moved to New York, at first, I was not happy being the southern boy I was and sort of spoiled by the “resort life” in Charleston, I missed the South very much.
But shortly after moving to New York one of the girls placed worldwide with IMG! She was only 17 and her parents couldn’t move up at the time, so I had to stay with her and a few months later I met Katia Sherman the powerhouse human who brought Major Models over from Milan and established it quickly in the top 10 of the New York modeling agencies, her and few other awesome agents that I was able to establish an organic connection with, really took me under their wings and showed me how the business works. I will always be grateful for the knowledge, wisdom, and experience that they guided me with and the open arms they embraced me with then and still do today. New York has definitely become my second home.
Unfortunately, after our move to New York, around the Summer of 2015, the previous owner of TouT Models and Talent reached out to me and said that he was going to have to file for bankruptcy and close the doors at TouT Models and Talent in Charleston, which of course was devastating to us there in the city. But I made a decision to stay in New York then and in June 2016, I incorporated TouT Models and began to rebuild a new team in Charleston to help me as I continued to maintain a satellite office in Greenpoint, Brooklyn after co-vid hit in 2020.
So now we have Joshua Barrett as our creative director, Joshua Morgan as our in-house photographer/booking agent, Morgan Morgan as our fitness coach/head scout/model developer, and Vyacheslav Van handling social media and operations behind the scenes.
We have learned over these past 5 years of working together and building the new powerhouse roster of models that we now, have, that our ultimate goal as a boutique mother agency based out of Charleston, S.C is to cultivate true personal development with an emphasis on mentorship with our models, real knowledge around body mechanics and physical health is incorporated as well as a fine-tuned practice of listening, participating and communicating. No details are too small, and no personal experience is overlooked. A balanced approach to beauty, like a person, is a complete package of effects.
We look for what is special about a unique individual, highlight those gifts, and then encourage them to share those authentic gifts with the world. It’s at least as much an attraction of energy as a scouting practice, that we as a whole take very seriously.
We are a family and we want to grow organically just like a real family does and I know I speak for myself, the team, and the models when I say we are all so grateful for the love that lives here.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
With anything great, whether it be a great love, or a great business, or a great dream of some other nature, obstacles will always be involved on Earth. I think that is how life is designed here. You are constantly tested as to how bad do you want what you are creating because there are always obstacles, the bigger the dream; the bigger the obstacles it seems. But being the creator beings we are, there is never an obstacle too big to overcome if what we want, we were meant to have. The modeling industry is not easy, it crushes more dreams than it makes dreams come true every day I feel…because beauty is always in the eye of the beholder, and with every art form I feel you are at the mercy of the beholder, in our case we are at the mercy of other casting agents, clients and larger modeling agencies and so it has not been a smooth road, we are dealing with luck, not talent here and it’s not every day that preparation meets opportunity, but I would not trade the lessons I’ve learned on this bumpy road for a smoother road, the struggles of dealing with people who do not understand loyalty is very tough and indeed can be a struggle at times. But I have found this breeds inner strength and stamina…This is also why loyalty is royalty in our business, and this is not something you can tell people, it is only something that you can show them. But as a result, when you do find that loyalty in someone’s heart, whether it be another agent or scout, a casting agent, a model, or a client…it makes it that much more beautiful and precious because you now appreciate its rarity and you know how to fight for it and cultivate it so that it grows. Of course, the original owner mishandling things was a struggle for us too but again it ended up being a blessing. I think TouT has become its own entity now, it is alive by sheer will and determination along with lots of love, magick, and tears sprinkled in for good measure. The word TouT comes from the root word Thoth. Thoth was the Egyptian god of wisdom, learning, and magick and so is the House of TouT.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
This is a great question! I always say that as a muse of the arts, I specialize in creating “human beings, as opposed to “human doings” at TouT… lol…There is a big difference here and as the owner and modeling director of TouT, I see all types of beautiful faces, we scout them and choose them based on their unique beauty, right?!… I mean if all 5 of us like you between our cumulative of over 100 years of experience in the industry, then it means that clients and other agents will usually like you too for your respective markets…but this is just the least of our concerns, whether you have an anatomically beautiful face is genetics, on a sidenote: there are other anatomical factors that could make you a model so never take no for an answer even if it is from us, (you never know what others might see),…after we sign you, that is just the beginning though, we must then teach you how to take care of your skin and hair, and we must teach you personal style, we must teach you how to take care of your body,… basically…we teach you to BE the best you, you can be physically and then we challenge you to walk your path of greatness internally as well, and wherever that hermetic path takes you spiritually, mentally, or spiritually we encourage you to go with that new growth, we believe a good life is about Be-ing able to constantly change and grow, and this is the environment TouT provides… A safe place to keep becoming a better and better version of yourself…and as we look around in this clearly failed world of the past, most humans and especially models, measured themselves and others by what they are doing, how many bookings they had, or how much money they made last year, who is your top model people always ask me…models are rarely seen or valued for what they are Be-ing.
Well, I say you are a model, that’s what you are doing for me and others as a service…and in order to do it well you must figure out what you are Be-ing too…and for this job that requires being an artform, you are Be-ing an art form and this is very important I feel, for my models to understand that it’s is an art, modeling is…and to do it correctly you must be an art form, this requires complete surrender of ego in every way so that you can be beautiful in every way,…from every angle, in every situation and in every moment, from the inside out, as above, so below. So Be-it.
For me, what I’m most proud of and what sets us apart from others in this industry is that the Energy of our love helps you expand your life to encompass more possibilities… endless possibilities besides modeling, if you work hard, listen, and communicate well from the start of Be-ing with us, the possibilities are definitely endless!
And so, we feel we aren’t just helping them potentially be world-famous supermodels, (if that is their paths, we are definitely here for it) lol… but we are also helping them be their most authentic, world contributing selves, whatever that is this lifetime…and we are teaching them the wisdom and power of Love and the magick of the stars so that they shine so brightly forevermore in all that they do, wherever and however it is that they choose to do it. I feel this is as much the will of Great Spirit as it is a blessing for everyone that gets to work with them because their happiness is their own. And this makes me proud to leave behind this legacy of happiness, Love, and Light. #HouseofTouT
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Haha this is a nice one and it makes my heart smile to think of it. 😊 My favorite childhood memory is riding my neighbor’s horse bareback down a path in the woods behind my house…then turning off the path and galloping into an open field with my arms up in the air as the horse slows to a trot and I open my eyes to a small beautiful field of white and yellow summer wildflowers in a small clearing nestled in by the woods…my favorite secret place to go and hide in my childhood, just me, nature, my horse, my dog and my book.
Contact Info:
Email: info@toutmodels.com
Website: www.toutmodels.com
Instagram: https://instagram.com/toutmodels?utm_medium=copy_link
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/toutmodelsinc/
Image Credits
Joshua Scott
Morgan Photograghy
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