Arriving at Modeling Board auditions, the executive staff wasn’t hard to spot, all dressed distinctly in their own style. President Keoshia McGhee wore a cropped black windbreaker with matching leggings and mask. Communications director Lucile Duncan wore a patterned overall skirt.
Members moved chairs and tables to create an open space in the Spidle Hall classroom where, in about 30 minutes, auditions would be held.
Auburn University Modeling Board held its annual auditions from Jan. 18-20, inviting new and returning members to come take their place in the organization.
McGhee, senior in apparel design and AU Modeling Board president, has been a member of the board since her sophomore year. One of the organization’s key principles is that “confidence is key,” she said.
“We are basically a student-run modeling agency,” McGhee said. “And even if you come into the organization without confidence, we help you get there.”
McGhee explained that Modeling Board both stages its own photoshoots and helps connect its members with outside opportunities.
“It helps you get to that next step, whether you want to be modeling or acting,” McGhee said. “I want to say the coolest thing that I’ve been a part of recently was that a company reached out to us for a commercial, and I got to be a part of that. We’ve been in music videos; we’ve been in movies; we’ve been on TV shows. We’ve done a lot of different things.”
Carson Vines, board vice president and junior in biosystems engineering, said he signed with a modeling agency in Atlanta through Modeling Board.
Vines said that modeling is fun for him and that it has provided experiences and connections different than those his major could have given him. Part of the fun for Vines is meeting new people and seeing them flourish in modeling.
“I like seeing other people succeed,” he said.
McGhee cited the recent commercial as one of her favorite experiences, but she also praised the work of the board’s own creative crew.
The Modeling Board creative crew consists of photographers, videographers, directors, stylists and makeup artists, McGhee said. This team orchestrates both photoshoots and live fashion shows.
These photoshoots are also good practice for professional shoots, said Che Echols, event coordinator and senior in biomedical sciences.
When Echols participated in his first professional photoshoot in Atlanta, he said the photographers could hardly believe he had never done it before. He called Modeling Board “one of the biggest blessings” in reference to acting and modeling opportunities he has had.
Echols also said that he was able to meet new people he never would have met because of the diversity in Modeling Board.
He and McGhee both said that the board’s members exemplified a variety of majors, ethnicities and body types, which McGhee wanted to highlight in terms of inclusivity for modeling.
“It doesn’t matter your height, your size, race, anything,” McGhee said. “We have short models; … we have petite models; we have plus-size models, curvy models.”
Lucile Duncan, communications director and senior in apparel design, said that she grew up sewing with her grandmother. Duncan joined Modeling Board to help improve her business skills.
Duncan helped plan Modeling Board’s annual Couture for the Cure event, a fashion show aimed at raising funds for East Alabama Medical Center’s Cancer Center.
Although COVID-19 prevented the Modeling Board team from putting on a public fashion show this year, McGhee described the 2020 Couture for the Cure as a memorable one.
She said Modeling Board held a private fashion show for their faculty advisor, Karla Teel, who is a cancer survivor herself. Students brought in Teel’s family to surprise her.
“She’s just so deserving of it because she does so much for our organization and this University and for the apparel design students,” Duncan said. “It was just a huge honor to be able to do something for her and give her the thanks that she deserves.”
Modeling Board’s auditions are over, but interested students will be able to audition for the organization next spring. Anyone looking to keep up with Modeling Board’s fashion shows and events can follow its social media, @AUModelingBoard, on Facebook and Instagram.
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Emma Kirkemier, junior in English literature with a minor in journalism, is the campus reporter for The Auburn Plainsman.
