How to be a ShopHQ Model

Have you ever wanted to be a home shopping model? Do you dream of cinching a belt over frumpy, shapeless clothes while smiling vacantly at a camera? Or being slapped around and insulted by overly-enthusiastic beauty vendors? Well, girlfriend, today is your lucky day!



Amy Olson, model supervisor for ShopHQ and former model herself back in the the good ol' Value Vision days, posted this handy-dandy Model 101 video series so we aspiring models can all dare to dream the dream.



Apparently, if you, dear model, don't show up on time, the entire home shopping universe implodes into a state of utter chaos. Literally! The visual staff runs around the building trying to hunt you down--screaming, yelling, and setting their hair on fire. When they can't find you--because you are a bad, bad model--they call the model supervisor who is available any time day or night, 365 days year, including weekends and holidays. A models work is never, ever done y'all! Then she calls the your agent. Then the agent calls the you. Then you are in big trouble, lady! (Now, I'm no logistical expert, but wouldn't it be easier to streamline the process and just call the dang model directly? Just a thought.)

Once you get there (on time, of course), that's when the hard work begins. Models are expected to do it all. You'll have to bring and do your own hair and makeup. Don't expect a bunch of hair stylists and makeup artists fawning all over you and helping you to get all prettied up! Remember, as a model, you'll also have to be ready to go at a moments notice. Schedules are always changing at the last minute. ShopHQ will not be doing another hour-long dinky-doodle show is those thing aren't selling. So be flexible ... and on time.



When you get to the building, go to the security desk. They will take you to the visual office. You must sign in. If you don't sign in, people will think you are late or that you aren't showing up at all, and then thousands of people will have to be called, and the search and rescue crew will be sent out  in order to accurately establish your whereabouts.

Make sure you go to the bathroom and get some water before your show starts. And if you leave the studio, please, for the love of all that's holy, tell someone! If you disappear, the staff have to run all over the building looking for lost models--and they do not have time for that sort of nonsense. If you are modeling beauty products, make sure you talk to the vendor. You must learn how to use the product before you demonstrate it on air!

No cell phones during the show. Seriously. Put them away. Seems like an obvious thing, but apparently this is a big problem. Just remember: no texting and driving, and no texting and modeling! Yes, it can suck to stand around for hours on end in painful high heels in a freezing cold studio, but you must be ready for a live shot at a moments notice, not dinking around on your phone.

Also--and this is particularly important to home shopping modeling--always be ready to make a fool of yourself. You never know when the host or vendor will demand you salsa dance or do a train around the runway. Play along and don't ever let your utter humiliation show on your face. Sell it!



Since he worked as a line producer for years and is now a sales manager, Casey knows live television inside out and from the bottom up. He likes models that are easy to work with, and show up on time. Did I mention show up on time? That seems to be the main home shopping modeling qualification. Keep that in mind.

So why are the models so important?

Let's start at the beginning of how a home shopping product is born. When a buyer loves a product, they write up a proposal and work very, very hard to get it approved by a fancy committee full of bigwigs. Once the buyer gets approval, Casey comes in to talk to the vendor and the buyer to figure out the best way to present the product--from talking points to styling the set. What does this have to do with you, oh dear aspiring home shopping model? Keep your pants on ... we're getting there ...

Casey works with vendors big and small to help them sell the most they can. Sensa--big! Carson Kressley--big! The big ones must be handled with child gloves. On the other hand, Halftee is a small wee-baby company. The CEO, Noelle, started the business in her Utah basement with children running around underfoot. The products were hand-sewn and hand-packed, so they could only produce one hundred at a time. Noelle even drove a truck to Mexico herself to pick up shipments and shipped them out herself. She also bought her own plane ticket out to Minnesota to be on ShopHQ. All this work for only eight minutes on air. Eight. So if you, aspiring home shopping model, don't show up on time, this poor lady's hard work could all be for nothing. (On an ironic side note, Halftee is now on HSN. Go figure.)

As a home shopping model, you will be expected to sell some strange things like shapewear--creepy, goofy shapewear. After years of experience and watching hours of other home shopping networks, Casey can tell when calls go up, when they will stagnate, and how many times to show what’s coming up throughout the hour. For example Slim & Lift does well even though the guest gets out of hand and has to be toned back. You might have also noticed that most of the fashions aren't clothes that you would wear on an everyday basis, but that's just because models aren't the ShopHQ demographic! Silly model.

So do you still think you have the stuff that a successful home shopping model is made of? Can you work in the cold, on heels, and sans cell phone? Can you do your own makeup and hair? Are you willing to make a complete fool of yourself while looking fabulous? But, most importantly, can you be there on time????

