‘Sky’s the limit’ for Saudi talent business born in pandemic
Life-changing conversation in 2020 saw 2 women join forces to launch Clay Models
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Lina Malaika and Farah Hammad had a conversation that changed their lives.
The two Saudi women decided to embark on a business partnership, Clay Models, that they hoped would elevate their communities and carve out a new path in the fashion industry.
Both women are established in their own right: Malaika has been in the creative industry for more than a decade as a filmmaker, designer and entrepreneur; and Hammad is a fashion designer with an acute eye for color and texture, with a career spanning several continents.
“Basically, me and Lina are talent agents — Clay is the name under us. We are not an agency yet — that’s the plan. Hopefully, we get investors and we become a proper agency. But for now, we are two talent agents,” Hammad told Arab News.
Joining forces seemed like destiny for the two women. “We’re on the same page, we more or less share the same kind of mentality. So we really understood each other.”
Clay Models is Malaika’s brainchild. She got her start at Destination Jeddah magazine about a decade ago and then as a creative director at TheLoftMe, a creative studio based in Jeddah.
“Clients come back to us because of the type of professionalism we offer and we provide,” Malaika said.
Although the Clay founders still consider their business a startup, its stellar reputation in Jeddah and the digital MENA space is evident.
The agents have 30 models on their books but are looking for more. “We want to expand and we want to find more talents. If we can find more we can find investors to grow … the sky’s the limit,” Malaika said.
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