The New Age of Casting Agencies with Livia Rose Johnson

Check out the interview below. 

Can you tell us a little bit about yourself and who you are?

My name is Livia Rose Johnson. I'm 21 years old and I was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York. I guess as of now I am a casting director, model, producer and just in general, a creative and I really think a connector. I'm a Capricorn, Cancer moon. My dad is from Nigeria and my mom's from New York. So it's very mixed and I've always kind of been the epitome of intersectionality, probably just because I always tried to kind of be in the Nigerian culture, and then I had Irish family, and it was always four or five worlds I was juggling and navigating. So I was always really aware of intersectionality and duality. It was very present to me really early on.

What is Multii Media and what was your thought process as to why you wanted to start it?

My first big shoot was for this shoe company and I felt really tokenized. I was that token black girl. They didn't know how to do my hair, they didn't have my shade of makeup, they just did some weird shit. I realized early on that if I'm experiencing this, how do other black models with tighter curls, darker skin, or POC in general, feel? And so that bothered me. I initially started Multii Media off as a collective for people to check their rates with each other and create content together. I wanted to make it like the Craigslist of black creatives where we can all reach out to each other and be like, I need this for this and I need that for that. And then it kind of became its own production company.

2020, you know, protesting, I got really fucked up by the cops. I was triggered for the next four or five months and I just dedicated my entire life to the movement. I've been signed before and I started noticing the same thing that was happening before to me was happening again but at such an exponential level. Women were being used and tokenized and it was all just for a capitalistic thumbs up. It had no authenticity.

I was just thinking about the passion they had for the movement and the passion I have for the entertainment industry. Black creatives fuel the entertainment industry, whether inspirationally or being a part of the participation. And I was just like, how can I take this energy that I have, and apply it to something I care about so much? How can I make this activism that I'm participating in more intersectional? How can I take this from the streets and transform it in a way that I felt like I was helping my community? There should be things in place that can protect these black women from being exploited, underpaid, ostracized, or belittled. My goal is to make it so that they're not exploited. They're represented authentically and in the way they want to represent themselves. Like humans, not models. You are you and you are being managed for being you.

Through the movement, I realized how powerful the media was. I was able to organize protests of up to 40,000 people just from an Instagram post. I felt like what I could do was kind of do both and create a place where I find black people who do not fit into those stereotypes. Once people start casting, looking, and understanding that, we're able to make real change. We're also able to give black women a piece of the cake that they deserve. Like not just a seat at the table with an appetizer, but a full course meal, you know what I mean?

What do you look for in a potential model when signing someone to Multii Media?

I look for what they break in terms of rules, stereotypes, and regulations. I want to see an existence that is against the grain, has that grit. Someone who's also unapologetically themselves. Someone who believes in themselves and their authenticity. Modeling is a stepping stone to the bigger picture. I'm not looking for a pretty face, I'm looking for a pretty soul. I like to say I cast souls and human beings. One of my biggest inspirations, Jennifer Vendetti, is so crazy. She's so great. We had a call and she talked about how people are just being receptive to it now.

So that is the biggest push. I've been taking her words and just looking for people who are going to push those boundaries regardless of if they're represented or not and taking them and giving them that power behind them to really fucking break that shit. All my talent inspires me. I'm obsessed with all my talent and I want them to succeed because if they can inspire me, maybe they can inspire someone else.

As someone who is Gen Z, how important do you think it is for younger generations to have their voices heard and represented in today's society?

I think it is crucial. I think it is critical. And I think it is a matter of innovation or not. Perseverance or not. Don't underestimate the youth, please. In this digital age, especially New Yorkers, add five years to the age. Those are the people that are enacting change. They're the ones who have the power. They're the ones that are producing the content right now. Digital power has become one of the largest powers. Why not listen? We have access to everything. We have the power to amplify. The activist group that I was with last year, we were mostly Gen Z with an Instagram account. We were able to raise over $50,000. We were able to get protests of up to 40,000 people and take over highways. We're only able to do this because Gen Z understands how to communicate to the community and activate in a new way. The brain is different. The Gen Z brain is so different now and technology has changed it so much.

How do you think social media plays a role in the current diversification?

