We had the good fortune of connecting with Sophie Felix and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Sophie, what do you attribute your success to?
An important factor behind the success of my brand is definitely the quality and professionalism of myself and the clients I represent and manage. I have personally spent a significant amount of time working with the best talent I could find throughout the world. It’s actually funny because I didn’t really do much scouting. All of my current models and clients were the ones who approached me first to represent them. I think by working with high caliber models who have already been featured in high profile campaigns has given me a great advantage and look. For example I have been managing model Philip Fusco who is based in New York since 2014 and this year I added a few international models to work as their USA representative such as Marek Lichtenberg based in London, Marcel Gregory S based in Germany and Alan Fernando Villars based in Switzerland, Luca Marangon who’s based in Milan. They have been featured in fashion campaigns for Vouge Italia, GQ, MMSCENE those type of well known publications, so having them as the faces of my brand gives me an advantage. Another factor is I love to create adventures for my clients on their assignments when they are on set with me. I’m not a basic manager who say’s hey let’s shoot in front of a white backdrop, I’ll take you to the middle of the desert and play your favorite song and tell you to go put in work. What I love the very most when we are on set is seeing the passion and happiness in my clients and those type of moments are my favorite. We just did a creative photoshoot for my clients Brian Hickson and Daniela Casas in Las Vegas. I believe by having a strong work ethic, leading my team with integrity by being a good person and having fierce faith in myself has placed me in a special position as a businesswoman. I enjoy to spend my time visualizing what I really want. When I first founded HBM Talent I planned to work from home one day and I invisioned HBM Talent as being my dream job for my career and life I truly wanted but it seemed impossible at the time. So when I was comfortable enough to quit my corporate job to work from home on my own company it felt like my dream came true and I took my business seriously. In all honesty I did risk it all to go after my dreams and that one decision to do so and bring it with full force has been the most important factor behind my success.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Absolutely! HBM Talent & Management is a boutique model and talent management agency. We manage and represent international models, actors, musicians, influencers and motivational speakers. Our mission is to partner our talent exclusively with brands which will produce creative, meaningful and impacting campaigns to showcase to the world. With HBM Talent I am really proud that we give back to our communities. My models work on charity events and during the holiday season we surprise kids with presents, clothes and food. It has become a fun tradition that we have been doing for the last few years and it means a lot to us. My client singer Lacangan has helped provide Christmas meals, live concerts and presents to thousands of families in California. Some of the projects that I am most inspired from are working with charities and meeting the children in person and then getting influencers to support them. One of the kids I love helping is Izaiah Wallis. He was hit by a drunk driver when he was a baby which left him brain damaged, paralyzed and on a feeding and breathing tube. I got to surprise him and his family by arranging sponsored trips to Disneyland, Sea World and I was there when P4K surprised them with a brand new van and handicapped accessible home. It’s awesome when others hear about him and want to help us out like Maxim model Carissa Rosario who graced the cover of my HBM calendar to donate the proceeds to him, The Dr. Phil Show donated a huge 173K check after Izaiah was featured on his show. Tim Tebow did a dedication and prayer day for him at a football stadium packed with thousands of people. Also Ray Sadeghi, he supports Passion4KIDS by posting videos of Izaiah on his social media. When Ray heard about Izaiah he sent him a custom made TMT workout outfit with his name on it to wear at his therapy sessions and some nice gifts. I posted the video on my IG page and won a contest from Breakfast Republic’s Giving Back campaign after the restaurant’s owner saw it. He made a nice donation on my behalf and reminded me what a great impact can be made by caring for the kids who need help the most when I connect influencers with the right charities.  When I met Izaiah and his family he was 3 years old, he is now 11 years old and there are many occasions I have experienced with him and his entire family that are so powerful and beautiful. I get very inspired when thinking about it.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I definitely would plan a relaxing beach day tanning or a sunset picnic at Sunset Cliffs! Depending on which best friend it is. I usually also take them to my house to meditate by the pool or shoot hoops with me on my basketball court. I would take the day off to just spend one on one with them so they have all my attention. I rarely get to spend a lot of my free time with my friends so when I can I usually plan things so they will leave our visit feeling loved and appreciated. Also we would hit up one of my favorite restaurants like Dukes, Nobu, Malibu Seafood, STK or a place for good chicken kabobs or lasagna. And if I really like you I’ll call my chef to come over to cook us lemon chicken fajitas because it’s my all time favorite secret recipe. To top it off we would eat ice cream together in sweats while watching a funny movie like Stepbrother. That is pretty much the usual things I enjoy doing when I want to relax.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My family, especially my Mom and Nana Jenny for loving me and believing in my goals. I also receive the support and encouragement from a vast amount of other entrepreneurs, non-profits and women business associations such as Linda and Charles Van Kessler founders of Passion4K.I.D.S www.passion4kids.org also Chaplain Tig Heaslet Executive Director of America’s Children of Fallen Heroes  www.heroeskids.org all have shown me a great amount of love and guidance. My friend and first business mentor Marcel Becker who taught me so much business knowledge early in my career in managing contracts and how to properly strategize. I have much gratitude for the National Latina Business Women’s Association – Los Angeles Chapter and Latina Style Magazine for recognizing and nominating me for some pretty amazing awards. I also have been gifted with support from associates and amazing friends Erika Belvin, Jacob Wallis and Twompson Prater, my business Attorney Kelly Bagla Esq., my girls Adelia Carrillo from EventHi and Jazmin Aguiar from MCBA have all helped me to raise the bar high. My videographer Joseph Cinemato for producing my commercial that won us a Telly Award, my savior photographer Brian Bishop who rocks it out amazingly with photography and tea time. Photographer Nicholas Stevenson for being my go-to for rebranding and high fashion ideas and baking me the best homemade cherry pie in Vegas. Photographer Wild NYC Emerson who is a pleasure to work with in New York. My makeup artists and friends Saeed J Ramirez – MakeUpBySaeed, JrelArtist and Charisma for keeping me laughing and fierce on sets. My fitness trainer Ryan Davis, my website designer Bernie Rivera for understanding my vision, my consultants Robert Arnold and Erica Arias from Alpha Prime. Last but not least I would like to recognize the hard work and dedication from my business partners Dennise Mejia and Suzie Ortega who are the Co-Founders of (ICBWA) International Cannabis Business Women’s Association which we successfully launched this year! I am now Co-Founder and President of ICBWA a non-profit 501(c)3 business organization based in Los Angeles. I look forward to what the future brings, the challenges I will help overcome and the exciting programs we are developing for women in the cannabis industry. For more info to become a member visit www.icbwa-ca.org

Website: www.hbmtalent.com
Instagram: @hbm_talent
Linkedin: Sophie Felix for Linkedin
Facebook: Sophie Felix on FB

Image Credits
Brian Bishop @brianjbishopphoto WILD NYC Emerson @wildnyc