In the beginning...

... there was just grey. No colour, no shape, no beautifully-ageing, no exceptional talent, no disability. Just grey.

Across advertising, marketing, runways, magazine supplements everyone looked the same; the same age, same shape, same colour, same abilities. Not only did this fail to represent and reflect the market, it was also very very dull. The conversation between business and consumer had completely broken down, other factors arose such as fair trade, environmental footprints, social media voyeurism and limited attention spans.

Stereotypes no longer applied, the unobtainable aspirational became ignored and the models who were being booked were utterly dehumanised paraded as clones.

So, Grey Model Agency was launched - named of course with irony - and things started to change. I wont go into all the whats, whys and wherefores here as those have already been covered across the news, by Huffington Post (along with my own comments here). And the BBC Global Interview covering our involvement in the documentary Timeless Beauty.

We are often interviewed for our opinions and insights on the changing focus of fashion, diversity, representation and advertising, but often much is missed, disregarded or omitted. Six years on I thought it was time to give you all a little insight from GreyMAA.

Think of GreyMAA as the all-seeing, all-hearing, all-reading, all-knowing model granny sitting just out of view overseeing the whole industry; from the contents of campaign briefs and casting briefs, the lockdown locations, loopholes and legalities during a global pandemic, the fees and usages across brands, production companies and countries, the ebb and flow of diversity trend, the limitless glass ceilings that are being broken by ourselves and others on the front line and some behind-the-scenes anecdotes that make us giggle, amazed or a bit miffed.

Of course GreyMAA isn't just me, her wisdom and knowledge is carried amongst others who will be invited to offer their own insights and stories in guest posts.

We want to educate, give a little back, open up debate and just connect more with our followers, clients and the next generation of models.

Please do sign up for updates and I'll see you on the next page!