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St. Charles (Thursday, July 31, 2008) – Being two hours early put Tiffany Velasquez exactly where she wanted to be Wednesday. The 23-year-old Aurora resident stood at the front of a line that led to a panel of judges for “Mario, Make me a Model,” a Mario Tricoci Salon campaign geared to find “the next fresh face of Chicago."
“I wanted to show them I have the drive,” Velasquez said from the line.
Velasquez, and aspiring model who works at Sarbuck’s and Gilly Hick’s, was one of more than 120 people that strutted their stuff at Pheasant Run Resort as part of the open modeling call.
Nancy Reid, producer of the campaign, said on Tuesday that the judges will notify the five finalists chosen from the three open calls, which brought out hundreds of aspiring models. Those finalists will walk the runway at Fashion Focus Chicago 2008 in October at Millennium Park, where the final judging will take place. The winner will receive a five night trip to Mexico’s Riviera Maya and all of the finalists will be considered for a contract with Ford Models and a Mario Tricoci photo shoot.
“We’re always looking for new ways to discover new beauties,” Reid said, adding that she was glad the suburban call was well attended. “It was a great location. It represents a large part of the county.”
Stephanie Lewis, who works for public relations for Mario Tricoci, said the campaign drew a wide range of diversity, including men and women of all ages, races and styles.
“Its not just based on looks,” she said, explaining that the judges asked the contestants questions. “They need to get a feel for their personalities because the winner will be like a spokesperson for Mario Tricoci Salon.”
Wednesday’s event was a first for 18-year-old Samantha Schwenk of Elburn.
“Everyone always says I should be a model so I figured why not try it,” Schwenk said, as she and her mother waited patiently to be called.
For Karon Impson, it just sounded like fun. The 53-year-old St. Charles resident said now that she’s in between jobs, she wanted to keep busy in the community and learned of the event through a local Web site. “I’m not too nervous,” Impson said, quickly adding that she was concerned about the contestants’ age differences. “I just hope they are enlightened to today’s world.”
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