Daily Egyptian 02
Fall 2002
Senior brings own model agency to Carbondale
Samantha EdmondsonDaily Egyptian
Southern Illinoisans ranked SIUC campus as the best place to watch beautiful people in an Illinois Magazine annual survey, "Best of Illinois."
However, for Varun Goyal, a senior in management information systems and finance from Morton Grove, this recognition is not only valuable for him as a male student but also as an entrepreneur.
Goyal hopes to establish a branch of his model and talent agency, DiamondZ, in Carbondale, and seek out all "beautiful people" in Carbondale to expand his 4-month-old business.
On Sept. 18 and 19, Goyal and his local business associate, Natalie Keller, will accept resumes and applications from students who want to model at their information booth in the Free Forum Area.
For many young adults and college-age students, "beautiful people" is often synonymous with thin body frame, 5 feet 8 inches and a pretty face.
At the Mediascope organization's website, noted advertisements emphasize thinness as a standard for female beauty, and the bodies idealized in the media are frequently atypical of normal, healthy women.
"In fact, today's fashion models weigh 23 percent less than the average female, and a young woman between the ages of 18 to 34 has a 7 percent chance of being as slim as a catwalk model and a 1 percent chance of being as thin as a supermodel," the website stated. "However, 69 percent of girls in one study said that magazine models influence their idea of the perfect body shape, and the pervasive acceptance of this unrealistic body type creates an impractical standard for the majority of women."
As the CEO and president of DiamondZ, Goyal helped to establish his agency with a different definition of "beautiful people." He does not like to follow the industry standard and has hired more than 50 models that range in size, age, gender and beauty.
"The image I try to keep for this company is a real high class professional image ˜ no pornography, no nudity," Goyal said. "Personality is very important; they have to have the looks, but we are looking for someone who has character."
He said when he and his two friends started DiamondZ in mid-May, they could not imagine how quickly the agency would increase to 50 models, 10 large name companies such as Miller and profiting close to its starting money in only four months.
At the headquarters in Oak Brook, Goyal, CEO and president of the company, has now been able to hire model and talent scouts, organize an executive board and expand his clientele to other locations such as Alcorn State University in Mississippi and Carbondale.
Goyal's ambitions to start a business were rooted in his family. His dad owns about 13 Dunkin' Donuts branches and is a financial adviser for a few larger companies. From a young age, Goyal learned that working for himself was an appealing offer not only financially but also personally.
"I can't work for anybody and want to work for myself, and by watching my dad ˜ he really inspired me," he said. "He really motivated me, kind of making me want to go into the training."
Working on his fourth year in school, Goyal has maintained a 3.8 GPA with a double major and two minors in economics and marketing. But, even with a small staff that has helped the brand new company profit $3,000 to $4,000, Goyal was eager to hire a marketing associate, Natalie Keller.
She knew Goyal from business classes and was reluctant about joining forces with him in what can be a risky business venture. But with the current success, Keller, a junior in radio-television from Anna, said starting a company while students are still in college could only help her future prospective employment opportunities.
"If this would go over well, I see myself sticking with this, but I would like to go to law school and specialize in entertainment law," Keller said. "It is a big world out there with a lot of opportunities for people. When you are young, you have the time and you should go for it while you can."
Goyal said he hopes to not only influence models, talent and others during the information booths Sept. 18 and 19 on campus, but other students looking to start their own business as well.
"If they want to do something and have the desire and passion to do something, don't stop and think about it," he said. "It is not easy, but it is not hard ˜ you just have to make the effort."
Factoid: DiamondZ will hold informational tables Sept. 18 and 19 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for prospective models and talent. For more information contact www.diamondztalent.com
Reporter Samantha Edmondson can be reached at sedmondson@dailyegyptian.com
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Last update: Monday, September 16, 2002 at 8:01:00 AM
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