In our long-running series “How I’m Making It,” we talk to people making a living in the fashion and beauty industries about how they broke in and found success.
Dr. Ben Barry has always questioned fashion’s status quo, and sought to challenge it. When he was only 14, he inadvertently started his own modeling agency because his size-16 friend had been told she needed to lose weight in order to become a model. Confused by this suggestion, he simply mailed her photos to a local magazine with a note and ended up getting her the job. The Ben Barry Agency went on to become one of the first-ever inclusive modeling agencies, booking jobs for over 150 models who didn’t fit into mainstream beauty ideals, throughout its 15-year run.
As the agency made waves through the industry, Barry continued to educate himself;