Wilhelmina Models

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Wilhelmina Models is a modeling agency founded in 1967 by the model Wilhelmina Cooper and her husband Bruce Cooper in Manhattan.^[1]

In February 2009, the company was acquired by New Century Equity Holdings Corp., a publicly traded company. New Century subsequently changed its name to Wilhelmina International, Inc. and now trades under the ticker symbol WHLM.

Prior to the transaction, the agency was owned and run by Horst-Dieter Esch and Brad Krassner, who purchased 50% from Esch in 1999.

The agency was sold in 1988 to Horst-Dieter Esch for 5 Million Dollar, he later made his daughter Natasha Esch president as a twenty-first birthday present. The Wilhelmina Guide to Modeling was published in 1996 by Simon & Schuster, New York. Although authorship is attributed to Natasha Esch, actual writing credit is given to C.L. Walker, who was a Wilhelmina model at the time. At the time of its publication, the book caused something of a scandal in the industry because it revealed closely guarded secrets regarding the management of models and the realities of the business.

The Wilhelmina agency has offices in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami, as well as Munich, called Wilhelmina-Nova Models.

In 2004, VA based Modelogic Agency entered a license agreement with Wilhelmina and became Modelogic Wilhelmina.^[2] Within the same year, the agency formed a second division (Wilhelmina Image) as a scouting/development program.

In 2007, Wilhelmina came together with Charlotte, North Carolina-based agency, Evolution, founded by Scott Cooper, and Evolution became Wilhelmina-Evolution.

Since 2008, Wilhelmina's president, Sean Patterson, has judged the TV Land reality show, She's Got the Look, where 20 women over 35 compete for a lucrative contract with Wilhelmina and a photospread in Self.

In June 2008, singer Ciara signed a deal with Wilhelmina to cast her in commercials and start her own clothing line.

In September 2009, the winner of America's Next Top Model, Cycle 13 will receive a contract with Wilhelmina Models. The winner is also under 5'7".

References

External links

• Wilhelmina Models
• Sean Patterson on tvland.com

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