EXCLUSIVE: WME Fashion Lauches Incubator Program for Aspiring Creators and Managers

WME Fashion is launching an incubator program for creatives and people looking to learn more about the management side of the fashion industry.

Applications open Thursday for the three-month, in-person program that will include six development sessions to educate, create access and community for the six aspiring creatives and six aspiring managers chosen. The goal is to scale the program year after year.

Applicants will be selected in September and the program will run from October through December in New York City. Courses will include “Industry 101,” finance, digital and social media, working with talent and celebrities. Mentors will be a mix of WME Fashion talent and high-level executives.

WME Fashion suggests applicants have at least two years of experience working in fashion or an adjacent industry to get the most out of the program. Applicants will be reviewed for a combination of talent, drive and experience.

WME Fashion is a division of entertainment and media company William Morris Endeavor. WME Fashion’s portfolio includes Art + Commerce and The Wall Group, IMG Models and IMG Fashion Events, which spans artist and talent representation, brand partnerships, event ownership and production, original content creation and consulting services.

The program is being spearheaded by Ali Bird, senior vice president, global talent strategy and incubation for WME Fashion.

In 2020, Bird launched The Wall Group Incubator for aspiring wardrobe stylists, hairstylists and makeup artists, which ran for three cycles across New York, Los Angeles and London pairing mentees one-to-one with mentors, with an eye toward bringing more inclusion to their ranks and the industry.

The fashion incubator program expands on that concept, adding a management track for managing talent, models, designers and content creators. Instead of online one-to-one mentorship, there will be in-person group sessions.

“What most people are looking for at the beginning of their career is, who can I connect with, and then, how can I make those connections work as I grow? That becomes really meaningful, and that’s a big driver of future success,” Bird said.

Attendees will not necessarily be signed to the agency out of the experience, though from the Wall Group Incubator, there were some signings, including makeup artist Karina Milan.

“[The] incubator program changed my life. It was the guidance and backing that I needed to propel me into the fashion and celebrity world. I think my favorite part was the community of professionals I gained, that I can now lean on,” said Milan, who is on tour with Ice Spice.

Endeavor had its initial public offering in 2021, but the company stock has struggled to deliver, and also took a financial hit from the Hollywood writers’ and actors’ strikes. In April, it announced plans to go private.

One of the company’s selling points has always been its diversification and that applies to WME Fashion as well, said Bird.

“You have the best agencies globally under one roof. Obviously, anyone who’s in the fashion, beauty or luxury knows Art + Commerce is the first of its kind. It created a fashion photographer, as it were, and and has sustained that. And the Wall Group…in New York, Los Angeles and London, we touch every A-lister. IMG has continued to push modeling from a diversity and inclusion and representation standpoint. And then there’s the fashion events team, which does its own work, but also crosses all of those three representation businesses.”

From an incubator standpoint, she stressed, that means there is a lot to learn.