I was extremely dissatisfied after meeting with Sandy and especially after doing a bit of research. I've looked up the other reports and her replies and the woman is full or garbage, enough to even outright lie.
1. AIGP DID/DOES NOT receive $100,000 in scholarship money, or any money, from the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, nor are they given any sort of private auditions or preferential treatment. The NYCDA is a private for-profit school and they do not give scholarship money to private businesses, nor do they give any preferential treatment to other businesses. If they did they would lose their membership to a theatrical ethics group. She is lying. I have emails from the school confirming this.
2. Of course she has 100% callbacks from the IMTA conventions, it is a for-profit scam. They want your money. They are only interested in collecting more frivolous dues. This logical fallacy should be enough to let you know what kind of scam she is running. If she is guaranteeing that ANYONE, let alone someone who is short, overweight, or ugly will get callbacks, modeling jobs, or signed on to a modeling company, you should know something is wrong here.
3. IMTA may not be small, but at a base price of $5,000 you are not seeing real industry leaders. She is misleading when she says she works with "Alicia Keys' Producer" because anyone can, for just a few thousand dollars. Elijah Wood's FORMER manager attends, as does Ashton Kutcher and Katie Holmes' FORMER manager. The IMTA event is very large, but you are just being scammed further. Its odd that everything COSTS thousands of dollars. Aside from the exorbitant entrance fees, you are also required to stay in an approved 5 star hotel. If these FORMER managers were so successful and busy, why would they not be currently representing their FORMER clients and why are they attending CATTLE CALLS? Because you are meeting has-beens at these events, and paying thousands of dollars to do so.
4. As to Sandy's controlling nature on these events, it is true. But again, why would you need someone telling you to dress appropriately to an audition/interview unless you are gullible enough to pay someone thousands of dollars for a weekend? She may have issues with control, but unfortunately unless you have talent or beauty it is useless. Frankly, her photos suck. No amount of control will make up for a lack of her own talent. If she was so good at it, wouldn't she be able to get a job aside from her scam?
5. Yes, most of this is profit for her or the IMTA. These events make millions. Frankly, Sandy is breaking the law when she does these events. Unknown to her, she is currently under investigation for violating non-disclosure laws in California and New York State. It may not be a law in Idaho, but when she does her SCAM in California or New York she is required to disclose the fact that she is making money and profiting off of her clients at these events. If Barbizon is a scam, and AIGP/Sandy Clemons runs the exact same kind of business, somehow she is not a scam?
"I keep my costs down as much as possible. I hold classes in places where I don't have to pay rent, nor do I have to pay for a franchise fee like Barbizon does, so my fees are the lowest to attend IMTA than anyone else who goes there."
I had no idea that hotels gave away their event space for free. Another lie. If Barbizon is a known scam, and she is fine with them, doesn't that say a lot about her business?
"Wow! Then there are also the costs of running a business...curriculumn costs, coaches fees...the list of expenses goes on."
It is amazing that so many fees (THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS) goes into a WEEKEND event. Its amazing that after one or two days of classes you become an experienced professional. Utter BS, total scam.
6. I'm sure that classmates have written thank you letters to Sandy. If they are gullible to spend THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in a weekend, I'm sure these 12 year old girls were very "satisfied."
7. As to this previous discussion board, it seems a little illogical that FORMER STUDENTS were writing in to complain and CURRENT students wrote in defending her. Funny that we are not able to view this board any longer... If she had such a sterling reputation, why are we unable to see the accusations against her? Why would there be any accusations against her if she has a 100% success rate. She provides fleeting entertainment, nothing more.
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All this name-dropping of the famous, its odd with having such successful "students" that she is unable to name them off. It's always X's FORMER manager/agent is working with my student Y. She makes it seem like these people wouldn't have made it without her....wouldn't the "student's" talent or good looks open doors? It's amazing that Sandy could take even the ugliest person, with enough cash, and make them a model.
Sounds too good to be true? Well, it is.
I agree with the other report that while she claims to be a Christian, nothing could be farther from the truth. A Christian wouldn't lie, or paint up underage girls to look like hyper-aroused prostitutes. Nor would a Christian run a business in such a profit hungry and deceitful way. A Christian would not divorce her husband or commit adultery.
As to the other assertion, "She goes weeks at a time without seeing her family because of her job." Frankly, nobody is forcing her to run this scam to keep up her lifestyle. She is a RICH divorcee, she lives in a million-dollar home and drives a luxury car. On top of this she obviously neglects her children to pet her ego. From a large divorce settlement and the child support she receives from her ex, she has more than enough money to survive and maintain her lifestyle and deadbeat new "artist" husband.
This "job" is about her fluffing her ego and being in a position of superiority and control. She likes to purport that she is some sort of actress and model, but why have we never heard or seen any of her work aside from the occasional mall advertizement or the pictures she takes herself? Because she is as much of a nobody as the rest of us. She is as clueless as the rest of us and the only things she knows about "the business" are from taking notes while watching America's Next Top Model. She knows nothing aside from this.
Nobody is forcing her to work this kind of job, or stay away from her kids, or have a luxurious lifestyle. She does this because it makes her feel important. She needs to surround herself with people who are constantly in awe of her. She has little use for anything less than that.
Furthermore, she violates multiple state laws when she does her "business," she uses under-the-counter underage girls (clients) as her assistants, she uses unlicensed cosmetologists, and she has absolutely no problem committing crimes, let alone ripping off her customers. She'll scam people from age 1 on up. As long as their checks clear, they can be "famous."
Think about it, you can either spend $3000-$10,000 on a single WEEKEND or, if you were serious about it, you could rent an apartment and spend an entire MONTH in NYC or LA and attend REAL companies casting calls for FREE. EVERY MAJOR MODELING COMPANY HAS FREE CASTING CALLS ON A WEEKLY BASIS. Furthermore, many successful models were discovered in public, not at these events...
This is the attitude I keep running into her teen age victims. They think that by PAYING Sandy for some pictures that all of the sudden they are professional models with JOBS. With this same logic, I am a professional model with the Walmart Portrait Studio after this season's Christmas card picture...
Sorry, but in the real world models get paid, they don't pay other people... Paying to model is the kind of education your daughter will get from Sandy. She's clueless, and even if she knows any better she won't pass it on because nobody would use her services. Luckily, I'm only out $100, but many many others have paid in excess of $5,000 on average to be scammed by her.
If you look up modeling scams, she fits the bill for every indication that you are being taken to the cleaners...
And you bet that her little cronies will back her up, they think that somehow Sandy is the ticket to success...
I was a little irked after using her service. Her pictures were terrible and she kept promising the world.
I'm excited to see her ridiculous response that goes along the lines of, "I'm an expert, you don't know any better."