Noelle Doukas, 38, is the Director of Storm LA. She lives in California with her daughter Phoenix. 

My alarm goes off at this time every day…

I never set my alarm unless I’m driving my daughter to school on a Friday. As she’s based 40 miles away in Orange County, my alarm goes off 5.30am. I’m an early riser and generally wake up a few hours before I have to be up. My general anxiety at the moment doesn’t allow me to sleep longer than six hours a night!

At work I’m responsible for…

I’m the Director of Storm LA, so I am responsible for the entire running of the agency – including our talent and all the team. Between meetings with our talent , several conference calls with London first thing in the morning, and organising the office for the day ahead, I am also overseeing our team, taking meetings with clients, working on bookings, forward planning and developing strategy for each artist, and for the whole the business. It’s exciting!

I got the job by…

I got the job by default. I had ZERO interest in the modelling industry and I had no desire to work with my mother. I wanted to be a make up artist and I started off my fashion career by assisting Debbie Walters. I soon realised that you do not get paid to do work experience, and as I had bills mounting up, I ended up trotting up and down the Kings Road trying to get a job in retail.

Then I received a call from one of the senior model agents at Storm, inviting me to interview as a junior agent on the New Faces team. It was based away from my mother, and so of course this appealed to me: she had always told me I would make a terrible agent, and just to prove her wrong I took the job! The rest, as they say, is history.

My typical day involves…

There is no typical day, and I am realising quite rapidly that being a director of a new company is demanding, with new challenges arising daily. I am learning that I have to react to the job at hand. As a Director you have to be responsible for your team, and therefore as much as you try and structure your day, you are never in one place for very long! All the good intentions I had of doing yoga and going to the gym in the mornings have gone out of the window! 

Most of the time I’m playing Uber driver for my business partner Mike Eland, and I am driving from one place to the next. Everything is urgent and important.

My most memorable work moment was …

There are so many incredible moments over my 20 year career at Storm London. I have special memories of booking Cara Delevingne’s first Burberry campaign. She had just started her career and it was quite incredible given the level she was at to get a job of this magnitude. 

The worst part of my job is…

It’s tricky managing clients when there are issues with talent; either they are unwell and cannot turn up, or there may be issues with Visas, flights, emotional well being, etc 

As an agent I have a responsibility to protect our artists and models, and obligations to our clients who we never want to let down. The other stressful time is when we are booking London Fashion Week, which is draining, rewarding and thrilling. We camp in the office for several days working through the night, juggling emotions, expectations, rates, schedules, travel and ideas. The shows are such a significant part of our calendar and our models’ careers.

The best part of my job is…

Creating something incredible which you have single-handedly been responsible for. Whether that’s seeing a girl you’ve booked on a campaign on a billboard as you drive down the road or a girl you’ve scouted and developed on her first cover of British Vogue. There are many great parts of the job, and it’s never boring! You get a major adrenal rush.

After work I tend to…

I tend to want to get home as soon as possible to see my 13 year old daughter Phoenix, who moved from London to LA with me last year. I love being with her and building our new routine together.

However as an LA model agency we often have events and dinners to attend, and meetings with clients and our models. There are product launches and openings, and film screenings too… So my personal life is quite restricted at present, but when time allows I love a soak in the bath at home, and cooking dinner for Phoenix, or ordering take out with her.  

My Plan B would be…

Life is so busy at present that the idea of selling my London home and sitting on a deserted beach for a month is quite appealing. But I am so happy with our LA agency that I honestly don’t have a Plan B. 

 Storm LA has been something I have planned for years and now that the agency is up and running, I love it and have never been so fulfilled (and exhausted).

Images: Facebook / Instagram