Kenya Knight, Nous Management

Modelling is far from static. A photograph accounts for a three-dimensional world in a two-dimensional space. If there’s a model in it, that world is grounded by time. That image has a story, and the model is a timestamp. Their features, position and energy are in frame.

It is no easy task.

When building ‘talent,’ there has to be something to build upon, mould, and maintain. Agents need to give feedback, opinions and care. There’s no easy way around it. If you want to get anywhere in the agency business, you’ll need a level of skill, respect, and people to trust you.

Kenya Knight is a mother agent. Currently working remotely from Palm Springs, she is far from static. Today, she discovers and develops talent, dedicating her time to holistically supporting her models. Placing someone in a worldwide agency or maintaining the success of an overseas model is no easy task. But she has done that for a while now. Delving into questions of inclusivity, business management and the relationships she holds with her models, Knight shares an informed perspective and helps her models tell a story through their work. She helps them grow and, put simply, be good at their jobs.

When it comes to a model’s image, there is a lot to do and a lot of responsibility at play.

Ask any agent.

We asked Knight.

Los Angeles plays witness to celebrity and entertainment. And Knight grew up around it. Her childhood involved a variety like no other. Her mother did the hair for The Supremes, and her father was a top Gynecologist for black society in LA. Her eyes passed Hollywood celebrities and focused on Cindy, Linda, Naomi and Christy. Knights’ bedroom was covered with their faces and the fashion of the time: giant W magazine cutouts, ads, covers, posters… At 22, she graduated from UC Berkeley (with degrees in Economics and Business Administration) and entered the entertainment industry. She was offered a role at The William Morris Agency and Elite and initially opted for WMA. It wasn’t for her. Three months later, she was gone. Elite let her in, and she stayed for five years.

At the time, Elite was the number-one agency in the world. Knight learned a great deal doing the books for Cindy, Naomi and Linda, working as an assistant and leaving her degree pedigree aside to push for the sake of passion. “That’s the most important thing we can have in our work. We must genuinely love it”. Knight became a confident agent, booking jobs, and working through the development department. At 27, she felt ready to start an independent practice, so she left with an eye and a standard.

Nous Model Management

Nous Model Management was born on February 28, 1998, and ran for 24 years.

“I didn’t know anything about running a company. I was optimistic, perhaps naive, and once I was in it, I just kept going.”

It operated as a ‘family style’ boutique amongst the surrounding network agencies. Nous was also the only 100% female-owned, black-owned agency in the industry.

“There were a few other boutique-style agencies in LA, but my focus at Nous was to be transparent with payments and accounting and to represent fewer models. This afforded me the opportunity to dedicate more time to each individual talent’s goals and needs.”

They got results. In later years, social media began changing how agencies operated. Boutique agencies became more personal in their digital presence. Nous needed to ‘keep up’ with society and its churning trends, and luckily, they were bolstered by their models and Knight herself. Knight involved herself in social media, sharing her image and providing a personality and an environment of trust. “Even if people didn't know me, they felt like they knew me.” Knight soon represented the face of her agency just as much as her models did. She built Nous and raised some high tickets while doing so. She started Paris Hilton as a model and learned first-hand about representing somebody who was arguably the first ‘influencer’ of the social media age. Knight also discovered Alexis Ren and Ashley Moore, who had the highest following in the industry back then. Knight had to be a gatekeeper with her models, ensuring that in the growing digital age (where a brand can easily DM a model), they are managed properly. “ ‘Do you want to get to that model? You have to go through me.’ … It was like the Wild West…it really got messy for some time, but I always tried to stay ahead.” Knight’s team did it all, ‘we did everything to understand the space we were in,’ and ultimately developed a successful agency that maintained inclusive representation throughout the ever-changing trends.

On the new Nous

During the pandemic, California became a utopia of natural light, open spaces and stellar conditions. New York companies invested in studios and campaigns, and LA began to boom. There were already too many agencies in LA, and suddenly, even more started popping up. ‘And where do you find more agents to fill those roles? From other agencies!’

The movement went rampant. Agencies pushed, poached and pried people to make stuff happen. Agents took advantage of the opportunity and moved on with the tide. Salaries became exorbitant, and Knight began rethinking her plans for the business. She went to New York for a week, took a ton of meetings, and returned to LA to dissolve the booking table and start anew. “It never felt like the wrong decision. Today, it still feels good and feels right”. She shifted her focus away from booking and towards scouting, development, placement and mother agent management.

In 2022, the business was rebranded to Nous Management. With a smaller team and without a booking table, the business began to work more directly with clients and talent. Knight had time to work independently with her models, “We wanted to achieve 360 degrees of development.” She could focus, and her models stayed dedicated.

“The key to being a good agent is having a good relationship with your models.”

For the past 30 years in the industry, the relationships Knight held with her models — and they are not necessarily friendships — have been built on respect, camaraderie and an understanding of each other. Working with models with professional standards, Knight likes her clients inspired by the models she puts forward. She pushes for open communication that is honest and thorough. This came over time, and Knight has the relationships and experience for a rounded perspective on what works and what doesn’t. (It turns out that 30 years in the industry helps understand the people in it).