It allows people to take it upon themselves. It allows people to grab it themselves. It's very enabling. I think of course it's a double-edged sword, the same things that are used to break these stereotypes, break these boundaries, these borders are the same that can uphold them depending on who was there. Trolls are real, all those things are real, but social media has enabled Gen Z to create these complex and powerful digital networks and communities that can really change shit that wasn't able to work before. The digital community is real. It's so real, especially with COVID. Of course, we would have probably digitized everything in the next 10 years, but COVID expedited that, and we're in a digital society now. We all FaceTime and DM each other. Because of the ability for it to give us access to five things at once, like video, texts, music, it's able for us to communicate and create in multimedia ways, which is why I call my agency Multii Media. It's the power of a multi-sensory experience. Social media allows us to have that access guide that allows us to create this, that and innovate in a way that we couldn't before.

With the continuation of an uprise in activism, inclusivity, and overall acceptance, where do you see the modeling industry and fashion industry as a whole going?

I feel like sometimes it's a trick question just because it's diversifying and opening doors, but does that mean it’s authentic? I don't know. It's our job in the community to really preserve true authenticity and to not want to choose a black girl or an Asian girl or a middle Eastern girl because of a quota. But choose it because you think they'd be beautiful in this role. That it's not performative, but it’s real. The industry right now is at a fork in the road. A lot of people woke up especially last year, but it's getting to the point where it's either three paths. It could either go back to those typical supermodels that were kind of done before. It could continue on this more authentic path where we believe in the youth and allow the youth to take charge. It can allow individuals to be individuals and prioritize that. Or it could take the same thing and move in a very unauthentic way.

There’s a difference between ambiguity and diversity. It could be pushed towards ambiguity where it will fall back into tokenizing and ostracizing. But at the end of the day, it is still pretty exploitative. It's going to be the agents saying, no, and asserting themselves. The talent asserting itself, the production asserting itself in the entertainment community. It's going to have to be on us. As it's always been, whether it's activism or anything. It's always on the people to really take that and really forcefully cure it towards what we want, and not take a step back. It’s our job to not allow your boss to say certain shit and to keep it authentic for you and your crew.

With all of that being said of where you kind of see this whole industry going as a whole, how is Multii Media paving the way for a more inclusive and accepting industry?

I feel like it's paving the way by signing a non-traditional model. I spoke before of what I look for in a model versus what people traditionally look for. I’m not looking for what would sell. I’m doing it for real souls and real people and casting to break stereotypes. We get our first introduction to gender norms, race norms, all that by the age of five. So taking those ideals and intentionally playing against them and intentionally trying to break those borders. Also by being inclusive and being an advocate. A lot of the girls that I've managed, sometimes clients get their pronouns wrong. They don't treat them great on set or something like that. I need to be the agent that's like, "Hey, no, that's not going to happen this time or for any other girl like that forever." Any other trans woman, or nonbinary person, that's not okay. If you are going to be inclusive, y'all need to follow that inclusivity rule. Calling that shit out is hard. Cause you know, blacklisting is real and the shade is real. Hard work, it's not easy work, but someone has to do it if we want to see actual change in this industry.

Where do you see yourself and Multii Media five years from now?

I definitely want Multii to get bigger. I’m aiming for maybe by 2025 or 2026 to have an agency of 100 to 200 people. I want to represent different people from different walks of life internationally, not just in New York. I want Multii to be a big thing in the community too. I want to really hear city creatives. I want to help POC creatives nationally, and then hopefully internationally. I want it to be a movement in the entertainment industry, just as BLM is a movement. This movement funnels into so many different things. It funnels into not only the black community but in the Asian American community, the Muslim community, the African community because all minorities are stereotyped.

What advice do you have to give to younger people who want to get started in fashion or modeling?

One, call. LinkedIn has everyone's email and everyone's number. Literally, find people and go through their Twitter, and follow other people. Network yourself because it's really important. Besides Rihanna, because she's my icon, I didn't have any icons growing up. So I felt what motivated me was to be that. I'm not alone, no one is ever alone. There's someone, even if it's on the opposite side of the earth, that's feeling how you're feeling. If I can't find someone that I like and that can be who I want to be or do what I want to do, I'm going to be that for other people. New York is really enabling. If you're not in New York, take advantage of social media, social media is its own city. It's bigger than New York, LA, Paris or London. It's its own city and try to take advantage of that. When you start looking at it like its own city, own connections, own vibes, it's like its own world.

Is there anything else that you kind of want to add or say or anything else that you kind of want to put in it?

Check out Multii Media and apply if you want to. We're starting a contributors portion that is going to be new. Also, we’re developing a submission base where we're going to be putting up art, doing gallery stuff and a lot of community stuff. So if you want to be a part of it, submit even if you don't want to be a model. We're really trying to connect the youth with everything.