Bender Cain Here Before we start II want to thank you for thinking of me for this interview and that, of course, it was a pleasure meeting in person in Hollywood.

 Bender – As an entrepreneur, I believe the most expensive part of any project is the start so Evelina you are the founder and CEO of Models4Models; how much work went into starting Models4Models? Evelina  – Now, the beginning of Models4Models was for sure, not easy. The most important part was that I just wanted to keep going. That was what I did all my life and ever since I am in this industry. Everyone said that I was crazy to start this business on my own since the Romanian market, especially in, Bucharest can be very challenging. There are significant cam studios brands in my city, and the competition is fierce. But I knew I could do it, I trusted my expertise and my ambition and I had some people that were already part of my team, people with a lot of experience and dedication and I knew it is just a matter of time to put a new studio on the map of the successful studios in Bucharest. It was my dream, and I reached it because I knew where I belong and not just being charmed by the trend of being an entrepreneur. We had some tough four months at the begging, but I would not change anything, and I will do it all over again.

Bender – Models4Models is among many Studios in Romania, and yes many studios have been started by former cam models. What would make Models4models very unique it is not only started by a former cam model but ran and staffed by former cam models so my question is how does this give you an edge over your competitors? Evelina  – I have to admit that my experience as a cam model is not big enough to bring too much value in this equation since I was a full-time cam model only e few months, but I think I was long enough in this industry to know this business well enough. I was so close to the models in the past 15 years and I could see with the years passing what their needs are, what they want from the studio, how things can be changed and what we can bring to make them happy with us. The studio manager, the head of training, the whole training team, the photographer, the HR, they all are former models and they are bringing their experience and ideas so we, together, can help our models to write their own beautiful story in this industry. Additionally, working with women only can bring a lot of advantages. Soft skills and emotional intelligence may prove a key competitive advantage for women in business. We bring more self-awareness, empathy, adaptability and the teamwork spirit is stronger.

Bender – As CEO of Models4Models what exactly are your day-to-day duties? Evelina  – It is hard to describe a normal day since everything is so dynamic these days but of course there are some things that I always do like reviewing financials and forecasts, negotiating contracts, team meetings, strategy sessions, providing feedback, coming up with new ideas and concepts, crafting plans for the future, networking events. My day in the office usually has ten work hours, but more than often it gets more prolonged than that, and on a regular base I spend even the nights there. I like to have lunch with my team. I rarely go out, we like to order in and spend the lunch break together.

Bender – Now one thing I’ve noticed is the great relationship you have with other Studio owners and it’s not uncommon in the live webcam community why do you think this is the norm in our industry and not so much in others? Evelina  – First of all, I have to say that being part of the industry and part of the community means a lot to me and the fact that most the studio owners are getting along is part of a natural world that we should all aim for. Business is not war. We need to understand that business is about evolving, and we must improve too as human beings. We have to be less concerned about what the other companies are doing and focus on building strategies to grow our own business. It is funny because the word ‘strategy’ itself derives from the Greek for army ‘general- But we have to change the perspective. We are not in the 80’s movies with men dressed in suits. We have ways to communicate and many more channels to educate ourselves. We have to aim for a balanced existence in our personal and professional life. If you don’t see all this, you are in the business world for the wrong reasons.

Bender – About how long has models4models been operating?  Evelina  – Models4Models celebrated its 1st Anniversary on July 15. We started in 2018, and it was a year loaded with hard work, hours of meetings, nights of brainstorming, many incredible moments witnessed with the staff and the models. We won several awards at international business events as Best Emerging Live Cam Studio at LiveCam Awards and Bucharest Summit and Most Innovative Studio atAwsummit plus our models brought home awards like Best Mature Live Cam Model from LiveCamAwards and International Cam Star Europe from Ynot Cam Awards Hollywood. We developed strong partnerships, we managed to grow many models to the rank of top-earning models and we are full of energy and motivated more than ever before.

Bender – About how many rooms does models4models have at its Studio?  Evelina –    At this point, we have 20 rooms for our models. We are very proud of having three rooms that are fully equipped for broadcasting in VR. All our models working on Stripchat have the chance to broadcast from one of the VR rooms and they are delighted with the results. We also have a makeup area, a beauty salon, and a beautiful relaxing area.