Lisa Robertson Wiggles and Jiggles

Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! The other night on PM Style, Lisa Robertson finally let down her guard and let loose, breaking it down with the infamous Women With Control "No More Wiggle, No More Jiggle" dance! Haters be damned!

So what exactly is the story behind the "No More Wiggle, No More Jiggle" dance? How did this home shopping rump shaking thing get started in the first place?

Building New York:New York Stories, hosted by Michael Stoler. August 6, 2012. Renée Greenstein, President & Owner of Two Chicks in the Backroom.

Now this has absolutely nothing to do with nothing, but Renée’s ethnicity is so interesting and diverse, I just have throw it in here. She is a combination of Ethiopian, Scottish, Native American, and German decent. Her mother is Jewish, but she went to Catholic theology school. And she’s a Canadian to boot! She is a one woman United Colors of Benetton ad.

After deciding against theology school, Renee attended the Fashion Institute NY, worked as a fit model, and then moved into fashion sales. Eventually, she worked for a company that sold private label clothing to QVC. (On a side note ... Could Renee be the woman behind the mysterious Jessica Holbrook line? Who is Jessica Holbrook, exactly?) While working behind the scenes at the Q, Renee met Bob Johnson—which you will probably remember  from the old Mojave Magic makeup line—who encouraged her to go out on her own. So in 2001, her company Two Chicks in the Backroom was born.

Renee brought the Slinky fabric to QVC, but they were forced to change the name when Horizon Mills (who was working with HSN at the time) sued. Slinky can still be found on HSN today, always and forever with that ridiculous little registered trademark sign beside the name. Renee came up with the name Citiknits, which QVC promptly trademarked, and for the first time she started working in front of the camera. Renee eventually left Citiknits, which is currently dying a slow, painful death at the Q, and started Attitudes by Renee and later added Women With Control. The main difference, of course, is that she owns those names, not QVC.

One fateful night during a Women With Control presentation, QVC model, Jacqui Thompson, uttered those famous words for the first time, “no more wiggle, no more jiggle,” and Renee immediately had them trademarked. The rest, as they say, is history.

Sometimes cringe-worthy, sometimes funny, but always pure home shopping cheesiness... take it away girls...

Supermodel Christie Brinkley Bringing Jewelry Line to QVC

According to the Ladies' Home Journal, Christie Brinkley, the seemingly ageless Cover Girl, is bringing her nature-inspired jewelry line, CeleBrate, to QVC.

You can take a look at her collection right now on Ross-Simons and ChristieBrinkleyJerelry.com.

Christie doesn't come to QVC to present the Total Gym (neither does Chuck Norris for that matter!), here's hoping she shows up to hawk her own jewelry. I just hate it when celebrities don't bother to show up to sell their own products. You gotta sing for your supper, y'all!

The Counterculture is Coming to ShopNBC with a BOOM!

Even if the name Cindy Joseph doesn’t immediately ring a bell, you know her face. Since breaking into the modeling business at the tender age of 49—no, that’s not a typo!—Cindy and her trademark silver hair have been photographed in ad campaigns for Olay, Elizabeth Arden and Aveda. She’s also modeled for Ann Taylor, Banana Republic, and J. Crew, and graced the covers and pages of Oprah, Glamour, and Mademoiselle magazines. And she did this all while being two inches too short and three decades too late to ever be a fashion model.

After 25 years as a makeup artist working behind the scenes, Cindy was ready to retire and get out of the beauty business altogether. She had even decided to quit dying her hair, instead opting to proudly go gray. The day she cut off the last of her dyed hair was the day that she was approached on the street by a casting agent to model for Dolce & Gabbana. After that, Ford Modeling Agency quickly snapped her up and Cindy has been working as a model who proudly embraces her age ever since.

Now Cindy wants to help all women have the courage to accept and love their skin and their age.

Cindy worked to develop a line of simple, healthy, and pro-age cosmetics called BOOM! Her products don’t claim to or even try to reduce wrinkles, hide age spots, or make you look younger. In a sea of anti-aging beauty products bombarding you with the message that you must look young to be beautiful, Cindy wants you to know that it’s the character and wisdom in your face that truly make you beautiful and that all you need to do is enhance the beauty that’s already there—not cover it up with a mask.

I had the opportunity to talk with Cindy about her new BOOM! line of cosmetics. I loved her story and her refreshing approach to beauty, but I wasn’t exactly sure how she would fit into the home shopping landscape.

Cindy spoke passionately about how women of all ages just want to be valued, noticed, flirted with. “We’re bombarded with the message that a woman’s value in society goes down as she gets older.” And while she certainly sympathizes with women who struggle to fight the battle against time, Cindy really wants women to change the way they perceive what is beautiful.

