Corrie Yee
Photographer: Steve Bitanga | @stevebitanga
Stylist: Mariah Jackson | @kaijfashion
Hair/ Makeup: Nathaly Muralles | @makeupbynathalyxo
Article Writer: Roxy | @ITS_RROXANNE
From the outside, it may look like agency-owner Corrie Yee is just running a business. But she’s never thought about it like that. To her, Be Untamed is more than just a business– it’s a family. With an office space/headquarters set up in her home, she lovingly welcomes her team into her very own high-rise apartment in West Hollywood.
Upon entering Corrie’s home office for the modeling agency she has recently founded, agents and clients are greeted with crisp, white walls thoughtfully adorned with priceless pieces of Corrie’s personality. The perfect combination of classy and sexy, Corrie’s space inspires current and future clients with its impressive collection of magazine covers from Corrie’s own modeling career, as well as from that of her current clients. Corrie’s background as an art major echoes melodically through her carefully curated paintings and art pieces, including a few of her own. More recently, her Old Hollywood glam-inspired space has been quickly filling up with models, creative teams, and content shoots.
“We have a beautiful rooftop pool with a ton of office space,” said Corrie. “Typically, when girls arrive, my place is set up like a photo studio. I also sometimes take them to the rooftop for business meetings, and there’s a beautiful view. Especially at sunrise and sunset.”
Corrie’s personality shines through her work in more ways than just the decoration for her office space. Her boldness and self-confidence is evident in her comfortability with sharing even the so-called “nerdy” aspects of her personality. Corrie proudly admits that one of her favorite pastimes is learning about animals by watching documentaries and Animal Planet. Some of her favorite animals include the octopus and the elephant. She admires the octopus for its incredible survival instincts, adaptation abilities, and emotional capacities, while she reveres elephants for their gentleness in caring for their young and for their family. With the unparalleled ability to absorb the traits that she respects in others, Corrie translates these values into her agency every day as she finds ways to adapt the modeling industry to modern day ethical standards by caring deeply for the team that she calls a family.
Drawing from her own experiences in the industry, Corrie is poised to create a modeling agency that improves upon the problems she once encountered with other agencies. With a passion for fairness, Corrie takes a unique approach for her clients where she vows to treat them all with equality, regardless of how much money they bring in or how famous they are. She attributes this business model to a huge reason why her agency feels more like a family than a company– instead of competing with each other, her clients are more inclined to form a sisterhood and lift each other up.
“It’s more than just work, it’s more than just business,” said Corrie. “It’s like if you see your mother or your sister doing something and you want to do everything you can to help them succeed because you are so close to them. I feel like that’s the mindset that we have because we are all so close. We truly care about one another and we want to see each other succeed.”
This winter, Corrie is taking her team on their very first international trips as an agency, and taking a few trips for her own shoots as well. She starts out in Jamaica for a shoot for a new app. A true world traveler, Corrie will be following this with trips to Colombia, Dubai, Bali, and Mexico. While she’s been to most of these locations before for shoots, Bali’s safe and welcoming culture has earned a special place in her heart.
“I love that they’re very big on karma and treating others how you want to be treated,” said Corrie. “I was actually having dinner with one of my friends there once and I left my purse on the dinner table when we were finished eating. I was halfway down the street when this lady came up to me with my bag. It says so much about the culture, because in a lot of other countries, they wouldn’t do that.”
Corrie makes sure to take her travels with her and incorporate these principles into her everyday life as well. Her beliefs in karma and kindness play a huge role in the way she runs her agency as she shares her success and strategies with other aspiring models. She is passionate about using her platform to empower women and to help them thrive in their career ventures. Despite her agency only being a few months old, she has already managed to garner quite a few success stories for her team.
One of Corrie’s biggest moments with Be Untamed is when she was helping one of her girl friends who was working with a different agency. Corrie evaluated her girl friend’s profile and engagement, then advised her on different strategies to use. Soon enough, her girl friend called her with an update: her monthly income increased by 600%, she just bought a new car, she’s been traveling the world, and her lifestyle has now completely changed.
With over 10 years of experience as a model and quite a few agency success stories under her belt, Corrie is an expert at identifying and solving problems within the modeling industry. She makes sure her work not only helps clients, but also helps the modeling industry as a whole by setting an example. Be Untamed can help clients grow their Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook Business pages; create their own LLCs and become independent business owners; and stay up to date on social media trends. By providing guidance to other aspiring business owners, she ensures that more women-led companies will maintain financial stability and high levels of quality.
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