London Inc. Winter 2023 - 18

Upfront Expansion
CALL BACK
From London to Toronto and back again: Established in the Forest City, a modelling
agency returns to its roots
Anita Norris-Bere of ANM Management Inc.
HOLIDAY SEASON OR not, the pull of home is a powerful
emotion.
It certainly was for Anita Norris-Bere, who nurtured
her modelling agency in London for a decade, beginning in
2008. After moving to Toronto and opening an office there in
2017, she found it difficult to manage the London office from
a distance. So, she closed London in 2019 - and regretted it
ever since.
With the pandemic dust settling, she is re-establishing
a London branch. She will entrust her son with the day-today
operations while she continues living and working in
Toronto.
" London is home and has always been a market of great
value, " Norris-Bere says. " The truth is we were lucky to have
closed London right before Covid. I was already having trouble
managing both locations. "
18 | londonincmagazine.ca | WINTER 2023
ANM Management Inc. (www.anitanorrismodels.com)
grew substantially during the pandemic, operating from its
new Toronto home, a funky studio space on Dundas Street
East. " We tripled our numbers over Covid [and] going into
2023, so now is the perfect time to move back to London,
operating on a smaller scale. "
Her son, Damon Dorati, 26, grew up learning about the
business from his mom and will run what primarily will be a
scouting and recruitment location. Even in the age of social
media and curated Instagram and TikTok experiences,
there's no way to replace face-to-face meetings and assessments
when looking for new clients.
" Our success has always been our open calls, where we see
people and they see us. Our visibility has been so important,
and it's been very difficult to scout and recruit with masks
and social distancing, " Norris-Bere says. " I need to meet the
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London Inc. Winter 2023

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