Text size:

Modeling agency scores big with moms-to-be

BY FARNOOSH TORABI | Special to amNewYork

7:02 PM EST, February 5, 2006

Liza-Elliott Ramirez and one of her models, Linda Bonnano

Expecting Models founder Liza-Elliott Ramirez, left, and one of her models, Linda Bonnano. (Photo by Farnoosh Torabi)

In today's competitive fashion world, some models are eating barely enough for one. But at least one modeling agency requires its models to eat for two.

For the past five years, Expecting Models has helped pregnant and nursing professional models score major editorial spreads and various advertising campaigns. The business was homegrown, launched after founder Liza Elliott-Ramirez, a former model herself, realized she wanted to continue working while carrying her first child.

"I asked agents to promote me and their answer was, 'Call me when you get back in shape,'" Elliott-Ramirez recalled. Frustrated, the mom-to-be picked up the phone and began cold-calling companies and publicizing. "I knew the work was out there," she said.

Throughout her nine-month term, the brazen Elliott-Ramirez said she managed to book more modeling gigs than during any other period in her 20-year career. She turned her experience as a fashion model into a business model. Then, in 2001, she founded Expecting Models with the help of her husband, Eric Ramirez, a model and actor. At first, they ran the business from home.

In five years, the company's roster of pregnant models in New York has grown from two to 300. The business, whose initial headquarters doubled as Elliott-Ramirez's living room, has expanded to fill a multi-room office space near Union Square. The agency has also opened bureaus in California and Florida.

Elliott-Ramirez, now a mother of two, attributes the surge in her business in part to the public's growing acceptance of pregnant women. The celebrity factor has helped, too, as Hollywood starlets bare their bellies and supermodels like Heidi Klum prove you can take on the catwalk during and after pregnancy.

Since 2001, demand for models from Expecting Models has increased 45%.

"It's not just maternity designers," Elliott-Ramirez said. "It's mainstream companies marketing pregnant women for their products."

The company's clients range from Liz Lange to American Express to The Olive Garden to Verizon.

Some of Elliott-Ramirez's models can bank more than $40,000 per campaign. TV ads, which earn models residuals every time they air, are especially lucrative. "We deserve this level of credibility," Elliott-Ramirez said. "This is the most precious time to celebrate."

The agency's models are thrilled to have an opportunity to continue working. In the 1990s, Crystal Blake had to strap on a fake belly to pose for a pregnancy campaign.

These days, Blake doesn't need to fake it. She's four months pregnant, and she finds work through Expecting Models.

What's more, Blake said, is she is getting fatter paychecks now than when she showed off her six-pack stomach. "I'm making more money, about 15% more," she said.

Fellow model Linda Bonnano began her career in her teens. Now 35 and in her third trimester, Bonnano is also shocked to say she's never worked more consistently. "Five, 10 years ago, pregnant models didn't even exist," Bonnano said. "People didn't consider pregnant women pretty."

Working during pregnancy, Bonnano added, can be less stressful, too.

"People are forgiving when you're pregnant," she said. "Even if you're bloated, no one will know."

Farnoosh Torabi is the business producer at NY1 News. If you know a small business with an interesting story, please e-mail her at AMSmallBusiness@gmail.com