Bender –  About how many models do you have currently working at Models4Models?   Evelina – Models4Models is not about quantity. Our screening process is strict as we like to work with a particular type of model. Right now, we have 40 active models. We split our focus on both freemium and premium sites. Besides the training for the cam platforms our models are taking classes for English, Etiquette Courses and they get free scholarships to attend courses for photography , human resources, makeup, hairstylist, content creator ,social media specialist, training so when the time comes to quit the live cam model life they will be prepared to have a different career in our studio, in the industry or any other industry they can fit in.  

Bender – Now Evelina I know in addition to being the CEO and founder of Models4Models you are also a mother and a wife how do you find balance? Evelina – Even if I don’t like to admit, being successful at work is different when you are a woman and mostly when you are also a mom. It comes with more challenges and responsibilities. The business field and being a parent have a lot in common. They are both about resourceful problem solving, which is a great business skill. I work a lot and I try to be in the office while my son is at kindergarten. I can’t say I am in a constant time crunch, but I do need to organize my schedule very good so that I can spend as much time as possible with my family. I was forced for sure to give up some casual friend meetings or not staying out late after dinner, but that is natural in the schedule of a mom. I have a lot of help and support from my family and that gives me the power to repeat every day to myself that I can do it. When you are a mom and also a business owner, you tend to put yourself last and all the rest first. I know that it is a colossal mistake, a mistake that I have done it in the past but I learned from, so I always try to find some time for myself because I don’t want to wind up busy and burned out. I need to be in the right place with myself, so I can be the real me at home and also at work.

Bender – As I stated earlier we got to meet at the Ynot Awards in Hollywood California what was the trip like for you and the models that you brought with you from the studio? Evelina – In the past years I traveled a lot for business and I learned how to make a blast out of it. I always take at least one day to explore the city, visiting with friends, or taking some time for myself. This time we were four people and besides the business meeting, the event itself, the fantastic awards gala, we had a lot of time to visit and also to work on a vlog that will show the life of a cam model outside the chatroom. For Alexandra, the model that joined me on this trip was a fantastic experience. Besides attending the event and meeting so many great people from the industry, she was the winner of the awards Internation Cam Star Europe during the Ynot Cam Awards. She had a fantastic time at Universal Studios and she came back with beautiful memories. It is imperative for the models to attend this kind of event. The owners, the managers, get to meet the people from the industry more often ,but for the models is not that simple and this is why, since we all agree on the fact that cam models are businesswomen, we should all try bringing more models to this type of events and give them the opportunity to see that being a cam model is so much more than sitting in front of the webcams. You get to meet successful models that can teach you a lot about the industry, you have access to a different perspective of the live cam business and this is extremely important for all the cam models.

Bender – Now I know you guys have a great relationship with Stripchat can you tell us a little bit about this relationship? by the way, Rick is awesome. Evelina – One thing is for sure, Rick is fantastic indeed. He was a strong binder in building our relationship with Stripchat. One of the biggest challenges at the begging was to choose the right cam platforms that will fit my studio development plans. Freemium sites were on top of my list and Stripchat won the title of the main partner very fast due to their professionalism and constancy. In general, we have a good relationship with all our partners and having a diverse list of sites we are working with is just for the benefit of our models. Stripchat is a site about diversity and we loved that from day one.

Bender – What would you say the difference between American models and European models is? Evelina – One of the questions that were in my head for a long time was how an ideal model would be. How would she look like and how many hours would she be online and what kind of character would she be in front of the camera. In time I found out the answer. The ideal models are the models that I work with, but if I could build one I will take the hard work and the number of hours that European models spend online, especially Romanian models and then I would add the entertainment skills of the American models and them I will add the beauty and charm of the models from all over the world.

Bender – What is a typical day like for a model at models4models Studio like? Evelina – A typical day for a model I think is just an open-ended discussion. The girls have a must-do every day, like the makeup before the shift and having their hair done, choosing the right outfits and accessories but the rest is just nothing near a typically day. There are so many variables that can influence a working day that it is tough for me to give you the right answer to this question. The type of users that she deals with on that day, the amount of traffic, the trainer she works with, the shift she chooses, the kind of room she is working with. So we can do many things at models4models, but for sure we hate having a routine and this is a big part of the training for our models. We need to develop the creativity of our models so they can bring something fresh all the time. Recently we hosted an impressive online party on Stripchat where 12 of our models had a lit of fun, games and a different interaction with the users. We used a tv cart with five cameras and they were broadcasting from different angles. That was a first on Stripchat, and the success was tremendous. We always find new ways to bring something new, and this is a path we want our models to follow.

