“Kendal, settle down; so what if they bring someone in? It actually might be good, because you could have a mentor. But you have to stop worrying about your job. I know I do all the work around here, but they still keep you.”
“You do know that you have to sleep at some point. You don’t want me pissed off. Call my brothers and ask them, if you don’t believe me.”
“I think I’m calling bullshit; give me one of your brothers’ numbers.”
She gave me Dave’s number and I dialed it. There was a muffled “hello.”
“Dave?” I asked.
The guy sounded hungover.
“Yeah, who’s this?”
“This is David Dawson. Your sister’s my manager.”
He perked up.
“Yes, the ‘boy wonder.’” He chuckled, “You know our little sister has a crush on you. You better be careful around her.”
“Nice, I’ll tell her you said that.”
“Dude! She’ll kill me.”
“Speaking of which, your sweet sister told me not to piss her off because I had to sleep at some point. What did she mean?”
Dave broke out laughing.
“Dude, don’t do it. Jeff tore off all her Barbie-doll heads and she flipped out; she was like 10 at the time, and Jeff is six years older, so he wasn’t scared. That was when she made the threat that he had to sleep. We all thought it was cute until Jeff woke up to find his sack superglued to his thigh. It was classic, watching Jeff have to tell Mom what was wrong. They had to go to the emergency room to set his family jewels free.”
“No way!”
I looked at Kendal with a newfound respect.
“Way, Dude. Hey, can I talk to her?”
“Sure.”
I handed her the phone. They talked for twenty minutes and caught up. By then we were starting to hit traffic coming into Chicago, so she hung up.
I’d been to Chicago a couple of times. The first was a sixth-grade field trip to the Field Museum, the second time my dad took Greg and me to a Cubs game. This time I was going to actually get to see downtown Chicago. Chicago is a beautiful city, with all its parks and the waterfront. Even in the mid-40s, on a Sunday morning, people were out jogging or walking through the park.
We were staying on Michigan Avenue at the Hard Rock Hotel. Ford put us up in a two-bedroom suite on the 38th floor. From the window, you could see the park to the south, and the Chicago River just to the north. I was in awe of how impressive everything was. I felt like the hotel room was right out of a designer magazine.
THE TIMING COULDN’T have been better. I had just gotten unpacked and ready for our afternoon appointment when Clare Thomas knocked on our door. Kendal let in an absolutely stunning older woman who had to be related to Clare. Kendal led them into our suite, and Clare made the introductions.
“David, Kendal, this is Deb Thomas, our senior vice president in charge of talent development.”
We shook hands and got comfortable to talk.
“Are you two related?” Kendal asked, looking between the two women.
Clare looked at Deb and got a nod, letting her share.
“Yes. Deb is my aunt.”
Deb looked me up and down.
“You’re very young and you have almost no experience,” Deb said. “That’s both the bad news and good news. With your youth, we can use you on some campaigns we normally wouldn’t be considered for; the bad side is some of our more mature projects, I can’t use you on. The good about no experience is I won’t have to break any bad habits. The bad is not a big deal because I hear you follow direction well.
“We’re excited to have you join us at Ford. Today I want to introduce you to all the right people. We’ll make an impression with you. I want every model working at Ford to be successful. I think we can do something special together. What sealed the deal with us was how competitive you are. You succeed where better men fail. If you’ll let me, I want to make something special happen. That journey begins today.
“To that end, we’ve scheduled your afternoon to be spent with our artists. That’s what we call the people who will make you even better looking than you already are. We at Ford have a high standard, and always want to put our best foot forward.
“After we have you looking fabulous, Clare will sit down with you and go over everyone who’ll be at the party tonight. I’m sure you would agree that preparation is the key to success. Clare will point out key people for you to meet and give you background on each. You’ll also meet the representatives from Range Sports.”
My stomach growled, which caused Clare to shake her head.
“Deb, I think we better feed him first.”
She instructed Kendal to order room service and bill it to the room. She also wanted something for the artist to nosh on. I ordered the cheapest meal on the menu, which was a turkey burger. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw it was $28. Clare wouldn’t allow me to get it on a bun or with fries. I got a steamed vegetable medley and wild rice. Being a model was going to suck.
The afternoon started with Kendal and Clare going off somewhere and working out who would do what. I was impressed that Ford hadn’t tried to force the issue of me being represented by two companies. What they did was similar, but very different in some ways.
My first appointment was with a personal trainer. He explained that there would be times when I didn’t have the access to the equipment I was used to or didn’t have the time. He gave me what amounted to a bungee cord with handles on the end. He showed me several exercises that I could do in a hotel room. I hadn’t been running much since football was out. He made running a priority.
The next person I met was a dietician. She gave me a food journal and told me to fill it out religiously for one month. She explained many models had food issues, and she wanted to see what I liked and was used to before she tinkered with my diet. She did recommend I make a point of drinking more water. She told me to have a water bottle with me whenever practical. She took some blood and promised that tomorrow she would have suggestions for food supplements.
It was time for the first artist to arrive. Jesse was my wardrobe stylist. She took up almost half of the suite with wardrobe racks. She divided the room with the racks to give us privacy. Much like my experience with the tailor, she took my measurements and pictures of my body. Range Sports was looking for an athletic, rugged, outdoors type. Jesse talked to me about their styling ideas for my look. I stopped her when she said that and went to get my tablet.
I called Tracy. She and I connected on video chat. I asked Jesse to start over; the girls talked about my current wardrobe. I had no idea Tracy knew the contents of my closet so well. They actually arranged for Tracy to go to my place and show Jesse via video what she had to work with. I explained that Jesse would need to give me instructions or guidelines until I learned what went with what.
Deb, Clare, and Kendal were brought over, and Jesse presented her ideas. Deb signed off on it and we spent the next hour putting together three outfits: one for tonight’s party, the second for tomorrow’s meeting with Range Sports, and a third for meeting the executives at Ford Monday afternoon.
The next artist arrived; she was hair and makeup. Deb came over and explained the look they wanted to Maggie. She started on my hair. I was ordered to the bathroom where she washed and then did several treatments to my hair. I got Tracy back on video chat, and Maggie explained what would be needed to maintain the look and health of my hair. She was dismayed at my haircut. She made several minor changes and, when she was done, I was amazed at how much better my hair laid and held its shape. My hair was now going to require less maintenance. Always a winner with me!
This was when we had our first disagreement. Maggie made the weird assumption I would be willing to wear makeup every day. She patiently explained the benefits to my skin with certain products. She then showed me how I could even out my skin tones. She even showed me how eyeliner would make my eyes look sexier and a touch of lipstick enhanced the color of my lips. I agreed I looked better. I agreed that I would wear it for shoots and even events. Where I disagreed was wearing it every day.