We write about what usually stays unsaid

Why this needs saying at all

There are plenty of companies in this industry doing genuinely ugly things. That isn’t a turn of phrase and it isn’t us flattering ourselves: we’ve worked in other studios, in different roles, so we know exactly what a studio shouldn’t be.

The trouble is you usually only see it from the inside, once you’ve moved, started, and leaving has already got awkward. So here are the signs you can spot earlier. Even if you end up choosing someone other than us.

And separately, about categories

The nastiest version of this looks gentle. Nobody forces anything. They just explain to you “how it’s done”, “how everyone does it” and “what tends to work well” — and they do it as many times as it takes.

We don’t force anything and we don’t explain how it’s done. It’s all your choice, categories included. Neither this nor the passport rule is in the catalogue, because they aren’t working conditions. They’re rules we live by.

How it works here

Your passport stays with you. There are no penalties. Models keep 50% and up, paid out every week. Training is free, from scratch, one to one with a personal coach. You choose the categories.

Everything apart from the rules on passports and categories can be checked against our card in an independent studio catalogue, and we don’t get to edit the text there. That’s the whole point of terms you can check: you don’t have to take our word for any of it.

Short answer: there’s no exact figure

And that isn’t us dodging. Income comes from how many shifts you put together, how you work and which platforms you’re on, and all of that differs between people, and differs for the same person from one month to the next.

So if someone gives you a specific sum at an interview, that isn’t generosity and it isn’t confidence. It’s a number nobody intends to answer for.

What you can check and what you can’t

You can check: the rate, how often payouts land, whether penalties exist, what training costs, whether accommodation is provided. Those are terms. They’re the same for everyone and they’re written down.

You can’t check in advance: your own result. It depends on how many shifts you work and on you, and anyone who promises it as a number is promising something they don’t control.

The gap between those two lists is the main question to put to a studio. A good one is firm and honest about the first and shrugs about the second. A bad one does it the other way round: vague on the terms, very specific about “what you’ll be taking home”.

Why this isn’t the main number for us

We think money in this field only makes sense if it goes into something. This isn’t a forever job. It’s a fairly short chapter, and what you earn in it should turn into a foundation of your own rather than evaporate.

Which is why a conversation with us doesn’t start with money. Safety and terms first, numbers after.

We say it out loud from the start

This isn’t a forever job. It’s a fairly short chapter that should leave you with something material, and that something has to go into a foundation of your own: savings, a venture, independence.

The goal isn’t keeping someone around for years. It’s that you set off on your own, and that the money turns into your independence and your safety.

Why studios usually say the opposite

Because their economics depend on you staying. Hence passports kept “safe”, penalties for leaving, and the “just give it one more year” talk. None of that is about you. It’s about keeping you.

We call ourselves a community because the growing happens inside our circle. This isn’t a shift you clock into, and nobody here is counting how long you lasted.

What that means in practice

That “what if I decide to leave in a month?” isn’t treated as a cheeky question here. Then you leave. There are no penalties, your passport is with you, there’s nothing to hold you with and no reason to.

And that a conversation about money here always comes with a conversation about what you’ll do with it. That’s the only part of this work that stays with you after the work is over.

Experience really isn’t needed

That isn’t a requirement softened for beginners. Training here is free and starts from scratch, one to one with a personal coach — an actual person, not a folder of instructions and a hope that you work it out.

Vasilisa, whose review sits in an independent studio catalogue, arrived exactly that way, and she works here as a model now.

About fear of the camera

Almost everyone has it, and it’s a normal reaction rather than a sign you don’t belong here. It usually goes away not because someone talked you round, but because you understand what’s happening and that you’re the one deciding.

Which is exactly why we don’t rush anyone. Hurry someone along and they don’t stop being afraid, they just stop saying so.

What we ask for in return

Responsibility, a wish to grow, a readiness to be part of the community, and no substance problems. That’s the core of it.

You can work in the studio or from home, on your own or as a pair. If you’re not from Rostov, we provide accommodation and help with the move.

Boundaries are a given, not a bonus

In our own words it goes like this: everything happens because the person working wants it to, categories included. We force nothing at all, and we don’t talk about how it’s done.

On paper nearly every studio would say the same. The difference shows up later, when your choice turns out not to be the most convenient one for the studio.

Why we wrote this piece at all

Because job ads usually leave this subject out entirely, and people learn the rules only after they arrive. We’d rather you read them first.

And because our focus is you growing and you staying yourself. Staying yourself includes the right to say no and not pay for it.