Bender – How important is social media to the success of your models? Evelina –  Social media represents the future. Being in social media nowadays is vital to attract new people in every domain. When it comes to the cam industry, social media is a must as followers can get a peek into the life of the model, they get to see how she is when she is offline. Social media connects people as it can become an important source of traffic and a way to strengthen the already made relationships.

Bender – Here at Cam Life Magazine we believe being a live webcam performer is much more than the sexual aspect it’s about building a human connection between the model and the viewer. What are your thoughts on this? Evelina – Social media represents the future. Being in social media nowadays is vital to attract new people in every domain. When it comes to the cam industry, social media is a must as followers can get a peek into the life of the model, they get to see how she is when she is offline. Social media connects people as it can become an important source of traffic and a way to strengthen the already made relationships.

Bender – The term sex worker has often been used in how to describe live webcam models we hear a cam life feel this is inaccurate description what are your thoughts on this matter? Evelina – I would not use the term sex worker when talking about a live cam model as there can be full sessions when sex is not involved at all. The best term to me, it describes a girl in front of the cam having fun in her own way. People often misunderstand that being a cam model relies only on showing nudity or offering sex on cam, but being a cam model is much more than that, it involves forming bonds and friendships, knowing how to entertain and how to understand all sorts of individual properly. There are many areas combined together, from psychology, art, entertainment to sensuality and sex, therefore calling a girl who is in the industry of online camming, a sex worker is purely misinformed.

Bender – How important is having relationships with media such as camlifemag or other Publications within the live webcam community? Evelina – I will try to be short on this one. It is very important. Why? Will you ask? Because branding is important 

Branding, by definition, is a marketing practice in which a company creates a name, symbol, or design that is easily identifiable as belonging to the company. It is a way of distinguishing yourself from the competitors and clarifying what it is you offer that makes you the better choice. Your brand is built to be a true representation of who you are as a business and how you wish to be perceived. It is important for your partners and your employees. When an employee works for a strongly branded company and truly stands behind the brand, they will be more satisfied with their job and have a higher degree of pride in the work that they do. Working for a brand that is reputable and help in high regard amongst the public makes working for that company more enjoyable and fulfilling. The various forms of media spread and disseminate information. Getting your information into the media will spread the story of your company further. Media coverage can build your profile in the community, which means you may be able to attract more business possibilities.

Bender – Do you have any plans to expand? Evelina – I think not having plans to increase my business would be very wrong. In most cases, business expansion occurs due to an increase in demand, an increase in efficiencies, more diverse or international markets. Planning for expansion is a strategic exercise that involves identifying the exact need for expansion. After this, you can focus on the need and develop more defined estimates of the time and capital required to implement expansion efforts. Immediately after we managed to draw a line after M4M first year, I realized that I need to start working on planning to open the second M4M location. We will come back with an article when we have all the details regarding this, for sure.

Bender – As you know you are being featured on the cover of this month’s business section of camlifemag what was your reaction when you heard the news?  Evelina – First of all, I want to thank you for this. It is an honor, of course since you know how much I appreciate your work with the magazine. It is great to be here in the position of a member of the community and as a businesswoman. It is truly amazing the number of remarkable women that are part of our industry and that can be a true inspiration for the models. My first reaction was the excitement of the idea of being able to share my story, how it all started, the beautiful and sometimes very tough journey and the future plans. I think each and every one of us can create a story that can inspire others and if my story from starting as a cam model and being now featured on the cover of CamLife Magazine as a businesswoman can make even one model realize how strong, beautiful and powerful she is , makes me go on and makes me want to be better every day.

Bender – Helping someone wanting to enter the live webcam industry as a model get in touch with you what’s social media do you use? Evelina – We can be found on Instagram- models4modelsro, twitter @models4_models, and facebook and our website www.models4models.ro