Two moms in Victor are especially career-focused. Sure, they’re focused on their own careers — Tracy Armstrong on her work as a consultant and Elizabeth Berl on her job at Paychex.
But the career that has them both traveling to New York City and beyond on a regular basis and the one that tugs at their hearts is that of each of their daughters.
Eighteen-year-old Sarah Armstrong and 16-year-old Madeline Berl are professional models.
Sarah, a June 2017 graduate of Victor High School, is making a go of it, after working from a distance for two years. Madeline is planning to model in New York and Rochester as often as she can, but is opting to focus on her AP studies at Mercy High School as well as college and musical theater.
While she has been modeling for a decade, Madeline knows that at 5 feet 7 inches tall (“and a half,” she noted), she can’t make a full-time career out of runway modeling. Besides, she wants to be an actress more.
Sarah, at 5 feet 10 inches tall, has already walked the runways of New York City, Paris, and London and has been featured in Teen Vogue. She is signed with prestigious modeling agency IMG and has agents in three major cities.
But how can these smart teens — who are regular gals at school when the heels and makeup are off — live this dual life?
The answer: Their moms.
As we met up for their mother-daughter interview, passionate mom Tracy worked to remain low-key and calm as we talked of their trips and glamour tales. She tries to not appear too eager or excited … just as her daughter has asked her to do when they are shoulder-to-shoulder with Tommy Hilfiger and Stella McCartney.
Sarah, who is as gorgeous in a sweater and jeans and no makeup as she is in full-page ads, was thrilled I had half a meatball sub up for grabs during the interview. (There goes that stereotype of starving models … although Sarah did note that the skinnier you are, the more work you get.)
“The modeling world has changed a lot,” Sarah told me between bites. “It used to be, if you were skinny and tall you were all set. But now there is a focus on individualism and diversity and what you bring to the table that no one else has.”
Tracy added that she has heard each casting person is looking for a different look every season, and she has been told Sarah is “a blank canvas.”
“Which is a compliment because they can take her look many different ways,” Tracy said. “They also want somebody easy to work with.”
Both mom and daughter have heard horror stories from managers to makeup artists about the difficult divas and stage moms. Tracy and Sarah are happy to say they’ve been told they are an exception.
“Lisa, Sarah’s agent, sent us an email that we were the best mother-daughter team of Fashion Week last fall,” Sarah said. “A lot of that is my background in hospitality, maintaining your cool, staying out of the way backstage, and getting backstage if I need to. I always make it a point to thank the designer for casting Sarah, and I think they really appreciate that.”
With a 15-year-old daughter who was tall, thin, and beautiful, Tracy accepted, and then embraced, the idea of her daughter wanting to be a professional model. She did some networking among Rochester friends to learn more and arranged for Sarah to have professional photographs taken.
But then social media connected the dots for Sarah, who tagged IMG on one of her photos. She tagged IMG at 11 p.m. and by morning had a direct message from the agency when she turned on her phone. When the rep on the other end of the Instagram message found out she was only 15, she asked if she could speak with her mother. Soon, a trip to New York was planned and there was no turning back.
“IMG said they wanted her to be a regular 15-year-old, to do well in school, and to go to college if that’s what she wanted to do,” Tracy said. “But they were very honest that her career would move more slowly because we don’t live in NYC and she’s still in high school. They allowed us to take this at our own pace.”
But now the speed on the runway treadmill has been turned up, with Sarah moving to New York this summer. “The reality is, with modeling you are done by 30, if you’re not Cindy Crawford or Kate Moss,” Sarah said. “If I waited until after college, till I was 23, that would be too late to get my face out there.”
So, this high school honor student is putting college on hold … and, um, what did her dad say about that?“ Jim is a traditionalist and this whole thing kind of took him by surprise,” Tracy said. “Like, he has a flip phone,” Sarah added. “For him, school comes first,” Tracy explained. “So I knew when I was going to present this, the first concern was education and college and secondly he didn’t want all these people looking at his daughter.”
But Tracy, who has been supporting and living Sarah’s dream now for more than two years, made dad see the benefits of jumping in now with both feet (in six-inch stilettos). Sarah has already been making it all work — lugging school books across Europe to keep up with her studies, and giving much credit to her teachers and guidance counselor for their support.
Despite missing weeks at a time for school, Sarah is finishing her senior year with a 94 percent average.
