ARE SUPER MODELS SUPER SMART & ATHLETES STUPID…?
WHY DON’T WE HEAR ABOUT SUPER MODELS AND PRO ATHLETE GOING BROKE THE SAME WAY?
It would be easy to think that supermodels and athletes do not have a lot in common, from a career perspective at least. Super models and pro athletes make their living in short and time compressed industries. Although pro athletes are more likely to have faces made for radio than the catwalk, the career of a model is analogous to a professional sport career.
Think about it. Modeling careers are short. Most models don’t become rich and famous (like most professional athletes). The vast majority of the money is directed to those models who are perceived to be at the apex of the talent pyramid (the average modeling salary in the US is $18,750). Modelling, like athletics, is fickle. Your career could end at any moment when you no longer have an ‘it’ look or fashion designers no longer want to work with you (sounds like getting cut or released doesn’t it).
It does have a familiar ring to it. But as Scott Soshnick points out in a slightly tongue in cheek story, how many times have you read about a supermodel going broke or bankrupt? It caused me to take pause – it is an interesting question.
There are a variety of sociological and gender role issues that likely play into the phenomenon of the financially astute supermodel, that I am not going to explore here. That is beyond my purview. The view that athletes are going broke left and right is a complete fallacy, as outlined here. However, there is a public record of athletes making egregious financial decisions and going bust. However, I have not heard of a super model going broke outside ofJanice Dickinson. So what are models doing right that athletes aren’t?
On Jeopardy, I wouldn’t know who would win between a model or a professional athlete. However, there may be value in exploring the mindset, environment and professional guidance afforded models in the management of their finances.
Game Change was founded in 2011 to serve and enhance the athlete development needs of major professional and elite sport organizations and athletes. Game Change specializes in customized research and assessment services, the development of applied interventions and resources designed to provide long-term positive outcomes for organizations and individual athletes. Game Change believes strongly in sport as a catalyst for societal change and adheres to the philosophy of ‘changing the world one athlete at a time’.