“For 25 years, in addition to being a full service booking agency, Nous was always also a mother agency. However, focusing on being just a mother agent is new. Starting so young in the business, I was close in age to the models, and they were my friends; that helped me to understand the complexities of the job and the models themselves, which has always given me a better ability to be an effective manager.”

Working practically solo with her talent also helped her advocate more, and defend her models with a firm grasp on who they are, what they want out of their work, and where they want to go. She could structure her caseload and the workload of her talent accordingly, “The job is about putting someone’s career in your hands.” This ethic is maintained by most successful mother agents, as it is in their nature (and best interests) to support, to ensure their models are looked after, get paid and can keep working to the best of their ability.

“There are always predators out there looking to take advantage of a person’s dreams. The industry is filled with so many young souls. They need help standing up for themselves and getting the work they deserve”.

In many ways, the role is similar to that of a caretaker. For instance, operating as the ‘bad cop’ when handling clients or communicating between parties, “I think it’s best to maintain a good vibe between the client and model, so I have to have the hard conversations on their behalf.” Ego can easily enter a professional relationship, and for this purpose, a mother agent sometimes has to step in and objectively advise the model, doing what is best for them and looking with fresh eyes.

“Of course, having hard conversations can have challenging repercussions so, to be effective, a mother agent has to quickly learn to stay positive, persevere, diffuse and resolve.”

On Inclusivity

Whether they live outside of America, want to act in theatre or are curved models, the removal of ‘Model’ In Nous Model Management was the first step in Knight’s goal of representing a wider variety of talent.

“I would love to have a brand new discovery that is fully grown out of this incubator that I've created…someone whose career is born out of Nous management.”

Knight has always looked for a level of diversity in her talent. Today, Knight has 40 models at Nous, and none are alike. However, representing diverse models does not always guarantee they will get work or have an easy time on the job. That comes down to more than just the mother agent.

“Sometimes hair stylists are not adequately experienced with ethnic hair or makeup artists don’t have an inclusive range of foundation resulting in giving the model a lighter than natural skin tone. These types of situations can make a person feel unseen, disrespected and rightfully disturbed.”

These are serious concerns held by Knight, and they offer an insight into how diversity is not only accepted but accommodated. Brands and clients can either gravitate toward convention or look for ‘real people.’ They either make trends or build upon them. Sometimes they look for characters outside of the box, celebrity, or ‘weird.’ But Knight can only do so much to get her models work. When scouting, she looks for a level of beauty and something unique and different, not exclusive to modelling. “That ‘X’ factor.” While Network agencies can easily push back on anything, especially straight-sized (0-4) models, Knight can give a chance to those who inspire her, who have a strong work ethic, and who can be different. “Sometimes they are shorter, or an ethnicity other than caucasian, or a curvier body type. It’s about more than that.” Adopting this on a broad scale in agencies and from clients is slow-moving. Still, Knight is hopeful that diversity will continue being more normalized, “I do feel like the industry has adopted more inclusive tendencies.” However, Knight is doubtful of the sincerity of some agencies and their quota-filling ‘forcefully inclusive’ diversity. “Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather see it happen than not...it is great that they are giving people an opportunity or starting point, but without sincerity, the representation can feel uninspired and devoid of the right passion and care. What all agencies can do is make sure they hire staff that are passionate about this issue and make sure their voice is continually heard and included in how they represent their talent.”

That being said, industry sizing standards have fluctuated dramatically over the past decades. Agents have to recalibrate their eyes as the years go by, clients have certain demands, and trends dictate conventions in waistline — just as much as they command changes in dress. What this means is that the body type of a potential model has moved from sizes 0 to 4 and occasionally a 6 like an ever-twitching RPM gauge. It is never truly ‘known’ what would be popular in the future, only what is traditional and conventional — and therefore conservative. “The area between sample size and plus size was a no-mans land for a long time,” and nobody really knows what will work next. Knight viewed this experience as exciting but stressful. Since she has worked in the industry for 30 years, Knight is used to this recalibrating eye. She is aware of the swaying market and its all-too-powerful grasp on inclusivity. She knows how the predominantly conservative sizing system works, but she is not money-hungry. Instead, Knight would rather hold and grow her models at the agency, focus on their development and stay aware — but not anxious — of the market's needs.

Trends are not always safe bets or reliable investments.

Kenya Knight is a mother agent. It’s no easy task. Her job is far from static, and her models work far and wide. As an advocate, Knight is passionate and cares about her talent. She wants the best for them and is unconstrained by a network and the needs of a traditional agency. The rewarding aspects of being a mother agent come over time. “It feels nice to help people, and it feels great when you are good at that job.”

This is an ambitious task. Sure. But the job of a mother agent is never easy. However, for Knight, it is effective. So that’s something.

Ask any agent.

(Oh, and ‘Nous’ means ‘we’ in French).