When in the modeling-gig trenches, Tracy helps Sarah by prioritizing shows and auditions, and even rubbing her feet and back, after miles of walking and hours of standing in heels at auditions.
“You know how when you’re a teenager you hide everything from your parents?” Sarah asked. “Yep, that was shot out the door the first time we stayed in a small hotel room. Through all this, we’ve become better friends.”
That makes Tracy happy, as does all the experience Sarah is getting from the traveling and the casting auditions. “Sarah has come into her own,” she said. “When she walks into a casting room, she has to make enough of an impression to get called back.”
Sarah’s post-high school whirlwind will begin this September with Fashion Week in New York, followed by fashion weeks in London, Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, and Sydney — the latter is where she’ll stay for a couple of months to “develop my book.”
Last fall during New York Fashion Week, she was barraged by paparazzi and met Liam Neesen and Bono. But behind the glam is a lot of hard work. “I thought it was going to be all easy, so easy,” Sarah admitted. “It’s so hard, I almost quit once. But it’s addicting. You’re so tired at the end of one week that you just want to go home and crawl up into a ball. But then you get that show and you’re on that runway and you say, ‘That’s why I do this!’”
When five-year-old Madeline, sans front teeth, performed a song from High School Musical in her living room, wearing a bikini and armed with props, mom Elizabeth Berl realized her daughter’s talent and passion.
“I said to myself, ‘I’ve got to get someone to look at her,’’’ Elizabeth said. That year they headed to an agent-scouting event in Toronto and Madeline played Little Red Riding Hood in a local play. It seemed the stage was set, but young Madeline waited in the wings for a bit — continuing her dance training and living-room shows — since the family realized five was a bit too young to dive into the industry. But at age 10, a scouting event in Orlando proved to be the right place and time.
“Lo and behold, we met the agent she still has today,” Elizabeth said, referring to Take 3 Talent in New York City, which Madeline has been signed with for six years. “I remember calling my husband and saying this is legit, there are ‘real’ people here.”
Working with her agent, Madeline has been to more than 50 commercial auditions and her modeling work has landed in Billboard magazine and a Target catalog.
She also has done six seasons of Fashion Week in New York. At age 15 she was direct-
booked to walk the adult runway at Madison Square Garden and also took part in the teen shows. “While I was there two other designers pulled me and said, ‘I like your face! You’re gonna walk for me,’” Madeline said.
This fall she’ll be walking at fashion weeks in New York and Los Angeles. But while she loves the runway and the photo sessions, Madeline said she is “not hardcore about modeling.”
“I’m more of a commercial model because I’m not six-feet-tall, and also I’m a musical theater person who models,” said Madeline, who plans to major in musical theater when in college in 2019, with a minor in communications.
Devoting six years of their lives to Madeline’s performing career has, of course, taken time, energy, and money. “I tell my husband it’s not getting the job and making the money that matters, but it’s the life experiences she gets, the lessons she learns, and connections she makes,” said Elizabeth, who studied fashion merchandising in college. “It’s helped create her as an old soul. She is able to have a conversation with an adult from a professional standpoint. These are life skills she has learned.”
The second biggest benefit of Madeline’s career, she said, is how close they are as mother and daughter. “Selfishly, the quality time we have together is like none other,” Elizabeth said. “We’re in the car for hours, we’re in a hotel room. The relationship we have is so close because we have spent so much time together, and I don’t know if I’d have that if we didn’t have these trips. I get excited when she has a job because we’re going to spend a couple days together.”
“You’re my best friend,” Madeline said during the interview to her mother, whom she also calls her “momager.” Elizabeth handles the bookings and travel plans and also her daughter’s Facebook page.
Since they work her career remotely from Rochester, the duo makes the most of their trips to New York when Madeline has auditions, such as also meeting with a voice coach or a mentor (one of whom is actress Annie Golden of Orange Is the New Black). Now that she’s in high school, Madeline cannot miss school as often and the focus is now more on school and performing. This summer Madeline will attend the Performing Arts Project at Wake Forest University in North Carolina to work on her acting craft. In Rochester she just completed a lead role tapping and singing in 42nd Street at Kodak Center for Performing Arts, and a film she appeared in was recently released — Fair Haven, starring Tom Wopat and Gregory Harrison. “None of this would be happening without my parents,” Madeline said. “My mom and dad have taught me to appreciate life and to give back. And starting in this business so young has helped me grow immensely.”
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