“Women shouldn’t hide the texture, lines, and wrinkles on their faces. It’s what gives us character. We look good when we are healthy and when we are happy. Your face radiates when it’s flushed from exercise, laughter, crying, or romance. You can make a 90-year-old woman blush!”

Cindy keeps her skin healthy the old-fashioned way with “sleep, fresh air, sunshine, exercise, fruits and vegetables, psychological and emotional health. You are dealt a hand. You can’t change your skin. You only have control over what you do with it.”

When’s the last time you heard that touted by a beauty vendor?

QVC Model Angel Blogs About Her New Gig

Quack! Quack!

QVC model Angel Smedley recently got a new job working as a vendor rep for Quacker Factory. And due to popular demand, she also started a blog called "Ask Angel" on the Quacker Factory website whers she answered all the questions that she's been bombarded with since the big news.

This how she says she got the job:

As you know I have been working with Jeanne and the Quacker Factory team for a long time. Modeling on the Quacker Factory shows, but also behind the scenes doing make-up for Jeanne and working with the product development team has given me a whole new perspective. A few months ago Jeanne mentioned that QVC had suggested adding another on-air guest, as a backup, for over-nights, etc. She asked if I was interested.Of course! But it took quite a while. I took some training sessions QVC offered. I auditioned, along with a number of other possible candidates. Quacker Factory and QVC management reviewed the tapes, etc. Then, after lots of discussions, the word came down: I was chosen!

Angel answers more of your burning questions on her blog, so check it out here.

In other former QVC model news, did you know that Renee Smith is now a motivational speaker?

*Sigh* ... our girls grow up so fast, don't they?

Blurring the Lines

Did you catch long-time host Jane Treacy on the QVC homepage today modeling the TSV ring? Did you notice when another host, Carolyn Gracie, was also modeling the TSV on the homepage recently?

And did you also happen to catch Meredith Laurence's new show the other night, Blue Jean Chef?

Seems as though QVC wants to move in a new direction where there aren't many distinctions with the on-air personalities. Program hosts are models, vendors and product specialists are hosts ... whatever works.


Meredith has been working as a product expert for Technique cookware, which I believe is owned by QVC. She's always worked alongside a host--usually Bob--but took the plunge with her own new show. I watched part of it. And while she seemed nervous and a little uneasy with the additional host duties, she did a good job--informative and entertaining with a soft sell. I think she just needs a little more time to settle in to the job.

(BTW, be sure to check out Meredith's website here for some more of her recipes.)

QVC also seems to be placing more of an emphasis on host-themed shows in general, like Get Fit with Rick, My Time with Mary Beth, Antonella's Italian Kitchen, and You're Home with Jill. Of course, the problem with all of these new shows is that they are showing the same tired old products. That also leads me to believe that none of these hosts have much of a say as to what products they showcase as their "favorites" in these new programs.

Anyway, I have to wonder where this is all headed or if they are just testing the waters a bit.

Janice Dickinson Gives Lip Service to her New HSN Jewelry Line

The rumors were true ... the self-proclaimed world's first super model will indeed have a line of jewelry on HSN.

Here's a sneak peek from Janice's blog:

Love 'em or hate 'em, they are certainly over-the-top, edgy, and fashion forward--just like Janice.

Here's the thing, I'm not so naive as to believe that Janice is burning the midnight oil hunched over some drafting table slaving over jewelry designs; however, it does look like the pieces she has chosen to be in her line reflect her personal style and aesthetic. That's all you can hope for in these celebrity fashion and jewelry lines. I'm just going to withhold judgement until I see more.

Janice will be on HSN October 29 ... it should be entertaining!

HSN Model Cashes in her Plinko Chips

According to TampaBay.com, HSN model and former Big Brother 5 contestant,Karen O'Neil, recently auditioned to be the next Price is Right model. She even brought a prop: a real Plinko chip autographed by Bob Barker for her 92-year-old grandfather.



Once known as Barker's Beauties for long-time host, Bob Barker, they are now called Carey's Cuties for new host, Drew Carey. Regardless of what they're called, they still had to prove that they could walk, wave, and show prizes in that classic Price is Right game show style. One of the 60 women who auditioned will win a trip to Los Angeles to compete against about a dozen semifinalists nationwide.



Not only did Karen have a Plinko chip, she also brought a drawing of Drew Carey that said, "Pick Karen." And just to make sure she left an indelible impression on the judges, she yodeled the mountain climber song from the Cliff Hanger game and closed with Barker's signoff: "Please have your pets spayed and neutered."

Check out Karen in a strange You Tube videos here and here. You can also watch her naughty antics on Big Brother here. I'm getting the impression that she likes attention!