Yes – and at the same time, it’s a warning sign that should be taken seriously. When your professional identity becomes your only identity, it creates a fragility in which every setback – a rejection, a bad placement, the end of your active career – shakes your entire sense of self.

The modeling industry actively encourages this merging: you’re judged as a person, not as an employee providing a service. Your face is the product. That makes it especially hard to separate yourself from your job.

As an agency, we see you as a person with a career – not as a career that happens to come with a person. The difference is crucial. We want our models to develop and nurture interests, perspectives, and identities outside of work – because that’s the foundation for long-term mental stability and, paradoxically, also for better bookings. Someone who knows who they are books better than someone who’s fighting for their identity at every go-see.